Efforts to clean up an oil spill on the Mississippi river have led to a logjam of cargo ships and tankers

Commercial shipping has been severely disrupted following an oil spill on the Mississippi River, a busy shipping waterway in the United States, reported the Strikes Club on its website.

A barge and tanker collided, spilling litres of fuel oil into the river.

According to reports, dozens of cargo ships and tankers have got stuck in a stretch of water between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, one of the world's busiest ports.

Authorities began work on cleaning up the fuel oil, said the reports.