Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India-bound LPG supertanker Sarv Shakti transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and is expected to arrive at Visakhapatnam on May 13. The last India-bound ship to cross the conflict-hit channel was Desh Garima (oil tanker) on April 18, after Iran announced free passage for a short period.Officials said the Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier is carrying 46,313 tonnes of LPG and has 20 crew members, including 18 Indians. A state-run oil PSU has chartered the cargo.Its safe passage comes as a signal that more India-bound ships — both Indian- and foreign-flagged — may be able to cross the strait, bringing relief on both energy supply and crew safety fronts.Sarv Shakti’s crossing the strait is significant also because two Indian ships had come under Iranian fire on the day Desh Garima crossed the channel, forcing them and others to return to the Persian Gulf.The past-track of the LPG tanker on Marine Traffic shows that it sailed close to Iran’s Larak Qeshm islands in the direction of the Gulf of Oman on Saturday. Tehran has prescribed this route for transiting the chokepoint. News agency Bloomberg said the vessel had entered the Persian Gulf in early Feb and it received cargo via a ship-to-ship transfer off Dubai.Ten Indian-flagged energy ships — nine LPG tankers and one crude oil carrier — have crossed the strait since March. A few foreign-flagged energy tankers have also arrived at Indian ports from the Persian Gulf.As of now, there are 13 Indian-flagged and one Indian-owned ship in Persian Gulf. Last week, the shipping ministry had shared with the external affairs ministry a list of 41 India-bound “priority vessels” which needed to be evacuated.
