Context:
Review of Maritime Transport 2024 – Navigating Maritime Chokepoints Report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Maritime Chokepoints:
- Narrow, strategic geographical features such as valleys or straits that play a crucial role in global navigation and trade.
- It establishes a connection between two larger areas with each other.
- Significance –
- Providing Connectivity – Suez Canal links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, facilitating trade between Europe and Asia.
- Energy Security – Strait of Hormuz, connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, is vital for global petroleum transportation.
- Reasons for Disruptions –
- Low water levels due to climate change can affect canals like the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
- Conflicts, such as attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, can disrupt navigation and trade.
- Impacts of Disruptions –
- Disruptions can strain supply chains, increasing costs and affecting energy supplies, such as those for India.
- Rerouting ships around longer paths, like the Cape of Good Hope, raises shipping expenses.
Important Chokepoints across world:
- Strait of Hormuz – Between Iran and Oman; Connects Persian Gulf to Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea
- Strait of Gibraltar – Between Spain and Morocco; Connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.
- Strait of Malacca – Between Indonesia and Malaysia; Main shipping channel between Indian and Pacific Oceans
- Suez Canal – Egypt, connecting Mediterranean Sea to Red Sea; Shortcut for oil tankers between Europe and Asia
- Bab el-Mandeb Strait – Between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti; Connection between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden
- Turkish Straits (Bosphorus and Dardanelles; Connecting Black Sea to Mediterranean Sea
- Panama Canal – Connecting Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
- Danish Straits – Between Denmark and Sweden
- SUMED Pipeline (Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline)
- Location – Egypt.
- Most important alternative to the Suez Canal which runs from Gulf of Suez to Mediterranean Sea.
Source: UNCTAD
Previous Year Question
Between India and East Asia, the navigation time and distance can be greatly reduced by which of the following?
1. Deepening the Malacca straits between Malaysia and Indonesia.
2. Opening a new canal across the Kra Isthmus between the Gulf of Siam and Andaman Sea.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2011 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (b)
