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Operations at Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) are beginning to return back to normal, local sources have informed Bunker Index today.

The news comes ten days after a collision between the Panamanian cargo vessels MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 off the Mumbai coast on August 7th, which resulted in approximately 400-500 tonnes of bunker fuel leaking from the MSC Chitra and around 280-300 containers tumbling into the open sea.

Speaking to Bunker Index local bunker suppliers said that approximately half of the shipping lanes in the area had been reopened and that yesterday they had begun to take orders for future marine fuel deliveries at Mumbai and JNPT.

Local sources added that they expected operations to be fully back to normal within the next 24-48 hours.

The collision led to Mumbai and JNPT being shut from Monday 9th August with maritime traffic being suspended because containers still floating into the sea were said to be making navigation hazardous.

An inquiry into the collision currently being conducted by India's Director-General of Shipping (DGS) is expected to take a furthter three to four weeks, officials said today.

"We will take three to four weeks before we complete the inquiry and will then send it to the Union ministry of shipping,'' said acting Director-General, S B Agnihotri.

"We are conducting an inquiry with no pre-conceived notions. We have collected the data from the Vessel Tracking Monitoring System, electronic evidence and other logs," a shipping ministry official said.

The Director-General's office added that only 280 containers had fallen off the MSC Chitra, as opposed to earlier reports that as many as 400 containers had tumbled into the sea.

Agnihotri also said that Chitra had tilted 45 degrees as opposed to claims last week that it had tilted 75 degrees, adding that the vessel was more or less stabilized.