NEW DELHI: The Pine Gas LPG vessel carrying 47,000 tons of cargo arrived at Vizag on the east coast early Thursday, a port official said, the fifth vessel carrying cooking fuel from the Persian Gulf to reach Indian shores since the Iran war began on February 28.
The port official said: “The ship entered the designated marine area safely at around two in the morning today.” “The ship’s cargo is being transported via pipelines to be stored in port-side storage facilities for the time being.”
The ship’s chief officer, Sohan Lal, and 26 crew members are in good health, the official said. “The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways led this initiative along with support from the Indian and Iranian naval forces to transit the Strait of Hormuz,” Lal said in a social media post while still at sea.
The arrival of the ship chartered by the Indian Oil Corporation will increase the domestic stocks of the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas, most of which are from Gulf countries. Despite the shortage, the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, used by 333 million households, remained “normal,” the government said last week.
She added that the domestic product rose by about 50% from pre-war levels, and commercial supplies were reduced to protect families. However, the country has to rely on severely curtailed inbound shipments to fill supply gaps.
The 227-meter-long refrigerated ship sailed from a UAE port and exited the Strait of Hormuz on March 23 after it was cleared by Iran, which closed the vital channel to maritime traffic, sparking a global energy crisis.
Previously, Indian-flagged tankers MT Shivalik and MT Nanda Devi, carrying around 92,712 tonnes of LPG had transited this corridor. On March 28, the Indian-flagged Jag Vasant, sailing with Pine Gas, arrived at Vadinar Naval Station on the west coast.
On April 1, an LPG tanker chartered by Bharat Petroleum, BW Tyr, docked at Mumbai port, after Iran allowed it to pass. BW Elm, another LPG tanker, has been diverted to Ennore and is expected to arrive there by April 4, an update from the Ministry of Shipping said.
