The strait is covered by international navigation conventions, Rajesh Kumar Singh said.
The government on Tuesday said that more Indian flagged vessels prepared to sail though the Strait of Hormuz – the only sea channel linking the oil-rich Persian Gulf with open oceans.
Sailing through strait does not require permission from any country. The movement through strait is taken by shipping companies and their contracting entities after considering safety and other conditions, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Special Secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, told media persons here.
He also rejected talks of stranded Indian vessels in the Persian Gulf being allowed to sail through the strait only after reaching some kind of an agreement with Iran, which controls the narrow shipping lane.
The strait is covered by international navigation conventions, he said. “There is freedom for navigation through the strait.”
Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers, carrying about a day’s supply of the country’s cooking gas, on Monday crossed the war-hit Strait of Hormuz and are expected to reach Indian shores on March 26/27.
LPG tankers Pine Gas is carrying about 45,000 tonnes of LPG, and it is scheduled to reach New Mangalore port on March 27, while Jag Vasant with 47,612 tonnes of LPG will reach Kandla in Gujarat on March 26, he said.
Both LPG tankers sailed through waters between Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands — possibly to make their identity clear to Iranian authorities before they cross the strait, ship tracking data showed.