Chittagong Correspondent:

Fifteen ships that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman before the US and Israel attacked Iran have started arriving at Chittagong Port. These ships had set off for Bangladesh before the closure of the strait was announced.

According to Chittagong Port sources, four of these ships carry liquefied natural gas (LNG), two carry liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and nine carry clinker, the raw material for the cement industry. In total, the 15 ships carry about 750,000 tons of goods. Of these, 12 ships have already arrived at the port and the remaining 3 are scheduled to arrive this week.

The situation surrounding the Strait of Hormuz has become tense after the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28 and Tehran's counter-attack. This has put about one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG supplies at risk.

Bangladesh imports and exports goods from Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia using the Strait of Hormuz. Due to the war situation, transportation from Oman, a country bordering the Strait, to the Gulf of Oman is also at risk. Ships from the Persian Gulf pass through this strait and enter Bangladesh via the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.

According to Chittagong Port sources, two ships named 'Al Zor' and 'Al Jasasiya' carrying 126,000 tons of LNG from Qatar have already arrived at Chittagong Port. In addition, a ship named 'Sevan' carrying LPG is scheduled to arrive at the port on Sunday. Two more ships named 'Al Galayel' and 'Lusail' are scheduled to arrive at the port's waters next Wednesday and Monday.

In total, these four ships contain about 247,000 tons of LNG. These ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz from the Ras Laffan port in Qatar two to seven days before the conflict began. On Saturday (March 7), Md. Nurul Alam, senior deputy general manager of Uni Global Business Limited, the local representative of LNG ships, said that the four ships are almost certain to reach Chittagong port.

However, another LNG-carrying ship named ‘Liberal’ is still inside the Strait of Hormuz. The ship is loaded with LNG and is waiting to cross the strait. There is uncertainty about the next shipments. Meanwhile, to avoid a supply crisis in a war situation, the government has purchased two ships of LNG at higher prices from the open market, which have not yet reached the port.

A ship named ‘Sevan’ carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is scheduled to arrive at Chittagong port on Sunday. The ship has 22,172 tons of LPG, which is coming from the Sohar port of Oman. Earlier, another LPG-carrying ship named ‘GYMM’ from the same port had arrived at the port before the war started. That ship was carrying 19,316 tons of LPG. The two ships carry about 35,000 tons of LPG belonging to Meghna Fresh LPG, a subsidiary of Meghna Group of Industries.

Earlier, a ship named ‘Bay Yasu’ carrying 5,000 tons of monoethylene glycol (MEG) arrived at the port from Shuaiba Port in Kuwait on Thursday. In addition, several other ships carrying raw materials for the cement industry, clinker, gypsum, limestone and stone, have arrived at the Chittagong port. These ships carry about 515,000 tons of raw materials, which have been brought from the Gulf region.

Those concerned said that in the 2024-25 fiscal year, about $6 billion worth of goods were imported from these countries using the Strait of Hormuz, a large part of which is energy products. However, if the situation around the strait does not normalize, there may be uncertainty about the arrival of new ships.