India has no immediate plans to send domestic-flagged vessels back to the Persian Gulf, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Special Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) said Monday. Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia, he said insurance premiums have risen, and the high-risk area extends beyond just the Hormuz strait.

The special secretary said there are currently three India bound foreign-flagged vessels carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), four carrying crude, and three carrying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) also stranded in the Persian Gulf.

"We are yet to reach the stage where we start sending them (Indian flagged vessels) back," he said, highlighting how India's first objective is to ensure energy security.

There are 18 Indian vessels in the Persian Gulf at this moment, with 485 Indian seafarers on board. According to Sinha, all of them are safe, and there has been no report of any maritime incident in the last 24 hours.

Two LPG carriers, carrying approximately 94,000 metric tons, cleared the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and are now positioned towards Indian ports. The first should report to Mumbai Port Tuesday while the other will reach New Mangalore Port Wednesday.

While the vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz are facing threats of attacks, heightened war risk extends over a larger area.

"The affected area is not just the Strait of Hormuz; areas outside of it also fall under the High-Risk Area (HRA)," Sinha said, adding commercial premiums used to be 0.04 per cent of the insured value but they have increased - nothing the premium was 0.7 per cent of insured value in an instance, and "it could be even higher."

The centre is aware of India's dependence on shipping with 95 per cent foreign trade by volume, and about 70 per cent by value, dependent on the maritime sector.

To ensure that maritime operations continue uninterrupted, the government is working sincerely on a War Risk Pool," he added.

Source: ET Infra. Com 

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