Muscat: The MT Sarv Shakti, a Marshall Islands-flag liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier, on its way to India, is moving across the Strait of Hormuz.
According to ship tracking website vesselfinder.com, the tanker, with an all Indian crew left the Dubai anchorage on April 17 and will reach its destination in India on May 13.
The ship kept broadcasting India as its destination while moving through the Strait, as reported by The Indian Express. Once it crosses the Strait, the MT Sarv Shakti would be the first major India-bound energy tanker to do so after a two-week dry spell.
The crude oil tanker MT Desh Garima had crossed the Strait on April 18 after Iran had announced free passage, only to announce its closure again shortly after. Two Indian vessels had also come under Iranian fire on the same day, forcing them and other India-bound vessels to return to the Persian Gulf. This incident, and subsequent similar ones with Iran and the US running their own blockades in the region, further hit already constrained vessel movements through the Strait.
The MT Sarv Shakti has a gross tonnage of 47,000 tonnes and is said to be carrying about 45,000
tonnes of LPG. It was on the verge of transiting to the east of the Strait into the Gulf of Oman as of 2 pm India time.
Earlier during the day, it had stopped transmitting its location for a couple of hours. This is referred to as “going dark” in shipping parlance, and is usually done by vessels in a bid to avoid detection.
The tanker is carrying about half a day’s worth of India’s pre-West Asia war LPG consumption and its transit springs hope for more energy supplies making their way to the country in the coming days.
Ten India-flagged energy tankers – nine LPG carriers and one crude oil tanker – have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since early March. Additionally, a few foreign-flagged energy tankers had also arrived from the Persian Gulf after crossing the Strait.
These transits took place every few days, but were badly hit after the April 18 incident in which Indian vessels were fired upon by Iranian forces. There are now 14 Indian ships stuck in the Persian Gulf; several other foreign vessels that are bound for India are also stuck in the region.
The MT Sarv Shakti sailed close to Iran’s Larak island, taking a route that has been prescribed by Tehran for transiting the chokepoint, where vessel movements have reduced to a trickle amid the West Asia war.
The LPG tanker was broadcasting that it was headed to India and had Indian crew on board. Such identity broadcasts have become a standard of sorts among vessels crossing the Strait in coordination with Iranian authorities, with Tehran assuring passage to India-bound ships.