The world's biggest container shipping company, Maersk Line, said unusually low water in the Amazon was disrupting cargo traffic and it was putting a surcharge on shipments to the Brazilian port of Manaus.

Maersk Line, a unit of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said low water levels in the Amazon had forced vessel operators to reduce their intake of cargo by almost 50 percent.

That had led to an "immense cargo build-up in Panama and disrupted normal trade flows," Maersk Line said.

Maersk Line will introduce an emergency surcharge of $500 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) from Oct. 18 on all shipments to Manaus, the company said.

"We look forward to lifting the surcharge as soon as the cargo build-up eases and the situation improves," Maersk said. (Reuters)