Amid the oxygen crisis, a consignment of 11 ISO tanks filled with Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) brought in by an Indian Navy vessel from Singapore was unloaded at Vishakhapatnam port on Sunday.
The consignment was sourced by Indian Oil to tackle the oxygen shortage amid the second wave of COVID-19. Two more ISO tanks of LMO were also brought in by the same vessel, sourced by GAIL, and handled by Indian Oil, an official release said.
It said that the entire consignment was sourced by Indian Oil from M/s BNF Singapore and filled at M/s Linde at Singapore. The ISO tanks have been taken on lease by Indian Oil to handle the supply and logistics of LMO in the fight against the COVID pandemic.
The release further stated that the consignment was specifically brought in to meet the pressing demand for Medical Oxygen in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Notably, under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Indian Oil has been importing ISO tanks suitable for transporting Medical Oxygen from across the globe as demand of LMO surged unprecedently.
While over 75 per cent of the filled ISO tanks are brought in by the Indian Navy vessels, the empty containers are airlifted back by Indian Air Force to the sources of Oxygen supply.
According to the release, IndianOil sources LMO supplies from the countries including Singapore, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Indian Oil had brought many consignments of LMO into other southern states including Mangalore and Bengaluru.