Ship Collision in India Causes Supply Chain Problems
Posted on Fri, Aug 20, 2010 @ 01:41 PM
On August 7th, two ships collided off the coast of Mumbai, India. A container ship, the MSC Chitra, and a break-bulk merchant vessel, the Khalija-III, were involved in the incident. The MSC Chitra was loaded with more than 2,400 containers, 2,600 tons of oil and 300 tons of diesel fuel. Within 24 hours, 300 loaded containers had already sunk into nearby waters. Some of these containers were reported to include toxic materials such as sodium peroxide. This Chitra had sailed to Mumbai from Dubai, and was outbound from the JNPT Port facility when the collision occurred.
The Khalija-III was reportedly towed into port after the incident. The Port of Mumbai is still closed while India’s Coast Guard and other governmental agencies try to salvage the Chitra and the spilled containers. The Port is expected to be closed for several more days due to some of the remaining containers still floating in the main ship channel. The closing of the Mumbai Port will undoubtedly cause supply chain disruption.
Supply chain disruption can be caused by any disaster, natural or man-made. Once the disaster occurs there is a snowball effect that can cause harm to all industries. With the ship collision in India, there was an almost immediate effect on every company that uses JNPT Port. After the accident 80 ships were waiting out at sea for the port to clear. Some of the ships that planned on using port were diverted to others. This detour delays shipments for what could be weeks. The Port was closed for several days which delays unloading ships that are already in port. On top of that the truck, rail, or any other method used for taking the shipments out of port and to a distribution center, will have to reroute their schedules and delivery plans. The whole process or distribution will be exponentially delayed with every link in the supply chain that is impacted.
The trickle effect that a disaster has on different industries can result in loss of customers and wasted inventory. Mitigate the effects of a disaster by having a strong supply chain logistics provider that has experience overcoming delays and breakdowns in the supply chain.