New Delhi: Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers have safely crossed the war-hit Strait of Hormuz and are headed for Indian ports even as 16 other vessels remain stranded in the Persian Gulf, officials said Monday.
LPG vessel Green Sanvi carrying 46,650 tonnes of LPG is scheduled to reach Indian port on April 7 while Green Asha with 15,500 tonnes of cargo is scheduled to touch Indian coast on April 9, said Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary in Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways at a news briefing.
“Indian maritime operations remain safe and uninterrupted amid West Asia crisis. 16 Indian-flagged vessels with 433 seafarers are in the region; two LPG carriers, Green Sanvi and Green Asha, safely crossed Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
With this, eight Indian-flagged LPG tankers have safely transited through the strategic waterway, which has remained effectively shut since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28 and Tehran’s sweeping retaliation.
Of the vessels still stuck in the Persian Gulf, one is of a loaded liquefied natural gas (LNG), two are LPG tankers (one loaded and one empty), six are crude carriers (five loaded, one empty), three are container ships, one is a dredger, one is carrying chemical cargo and two are bulk carriers, he said.
Asked about reports of Iran charging a fee for letting ships cross the strait, Mangal said, “we have no information of such payments.”
For a country that relies on imports from Gulf nations to meet as much as 60 per cent of its cooking gas needs, the arrivals will help ease the worst LPG shortage it is battling in decades. India consumed 33.15 million tonne of LPG last year, with imports accounting for about 60 per cent of demand. As much as 90 per cent of those imports came from West Asia.
The US-Israel attacks on Iran, and Tehran’s sweeping retaliation have all but halted shipping through the strait - the narrow shipping lane that is the conduit for oil and gas exports from Gulf countries to the world. Iran has, however, stated that “non-hostile vessels” may transit the waterway after coordinating with Iranian authorities.
Last week, two LPG carriers, BW TYR and BW ELM, carrying combined LPG cargo of about 94,000 tonnes safely transited the region. While BW TYR reached Mumbai on March 31, BW ELM docked at New Mangalore on April 1.
Prior to that, four Indian-flagged LPG tankers had safely sailed through the strait.