Disrupting just one of the world’s eight major Maritime Chokepoints could have a devastating impact on global food security and put millions of people at risk. This was the main warning from researchers at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of the International Affairs, who used heat maps based on the Automatic Identification System for Ships (AIS). Data and expert opinion from the shipping industry will be used to explore the impact of the Sea Canal closure on food supply chains. Another study published just one month later by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that halting supply shortages, even temporarily, would lead to significant increases in overall energy costs and global energy prices. I warned you that there is a possibility of a connection With Modern Maritime Trade Routes.
Maritime Chokepoints
A Maritime Chokepoints is a substantially narrow waterway that connects two bodies of water along a broad shipping channel. The world’s most important checkpoints include the Panama Canal, the Turkish Strait, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal, the Malacca Strait and the Strait of Hormuz. Alternative routes, such as the Nicaragua Canal and the Kula Canal, are currently being considered, but no realistic alternative route has yet been found.
More than half of the internationally Modern Maritime Trade Routes corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans, which together account for more than 60% of the world’s food energy intake and protein feed supplies, travel through at least one of these corridors. It is transported through. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has no emergency response system to help regulate oil markets, but there is no equivalent mechanism to manage the overall risk of major disruptions to food supplies, Chatham House has warned. He also called on policymakers to take immediate action to reduce these risks.
Types Of Maritime Chokepoints
Strait Of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important Maritime Chokepoints. The Strait of Hormuz is considered a vital bottleneck with no alternative, giving ships direct access to the closed Persian Gulf. Only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, ships traveling to and from China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Singapore can only navigate within a 2-mile-wide channel in either direction. EIA estimates that almost 30% of the world’s overall crude oil and other liquids and 30% of the world’s LNG trade pass through this bottleneck. Many countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and also Oman, are considered the most dependent on food imports in the world.
Regarding oil, only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have pipeline capacity to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, and other potential diversion options to bypass Hormuz are not currently operational. Chaos is not new to the Strait. In 2015, an Iranian patrol boat opened fire on a cargo ship and then seized it. Chatham House notes that Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is a long-standing concern for oil markets, while climate change could cause cyclones over Hormuz in the near future.
Panama Canal
An important Maritime Chokepoints Western and Asian markets is via the Panama Canal. The canal was recently expanded for the first time since 1914 to allow larger ships to pass through the locks. This bridge, 80 miles long and only 110 feet wide, handles major U.S. corn and soybean exports to Asian markets. This value is expected to explode in the near future, with the Chinese demand expected to account for nearly half of global food demand growth by 2050.
The country’s soybean imports are expected to total more than 100 million tons per year by 2025. Over the past decade, the canal has experienced a number of disruptions, particularly due to extreme weather events. Floods, drought and fog have caused temporary closures, restrictions and delays. There are certainly alternatives to the canal. If necessary, the ship could reroute via the Straits of Magellan, Cape Horn, and the Drake Passage, but this would add 8,000 miles to her itinerary and the high costs associated with such a detour.
Bab El-Mandeb Strait
Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a narrow strait between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, serves as the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The tanker is only 18 miles long at its narrowest point and must squeeze through a navigation space that is 2 miles wide in both directions. It is also one of the three important checkpoints allowing access across the Mediterranean to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, countries that import 70% of their wheat. Additionally, 32% of the world’s most commonly traded fertilizer, potassium chloride, passes through the Strait.
Its closure means European and North African oil flows will no longer be able to reach Asian markets via the most direct route, with tankers leaving the Persian Gulf reaching the Suez Canal or Sumed pipeline. You won’t be able to do anything. Armed conflict and also political instability in the region appear to be the most common causes of disruption so far. In 2015, Saudi airstrikes closed all of Yemen’s major ports, rebels fired anti-ship missiles at UAE ships the following year, and there were several attacks on ships passing through the Strait throughout 2017. Chatham House researchers now warn that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait continues to face the effects of the conflict in Yemen and destabilization in neighboring Somalia.
Strait Of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is Asia’s most important Maritime Chokepoints. Providing ships with the shortest route between suppliers in the Persian Gulf and. Asian markets such as China, Japan, South Korea and the Pacific Ocean. From an oil flow perspective, this Strait primarily transports crude oil, with the rest being petroleum products. The narrow 1.7-mile passage that ships must pass through is a “natural bottleneck. With the potential for collisions, groundings and oil spills,” the EIA said.
According to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy and Reporting Center, piracy, attempted theft and hijacking. Are among the main threats, with ships increasingly becoming victims of attacks. However, the EIA warned that diversion is not a viable option as it could tie up global transport capacity. Increase transport costs and impact energy prices. It would also disrupt trade in LNG from suppliers in the Persian Gulf. And also Africa to major importing countries such as Japan and South Korea. A bypass option for oil supplies is provided by China and Myanmar. With the Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline opened and fully operational in June this year. At the same time, 18% of the world’s grain trade passes through this Strait, with no alternative means of transport.
Suez Canal
Suez Canal One of the most famous corridors in the world. The Suez Canal is located in Egypt and connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It has experienced significant growth over the past two decades. With the region’s wheat imports via the Suez Canal increasing by 120% between 2000 and 2015. Although primarily dealing with food trade, oil and LNG also accounted for 17% and 6% of Suez’s total cargo, respectively.
Like the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal was expanded in 2010. To accommodate all container ships and most bulk carriers in the world. Like the world’s other major maritime Maritime Checkpoints. The canal appears to be at risk from a combination of storms. And attacks on ships over the past seven years. Chatham House is now warning that an increase in terrorist activity. And attacks in the Sinai Peninsula could increase the risk of an attack on the Suez Canal.
