An energy vessel that crossed the Strait of Hormuz has docked in an Indian port for the first time since the announcement of an initial peace agreement between the US and Iran on Sunday, as shipping traffic began to trickle back through the chokepoint.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier MT Disha docked at Dahej Port in the western state of Gujarat early on Friday, reports said. The tanker was said to be among the first to cross the strait after the agreement between Washington and Tehran and the subsequent lifting of the US naval blockade of Iran.
India is the world’s third-largest importer of oil, the fourth-largest of LNG, and the second-largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Before hostilities broke out, 45% of India’s crude oil imports, half of its LNG imports, and 90% of its LPG imports were routed through the Strait of Hormuz.
The MT Disha had loaded its cargo in Ras Laffan, Qatar. LNG is a priority energy item for India, amid demand growth and a lack of strategic reserves. But with imports from Qatar and the UAE entirely halted, New Delhi has turned to the US, Oman, and Nigeria.
At least 12 tankers have moved through the strait in recent days, Turkish media reported. Among those were three Saudi oil supertankers and an Iranian products tanker, the report said, citing data analytics company Kpler.
It is not clear if any of them were bound for India.
Ships owned by Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen, and NYK were beginning to cross the strait after effectively being marooned there since February, Richard Meade, editor in chief of Lloyd’s List, said in a media briefing.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had largely halted since the US-Israeli attack on Iran at the end of February, sending energy prices soaring globally. A fifth of global energy passed through the Middle East chokepoint before the conflict erupted.
About 100 vessels transited the route daily before conflict began.
All four of the world’s largest container carriers – Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd – had suspended Hormuz transit by March.
Some 40 ships carrying LPG, LNG, and fertilizers were waiting to sail through the strait to India, reports said in May.
A day after the announcement of a deal to end hostilities, an Indian official told Reuters that 16 India-bound vessels loaded with fertilizer were still stranded in the strait.
During active hostilities in the region, Iran repeatedly targeted vessels in the strait, although several India-bound ships passed through it.