Mangaluru, 22 March

An LPG cargo ship from the US arrived at the New Mangalore Port on Sunday, amid the supply constraints due to the ongoing war in West Asia.

The vessel “Pyxis Pioneer”, which left Port of Nederland in Texas on 14 February, brought 16,714 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for discharge to Aegis Logistics, officials said.

The development is considered significant as Mangaluru is home to India’s largest underground LPG storage facility, which became operational in September 2025. The storage facility, located 225 metres below sea level, has a capacity of 80,000 metric tonnes.

The vessel follows the Russian “Aqua Titan” ship in reaching the port within the span of a day. “Aqua Titan”, originally headed to China, was diverted to India a few days ago. The ship arrived off the Mangaluru coast on Saturday evening carrying 7.7 lakh barrels of crude oil.

The crude is reportedly being unloaded via an offshore pipeline connected to a jetty 12 nautical miles from the shore to the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).

On Friday, the Shipping Ministry informed that New Mangalore Port has waived cargo-related charges for crude oil and LPG from 14 to 31 March. It also said that there is no congestion reported at any port.

The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes through, has sent oil and gas prices spiralling.