On Saturday, Oct. 12, Cyclone Phailin—a “supercyclone” almost half the size of India—struck India’s east coast. Phailin hit the country with severe rains and winds up to 125-130 miles per hour, becoming India’s fiercest cyclone since 1999. In response to the storm warnings one of India’s 12 key ports, Paradip Port, was shut down on Friday, Oct. 11. The port serves the eastern and central parts of the country and has interrupted shipments in the Bay of Bengal and its surrounding areas.

The port reopened on Wednesday, Oct. 16 but is resuming operations gradually—smaller ships are allowed to dock, nighttime shipping will be possible once all lights and buoys required to do so are fixed, etc.

Fortunately, BI’s primary export port is in the west coast and was not directly affected. However, there are still several delays in all Indian ports due to Phailin; small container ships that utilize the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, as an intermediate destination are getting held up because of the weather problems. Due to these hold ups some shipments have missed their originally intended ship and thus, intensifying the delays.