Cyclone hits cargo operation at West Bengal ports

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The cyclonic storm that lashed West Bengal on Monday has hit cargo operations at Kolkata and Haldia ports, while unloading of two crude oil vessels was stopped at another port, government officials said on Monday.

The ports handle imports of sugar, crude oil, vegetable oils, coal, cooking gas and other commodities, while exports from these ports include iron ore, tea, steel and jute. It was not clear which commodities were affected by the storm.

"As many as 27 ships are at these two docks and cargo handling has been affected," an official at the Kolkata port, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

He said 11 ships were berthed at Kolkata and the rest at Haldia, while another 12 ships bound for these ports were stranded at the sea.

"The cyclone did not turn out to be as severe as predicted. We hope that normalcy would return by tomorrow," said Rajeev Dube, deputy chairman of the Kolkata Port Trust.

The cyclone has killed at least 33 people in West Bengal and Bangladesh on Monday.

"Normal loading and unloading of the cargoes have been hit and normalcy would take at least 36 hours," said an edible oil importer based in the eastern city of Kolkata.

"Everything would depend on the weather office forecast for next 24 hours," said a spokesman of the port authority.

Storms also hit unloading of crude oil at Paradip, where state-run Indian Oil Corp has a mooring facility.