Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: A seventh India-flagged LPG tanker, Green Sanvi, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. So far, six vessels carrying LPG have reached Indian ports after crossing the Strait since the war broke out in West Asia.Now 17 Indian ships remain stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz, including two — Green Asha and Jag Vikram — loaded with LPG. These two may soon head to India as well, people aware of the developments said. TOI on Thursday had reported that the three LPG carriers were currently drifting northeast of Abu Musa Island in the Persian Gulf, and they were following instructions from the Indian Navy and awaiting orders for transit through the Strait of Hormuz.Meanwhile, a foreign vessel, purportedly carrying Iranian oil to India, has switched its destination mid-voyage and is now heading towards China. Sumit Ritolia, lead analyst at global analytics firm Kpler, said such mid-voyage destination changes are not unprecedented with Iranian crude and highlight the increasing sensitivity of trade flows to financial terms and counterparty risk.“The shift appears to be payment-related, with sellers tightening terms, moving away from the earlier 30-60 day credit window towards upfront or near-term settlement,” he said. “If the payment issues are resolved, the cargo could still make its way to an Indian refinery,” experts said.This underscores how commercial terms are becoming as critical as logistics in determining Iranian crude flows to countries other than China, Ritolia added.As per MarineTraffic data, Ping Shun, an Eswatini-flagged crude tanker, had earlier indicated that it was heading to the Vadinar facility of Deendayal Port at Kandla in Gujarat. The tanker, which is said to be carrying six lakh barrels of crude, is now signalling Dongying in China as its destination.It is, however, not confirmed whether the destination signalled by the ship’s automatic identification transponder is final and will not change again during transit. It would have been the first shipment of Iranian crude to India in six years if the tanker had actually reached Vadinar.
