The International Maritime Organisation is coordinating efforts to restore the maritime infrastructure in the regions affected by the recent tsunami.

Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) Secretary-General, has stressed the strategic importance of ensuring ports, navigational aids and other key elements of the maritime infrastructure are in effective working order as soon as possible.

This is to both facilitate the medium and long-term recovery of the affected areas, and to ensure the safe and efficient arrival of short-term aid being ship-ped by sea.

Consultations have already been initiated by the IMO with various parties, such as the World Meteorological Organisation, the International Hydrographic Organisation, and the International Association of Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities.

This includes the provision of advice and warnings on the availability and reliance of soundings, navigational aids and other elements of the maritime infrastructure in the affected areas.

IMO is also in contact with the United Nations Development Programme and the Regional Programme for Marine Pollution Prevention and Management in the East Asian Seas region.

The Secretary-General has also established a fund the Tsunami Maritime Relief Fund to coordinate direct financial and in-kind aid from the shipping industry to the victims of the disaster.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Mitropoulos wrote on behalf of the IMO to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs to express the maritime community's sadness at the enormity of the disaster and to offer all available assistance to UN efforts to bring aid and comfort to those in need.

He has also written to the High Commissioners (in the United Kingdom) of Bangladesh, India, Malay-sia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. He has also written to the ambassadors of Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand with similar messages of condolence and offers of assistance.

Fairplay has reported shipping has been counting the cost of the tsunami. It appears that only one vessel, a Thailand-flagged bunker tanker reported as the Dragon, was lost at sea.

The Sinar Andalas, a 6,700dwt cement carrier built in 1998, capsized in Lhoknga, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Of the 19 seafarers swept away, only four have been rescued and the remaining 15 are missing and presumed dead.

In India, the 40,500dwt bulk carrier Gem of Tuticorin suffered damage at the port of Chennai. There are fears that the ship, owned and operated by West Asia Maritime, is likely to sink.

Two further vessels were damaged at Chennai, the 20,480dwt general cargo vessel Canadian Express and a vessel reported as the ABG Keshav. The 67,200dwt tanker Major Dhan Singh Thapa PVC was also grounded in Colombo in Sri Lanka. Three vessels, in dry-dock at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, were reported damaged or capsised.

The maritime authorities of Malaysia and Singapore are monitoring the situation in the Malacca straits following a warning by the Marshall Islands Maritime Authority advising mariners to check possible changes to the seabed depth in the wake of the tsunami disaster. The warning suggested water depths may have changed following seabed movement in shallow areas of the 600-nautical mile straits and it urged the shipping community to make checks and report to the appropriate authorities any changes they observe to charted water depths.

Of particular concern to Malaysia is the possibility such an incident could choke the straits, which is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The straits are used by more than 60,000 ships yearly.

Furthermore, shifting sand banks and mud flaps are known to the area, so the recent sub-sea earth quake may have exacerbated any such danger especially with modern super tanker drafts of more than 23 metres.

The IMO requires vessels navigating the Straits of Malacca and Singapore to have a minimum under keel clearance of 3.5 metres.

India's Director General of Shipping (DGS) has made arrangements for emergency certificates to be issued to those Indian seafarers that lost their documents in the tsunami.

According to the DGS, many seafarers who were in island or coastal regions at the time of the disaster lost all their belongings, including their certificates.

This is intended as a humanitarian gesture to enable them to resume their seagoing activities, without any additional hindrance in the wake of the tsunami.

Safmarine - a separately managed member of the AP Moller-Maersk Group - has commenced a 300-TEU fortnightly shuttle feeder service linking Mumbai Old Port with the its transshipment hub in Salalah.

The company said the service, introduced in mid-November, is complimentary to the current Safmarine services to and from Nhava Sheva, which remain unchanged.

"The Al Jazy feeder has been introduced after listening to our customers' requests to offer an additional option to ensure a quality service to and from Mumbai," said Paul De Coster, a trade executive.

The writer is a Dubai-based marine consultant.