An LPG Tanker’s Secret Detour Through the Strait of Hormuz

A ship named Pine Gas, owned by a Mumbai company, was ready to leave the UAE’s Ruwais port in late February. The crew of 27 Indians had watched missiles and drones fly over them every day as tensions rose in the region. The vessel was supposed to reach its home port within a week, but it ended up waiting almost three weeks for clearance. India’s officials had asked the crew to depart around March 11, but war escalated. The tanker finally received permission on March 23, not through the usual Hormuz lanes but via a narrow channel north of Larak Island. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps directed this unusual route because the main passage had been mined. Every crew member signed off on the plan, and they all agreed.Indian naval officers guided Pine Gas across the Gulf of Oman to the Arabian Sea, and four Indian warships escorted it for about 20 hours. No fee was paid to Iran, and the Iranian forces never boarded the ship. The Indian Navy had already been patrolling these waters for years to keep shipping lanes safe. The tanker carried 45, 000 metric tons of LPG. India imports most of its gas by sea, and the cargo was to be split between eastern ports instead of the originally planned western one. While six Indian ships have already passed through Hormuz, 18 other Indian-flagged vessels are still stuck in the Persian Gulf.