Cyclone Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast near Narasapuram between the night of 27 October and the early hours of 28 October, then weakened into a severe cyclonic storm2. The India Meteorological Department listed Arnab as a severe cyclonic storm over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and the adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal3.
Visakhapatnam is a critical feeder port for Maersk's east-coast coverage, especially for cargo moving in and out of Kolkata. It suspended all operations until further notice1. Vessel-handling services were suspended or restricted at several major east-coast ports from Monday, 26 October, as the storm approached1.
Three ports named in customer advisories
Kuehne+Nagel told customers: "Potentially impacted container ports include Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, and Krishnapatnam, all of which have received cyclone or storm warnings as Arnab approaches India's east coast."1
Ports were told to keep operations suspended as part of contingency planning, one carrier official told The Loadstar1. The same official said Visakhapatnam's terminals were "slowly getting back to business, in tandem with government guidelines and updates"1. No restart date was given1.
Cargo, ships and land links
Visakhapatnam handled 302,926 teu in the year to September, according to data collected by The Loadstar1. That was down from 308,861 teu a year earlier. A teu is the standard 20-foot container.
Land links around Kakinada are damaged. Before landfall, the IMD projected the peak storm surge of 1.0 to 1.5 m above astronomical tide over East Godavari district near Kakinada and Yanam4. In Kakinada district, the whole Uppada coastal road was lost to the sea2.
The storm also put ships at risk. A cargo ship carrying sulphur ran aground near Antarvedi village after engine failure2. Rainfall topped 200 mm at some places in coastal Andhra, and winds reached 130 kmph in Konaseema district2.
On land, rail services on 53 routes in southern India were suspended on 27 and 28 October, and 21 flights were cancelled at Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam airports2. Flight operations at Visakhapatnam's INS Dega airport were suspended from the afternoon of 27 October2.
Three people died in Andhra Pradesh1. The state moved 57,000 people into relief camps, and 70,900 hectares of paddy and 10,450 hectares of horticulture were ruined, according to figures compiled on the cyclone's Wikipedia entry2.
Backlog and transhipment
Industry sources in India expect the suspensions to cause congestion and delays1. The scale will be known only when terminals fully reopen, The Loadstar reported. Several Indian ports were already dealing with vessel bunching from late arrivals at Asian load ports before the cyclone1.
Transhipment links are also strained. Kuehne+Nagel reported average vessel waiting times of two days at terminals in Colombo, because of transhipment congestion, missed feeder connections, vessel omissions and routing changes1. Bangladesh issued similar port alerts as the storm threatened gusty weather over the northern Bay of Bengal1.