Quake debris forces ships to reroute

The massive amount of debris caused by the March 11 quake and the tsunami in Japan is forcing ships to change their routes, an industry association official said. Some 80% of Japanese ships for domestic transport need to travel via the Sea of Japan instead of the Pacific Ocean due to the amount of floating debris that is dangerous to small ships of less than 499 gross tonnes, the official at Japan Federation of Coastal Shipping Associations said. There are 5 600 ships in Japan used for domestic transportation, and 4 500 are small ships of less than 499 gt.