LPG tankers stir to hit supply in South

NAMAKKAL: Bulk LPG gas tankers would go off the roads from Wednesday midnight as the Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners Association (SRBLTOA) has decided to go ahead with their proposed strike to protest the failure of three major oil firms to finalise a new tender for a three-year period.  According to SRBLTOA president M Ponnambalam, the indefinite strike was inevitable as the oil majors did not show any interest in finalising the tender as promised. “We did not get any positive message from the oil companies even after we set a deadline. So, we are going ahead with the strike. All the 3,600 bulk LGP tankers would be held back from transporting the cooking gas,” he said.According to sources, cooking gas supply to southern states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala is likely to be hit badly if the strike continues for a few days. The bulk LPG tankers ferry the cooking gas from refineries in Mangalore, Kochi, Visakhapatam and Narimanam to the bottling plants.  There are about 50 bottling plants located in various places in Tamil Nadu including Salem, Tiruchy and Erode. This would be the second time in the last two months that the LPG tanker operators resort to a strike over the issue. Their demand is that the companies, IndianOil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation, finalise the new tenders for a period of three years starting from October 31, 2011.Industry sources said that the first strike was called off after representatives of these companies assured that two of the main issues -- finalising the tenders and the induction of an additional fleet of 560 tankers- would be resolved by February 15. However, the oil majors did not honour their promise in this regard, the sources alleged.