Shipping ministry identifies 40 priority vessels, suggests Oman route amid Hormuz disruption

New Delhi: With no sight of the Strait of Hormuz (SoH) opening for commercial traffic in near future, shipping ministry has shared a list of around 40 India-bound “priority vessels” with the external affairs ministry, suggesting the option of evacuating them through territorial waters of Oman.

Oman's territorial waters is on the south of SoH while Iranian waters is on north. TOI has learnt that 18 of these ships are loaded with energy products; 16 are carrying fertiliser and another half a dozen have other cargo. Evacuation of these ships is important for India’s energy security and to meet the demand of soil nutrients during the ensuing kharif sowing season.

Govt has also started preparatory work for Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to restart services to West Asia to aid transport of stranded cargo. Responding to a question on the proposal, Mukesh Mangal, additional secretary in the shipping ministry said govt is actively working on the possibility of starting this service, but didn’t give specific timelines for its commencement.

At a review meeting chaired by shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal on the impact and steps taken to mitigate the impact of West Asia conflict on Tuesday evening, commerce ministry officials informed that the inaugural SCI ship can carry 3,000-4,000 containers carrying agri and allied cargo to ports in UAE and from there these can be transported by road to their destinations.

Shipping ministry said that Sonowal called for urgent expansion of India’s shipping capacity, including container vessels, LPG and crude carriers, and green tugs, to ensure resilience against external disruptions. The PMO will hold a meeting on a long-term “resilience plan” to insulate India from such disruptions on May 4, officials aware of the matters said.

Expanding shipping capacity has caught more attention amid a spike in maritime freight rates and reluctance of private shipping lines to transport cargo to the Persian Gulf. Sonowal told officials from different ministries that govt is advancing a roadmap to add 62 vessels in the current financial year backed by Rs 51,383 crore, which will create an additional 2.85 million gross tonnage.

The ministry has asked SCI, oil and gas PSUs and newly set up Bharat Container Shipping Line to fast track procurement of ships. So far tenders have been floated for 34 vessels, including 18 ships and tankers.

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