Govt says 18 ships, 485 seafarers safe in Persian Gulf amid West Asia tensions

Amid the escalating conflict in West Asia, which has raised concerns over energy security, the Centre on Monday (March 30) said that currently there are 18 Indian ships in the Persian Gulf, adding that all 485 seafarers on board the vessels were safe with no maritime incidents being recorded in the past 24 hours.

Addressing a joint inter-ministerial briefing, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Rajesh Kumar Sinha stated that ports across the states were functioning without any congestion.

"A total of 18 Indian ships in the Persian Gulf with 485 seafarers are all safe. No maritime incidents reported in the last 24 hours," said Sinha as quoted by ANI.

Shipping operations and coordination

"Two LPG carriers with 94,000 metric tonnes are expected to dock at Mumbai and New Mangalore ports on March 31 and April 1," he added. The official stated that the government continues to ensure uninterrupted maritime operations and energy supply.

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Highlighting the coordination between the ministries, Sinha said that the Shipping Ministry was regularly in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions abroad, and other stakeholders in the maritime sector.

Fertiliser supply position

During the briefing, Aparna S Sharma, Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilisers, assured that the country holds adequate stocks of urea and DAP for the upcoming Kharif season despite a temporary dip in domestic output.

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"Urea and DAP are being made available to farmers at regulated prices: Rs 266 per 45 kg bag of Urea, and Rs 1,350 per 50 kg bag of DAP,” she added.

Rising input costs

Pointing out rising global costs, Sharma said that there has been a sharp surge in the prices of several key feedstocks in the global market.

"Other key feedstocks such as ammonia, sulfur, and sulfuric acid are also of critical importance to us for our domestic production, which has been impacted. Amidst the prevailing situation, there has been a significant surge in the prices of all these commodities in the global fertiliser market, and our freight and related costs have also risen. Domestic urea production has been impacted...Our overall stock position as of today stands at 180 LMT," she added.