LPG ship crossed Hormuz and reached India: 94,000 tonnes of BW TYR and BW ELM cargo recovered from the war
Delhi. Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers have safely transited the war-torn Strait of Hormuz and are expected to reach Indian shores in the next few days. These ships have a stock of cooking gas for almost one day’s use in the country.
“Two LPG vessels BW TYR and BW ELM, carrying LPG cargo of approximately 94,000 tonnes, have safely passed through the area and are heading towards Indian shores,” an official statement said. While BW TYR is heading towards Mumbai and is expected to reach on March 31, BW ELM is headed towards New Mangalore and is expected to arrive on April 1.
Due to the attacks by the US and Israel and the widespread response by Iran, the movement of ships through the strait has almost come to a halt. This narrow sea route is the way to export oil and gas from the Gulf countries to the world.
However, Iran had last week said that “ships of non-enemy countries can pass through this route after coordination with Iranian authorities.” Earlier, four Indian-flagged LPG tankers had passed through this route safely. Pine Gas and Jag Vasantha, which were carrying 92,612 tonnes of LPG, arrived at Indian ports between March 26 and March 28.
Earlier, MT Shivalik and MT Nanda Devi, carrying about 92,712 tonnes of LPG, had reached Mundra port in Gujarat on March 16 and Kandla port on March 17, respectively. For a country that meets almost 60 per cent of its LPG needs through imports from Gulf countries, the arrival of these ships will help ease the LPG crisis.
India consumed 33.1 million tonnes of LPG last year, of which about 60 per cent of the demand was met through imports. Of these, 90 percent imports came from West Asia. After the ‘closure’ of the strait, India is receiving LPG from countries like the US and Argentina. “There are a total of 18 Indian-flagged ships carrying 485 Indian sailors in the western Persian Gulf region,” it said in a statement.
Originally, there were 28 Indian-flagged ships in the straits at the start of the war in West Asia. Of these, 24 were in the western direction and four in the eastern direction. In the last few days, six ships from the west and two ships from the east have been successful in escaping safely.
Another tanker Jag Prakash which was carrying petrol from Oman to Africa has also passed safely while on its way to Tanzania. LPG ships Jag Vikram, Green Aashi and Green Saanvi are still in Hormuz. An empty vessel is being filled with LPG. The control room of the Directorate General of Shipping is working round the clock and has handled 4,523 calls and 8,985 emails so far. These include 92 calls and 120 emails in the last 24 hours.
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