30 India-bound ships have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, sources in the shipping ministry told The Times of India , adding that 26 other vessels are waiting to cross the critical sea route which has been disrupted since the US-Iran war began on February 28.
15 of the transited ships carried Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), whil eight others had bulk cargo and seven were crude oil tankers.
Also read: Traffic flows through Hormuz continue to improve as IMO evacuation begins: Monitor
Officials cited by TOI said that 19 transits happened between March 1 and June 17 and 11 crossed the strait following the signing of the MoU between Washington and Tehran.
Among the 30 India-bound ships that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz and have reached or heading towards Indian ports, 17 are foreign-flagged vessels, including a maximum of five Marshall Islands-flagged ships.
According to the report, the 26 pending vessels that remain in the Persian Gulf, which include both Indian-flagged and India-bound foreign-flagged ships, three are carrying energy, 10 of them are carrying fertilisers and remaining 13 carrying other cargo.
The Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran and Oman, is considered the world's most crucial energy transit chokepoint. It connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and serves as a key route for crude oil and gas exports from major Gulf producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE and Iran.
The report comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs informed that 11 ships have transited the strait since the US-Iran MoU, out of which three were India flagged crude oil tankers, each carrying 2,85,000 metric tons of crude oil, one was a foreign flagged LPG carrier, one foreign flag crude oil tanker, and six foreign flag bulk carriers carrying fertilizer.
