Relief at Last: Stranded Bangladeshi Ship MV Banglar Joyjatra Finally Heads for the Strait of Hormuz
After weeks of anxious waiting in the Persian Gulf, a familiar sight for Bangladeshi sailors has finally changed. The MV Banglar Joyjatra, a Bangladesh-flagged vessel owned by the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, lifted anchor early this morning and is now steaming toward the Strait of Hormuz. It is a quiet but deeply welcome step forward that ends 28 days of uncertainty for 31 Bangladeshi crew members who have been caught in the middle of a conflict far from home.
The ship set sail from Saudi Arabia’s Ras Al Khair Port at 8am Bangladesh time on April 8, right after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between the United States and Iran. For the crew, it must have felt like the first real breath of fresh air in nearly a month. Commodore Mahmudul Malek, managing director of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, confirmed the move. He explained that the vessel is carrying around 37,000 tonnes of fertiliser. “It takes about 40 hours to reach the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz from here,” he told reporters. “Our instruction is for the vessel to remain in a safe position before crossing. We will monitor the situation closely, stay in touch with Iranian authorities, and only proceed once we get the green light from Bangladesh.”
As of early afternoon, ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the Banglar Joyjatra moving steadily through the Persian Gulf at around 9.5 knots, with a draft of 10.8 metres. Nothing dramatic. Just a cargo ship doing what cargo ships are meant to do. Yet after everything that has happened, it feels anything but ordinary.
The story of how the ship ended up stuck is a textbook case of how quickly regional tensions can upend everyday maritime life. The Banglar Joyjatra had entered the Persian Gulf back on February 2 after crossing the Strait of Hormuz on a routine run from India. It loaded steel coils in Qatar, then docked at Jebel Ali Port in the UAE on February 27 to unload. The very next day, the situation exploded. The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and Tehran hit back hard across the region. Overnight, the world’s most critical oil chokepoint became a no-go zone.
By March 11, after finishing its discharge at Jebel Ali, the ship was supposed to pick up new cargo in Kuwait. Instead, the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation made the prudent call to pull it back to safer waters. The crew started the return journey toward the Strait of Hormuz, only to turn around again when security risks spiked even higher. For nearly four weeks they sat idle, watching and waiting while the world held its breath.
Now the ceasefire has changed everything. The vessel is once again on the move, but everyone involved is playing it cautious. Authorities are keeping a close eye on developments before committing to the actual crossing. It is a sensible approach. After all, a two-week truce is a start, not a guarantee.
This is not the only Bangladeshi-linked ship affected. A separate crude oil tanker, the Nordic Pollux, remains stuck at Ras Tanura Port in Saudi Arabia with 100,000 tonnes of oil worth roughly Tk600 crore destined for Bangladesh. Commodore Malek noted that no clearance has come through for it yet, partly because it is operated by a US-linked company. The Banglar Joyjatra got the nod to move first precisely because it has that window to reach the strait entrance and wait for final approval.
In the grand scheme of things, this is more than just one ship’s journey. It is a small but tangible sign that the worst of the immediate crisis might be easing. For the 31 sailors aboard, fathers, brothers, and sons from coastal towns across Bangladesh, the past month has been a test of patience and nerves. They have been doing what seafarers do best: staying professional while the world outside their hull turned chaotic.
As the Banglar Joyjatra pushes forward at a measured pace, families back home will no doubt be tracking its progress on their phones, hoping the next update brings even better news. For now, the ship is moving again, the fertiliser is bound for its destination, and a corner of the global supply chain that had ground to a halt is slowly, carefully, coming back to life. In the unpredictable waters of the Middle East, that is about as good as it gets.
