5 min readNew DelhiMar 15, 2026 08:19 PM IST
India-flagged crude oil tanker Jag Laadki, which was loading oil at the UAE’s Fujairah port on Saturday when the oil terminal there came under attack, safely set sail for India from the port on Sunday morning, the government said Sunday. Jag Laadki is carrying around 80,800 tonnes of Murban crude—a crude grade produced by the UAE—and the tanker as well as all Indian seafarers on board are safe. According to ship databases, Jag Laadki was built in 2010 and is currently owned and operated by Mumbai-based Great Eastern Shipping Company.
The war in West Asia has heavily disrupted vessel movements in the region from where a sizable chunk of global energy supplies originate. While the Fujairah port is in the Gulf of Oman and ships coming from there to India don’t need to cross the perilous waters of the Strait of Hormuz—a critical maritime chokepoint where vessel movements have effectively come to a halt—the incident highlights the threat to merchant vessel safety in other parts of region as well.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Oman and Iran that connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, accounts for a fifth of global oil and gas flows. Most of the West Asian oil export infrastructure is in the Persian Gulf and needs to pass through the Strait to reach international markets. Fujairah, which is just outside the Strait of Hormuz on the south-eastern side—is among the few ports in West Asia that is not directly constricted by the Strait.
“On 14 March 2026, while the Indian-flag vessel Jag Laadki was loading crude oil at the Fujairah Single Point Mooring, the Fujairah oil terminal was attacked. The vessel sailed safely from Fujairah at 1030 hrs IST today carrying about 80,800 MT of Murban crude oil and is bound for India. The vessel and all Indian seafarers onboard are safe,” the government said in a release.
Jag Laadki is the fourth India-flagged ship to have exited the region around the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict started on February 28. Vessel tracking data shows that the tanker had departed for Fujairah from Chennai on February 26. Prior to Jag Laadki, two India-flagged LPG tankers owned by the Shipping corporation of India—Shivalik and Nanda Devi—had safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz between Friday night and Saturday morning, and were on their way to ports in Gujarat. Earlier in the week, fuel tanker Jag Prakash—also owned and operated by Great Eastern Shipping—had departed with gasoline, or petrol, from Sohar in Oman for Tanzania’s Tanga. Sohar, like Fujairah, is to the south-east of the Strait of Hormuz.
India is heavily dependent on West Asia for its energy imports, with a huge chunk of those supplies coming through the Strait of hormuz. Around 2.5–2.7 million bpd of India’s crude imports—accounting for around half of the country’s total oil imports—have transited the Strait in recent months; the longer-term average is around 40%. This oil is mainly from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait; India doesn’t buy Iranian oil due to American sanctions on Tehran. India’s dependence on the Strait for LNG and LPG supplies is greater than for crude. Roughly 60% of India’s LNG imports come through the Strait of Hormuz; the figure is a staggering 90% in the case of LPG.
India has stepped up diplomatic efforts to get a safe passage of its vessels stuck in the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday; Modi mentioned “unhindered transit of goods and energy” as one of India’s top priorities. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has also had multiple conversations with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi over the past few days, and energy shipments to India from West Asia have featured in those conversations. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on Friday that the government continues to be in constant contact with all relevant governments at various political and diplomatic levels and is making efforts to ensure that Indian vessels can achieve safe and unhindered transit to maintain the country’s energy security.
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Majority of the Indian vessels that are waiting to cross the Strait of Hormuz to get to India are oil and gas tankers. According to data provided by the Shipping Ministry, there are six LPG tankers, four crude oil tankers, one LNG carrier, and one chemical or petroleum products tanker among the 22 Indian vessels currently in the Persian Gulf. All of these are loaded with energy cargoes. The remaining Indian vessels include three container ships, two bulk carriers, one dredger, and one empty vessel; three other vessels are on dry docks for routine maintenance. In all, these 22 vessels have 611 seafarers, all of whom have been reported as safe.
“The (Shipping) Ministry continues to coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Missions, shipping companies and maritime stakeholders to ensure the safety and welfare of Indian seafarers while maintaining the continuity of maritime trade and port operations,” the government said Sunday.
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