Japanese ports sustain major damage, some out for months

[phantom power]

TOKYO/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japanese ports handling as much as 7 percent of the country's industrial output sustained major damage from last week's earthquake, disrupting global supply chains and causing billions of dollars in losses, industry officials said.

Japan has begun assessing the damage to port infrastructure, vital to receiving aid, commodities and goods for rebuilding areas devastated by the 8.9 magnitude quake and tsunami that are likely to have killed more than 10,000 people.

The box shipping industry was seen as the most strongly affected by the disaster as the destroyed ports handled containerised cargo for Hitachi Ltd., Daikin Industries, and dozens of other companies.

"The short-term impact on economic activity could be greater than after the Kobe earthquake," said Jiyun Konomi, Tokyo-based analyst with Nomura Securities, referring to the 1995 disaster which killed 6,000 people.

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