The country's busiest cargo port Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port is likely to remain closed for at least the next days till the clean-up of the shipping lane is complete, official sources confirmed on Tuesday.

Another port in the city, Mumbai port is also closed since Saturday for the same reason after two Panamanian cargo vessels collided near the port area while attempting to enter the harbour.

As a result of the accident hundreds of containers of diesel and fuel from one of the ships MSC Chitra, which is listing at a 60-degree angle, was spilled into the sea forcing port authorities to close the port till clean-up is done.

Closure of these two ports, which handle nearly 40 per cent of India's maritime trade, even if temporary will have a negative impact on India's trade for weeks to come, feel experts.

While six coastguard ships are deployed to contain the oil spill, environmentalists fear that the accident will damage the marine life badly. For the time being fishing has been banned and fishermen are restricted from going to the sea.