{"id":7453,"date":"2026-03-31T22:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/?p=7453"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:09:13","slug":"friendly-nation-privilege-indias-lpg-ship-got-special-hormuz-passage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/friendly-nation-privilege-indias-lpg-ship-got-special-hormuz-passage\/7453\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendly\u2011nation privilege? India\u2019s LPG ship got \u2018special\u2019 hormuz passage"},"content":{"rendered":"

India\u2019s LPG trade, heavily dependent on seaborne shipments from West Asia, received a rare but high\u2011risk demonstration of how energy flows are being rerouted as geopolitical tensions in the Gulf continue to test the reliability of the Strait of Hormuz. The journey of the Indian\u2011flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em>\u00a0from the United Arab Emirates to India, via an unusual route along Iran\u2019s coast, has become a working case study of how trade in a critical energy commodity is adapting to an increasingly volatile chokepoint.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em>, carrying 45,000 metric tons of LPG, loaded at the UAE\u2019s Ruwais refinery complex on February 27, 2026, with an expected voyage of about a week to India\u2019s west\u2011coast terminals. Under normal circumstances, the ship would have passed through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that handles roughly 20% of global seaborne oil and LPG trade. However, by the time the tanker was ready to transit, the security environment had shifted sharply, as the Israel\u2013US attack on Iran on February 28 triggered a wave of missile and drone strikes across the Gulf region, and Iran began closing the Strait to many commercial vessels.<\/p>\n

Rather than risk being stranded in the Persian Gulf or diverting via a much longer route, the\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em> was given a special passage option. Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed the tanker to navigate a narrow channel north of Larak Island, off Iran\u2019s southern coast a route not typically used by regular commercial shipping. The Indian authorities and the ship\u2019s owner, Mumbai\u2011based Seven Islands Shipping, agreed to this route only after securing consent from all 27 Indian crew members, underlining the high level of risk associated with the passage.<\/p>\n

From a trade standpoint, what makes this rerouting significant is not just the unusual route, but the broader implications for how India\u2019s LPG supply chain responds to disruptions at a key maritime chokepoint. India is one of the world\u2019s largest importers of LPG, relying on seaborne cargoes to meet the cooking\u2011fuel needs of hundreds of millions of households. The shipment of 45,000 metric tons by the\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em> represents a meaningful slice of India\u2019s monthly LPG imports, which typically run into the millions of tons. The fact that this cargo had to be redirected originally earmarked for the west\u2011coast port of Mangaluru but later split between Visakhapatnam and Haldia on the east coast highlights how India\u2019s trade logistics are having to become more flexible and resilient, potentially at higher costs.<\/p>\n

The rerouting adds operational and commercial layers to India\u2019s LPG trade. Using a non\u2011standard channel such as the route north of Larak Island means the vessel must navigate tighter waters, with limited room for error, and likely under heightened naval supervision. The Indian Navy, which has long maintained a presence in the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea to secure sea lanes, provided escort from the Gulf of Oman into the Arabian Sea for about 20 hours, underscoring the convergence of military and trade interests. The Indian government has confirmed that Indian\u2011flagged vessels are being accompanied by navy ships after they transit the Strait, a move that lends some security to commercial flows but also signals that such passage is now high\u2011risk rather than routine.<\/p>\n

Crucially, the Indian authorities and ship\u2019s operator report that the transit did not involve any direct fee or boarding by Iran\u2019s forces, reinforcing the perception that Iran is selectively allowing LPG and other energy shipments from \u201cfriendly\u201d nations such as India, China, Russia, Iraq, and Pakistan. For India, this selective access has two trade\u2011related dimensions: first, it preserves access to LPG supplies at a time when many other Gulf\u2011bound cargoes are being delayed or rerouted, helping to cushion downstream price spikes; second, it introduces added uncertainty, because the continuity of such preferential access depends on highly fluid political and military calculations, not on predictable commercial rules.<\/p>\n

The broader context for India\u2019s LPG trade also matters. The country has repeatedly urged households to avoid panic bookings and to shift, where possible, to piped natural gas to reduce dependence on imported LPG. Yet, the fact that substantial volumes continue to move by sea, including on high\u2011risk routes, speaks to both the structural dependence on foreign LPG and the limited scope for rapid diversification of supply or transport routes. The closure or partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, even if temporary, has already pushed up global shipping and insurance costs, and examples such as the\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em>\u00a0show how, at the operational level, trade actors are accepting greater risk to keep critical flows moving.<\/p>\n

In trade\u2011policy terms, the tanker\u2019s journey reflects a growing trend where commercial decisions are being made under the shadow of military and geopolitical actions. For India, the experience of the\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em>\u00a0underscores the importance of diversifying supply routes, strengthening coastal and inland gas infrastructure, and building deeper bilateral energy\u2011security cooperation with Gulf partners. From a trade\u2011finance perspective, it also highlights the rising costs of insuring Gulf\u2011origin shipments and the potential need for governments and shipping companies to share more risk so that essential commodities such as LPG do not suddenly become less available or more expensive for consumers. In a world where energy chokepoints are no longer taken for granted, the\u00a0Pine Gas<\/em>\u00a0episode is a stark reminder that everyday trade in basic commodities can hinge on extraordinary, high\u2011stake navigation decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India\u2019s LPG trade, heavily dependent on seaborne shipments from West Asia, received a rare but high\u2011risk demonstration of how energy\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":482,"featured_media":7455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[4535,4527,4524,4532,4521,4528,4522,4531,4525,4526,4534,4529,4530,4523,4533],"class_list":["post-7453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-news","tag-domestic-lpg-crunch","tag-energy-chokepoint","tag-gulf-energy-trade","tag-hormuz-rerouting","tag-hormuz-trade-disruption","tag-india-energy-security","tag-india-lpg-imports","tag-india-flagged-tankers","tag-india-iran-energy-relations","tag-lpg-trade-routes","tag-lpg-transportation","tag-maritime-trade-risk","tag-selective-trade-access","tag-strait-of-hormuz-shipping","tag-trade-and-geopolitics"],"reading_time":"5 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7453"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7456,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions\/7456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}