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Strategic Importance of Maritime Chokepoints
Comparison of impact potential of primary maritime bottlenecks.
Primary Sources
The Importance of the Strait of Malacca
📋 Table of Contents What Is the Strait of Malacca? Geography and Physical Characteristics A Brief History of the Strait Why the Strait of Malacca Is So Important Trade Volume and Key Statistics Who Uses the Strait of Malacca? Energy Security: Oil, LNG, and the Strait What Happens If It Is Disrupted? Who Would Be Affected by a Closure? Current Threats and Risks Proposed Alternatives Conclusion What Is the Strait of Malacca? The Strait of Malacca is the principal maritime corridor connecting the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and, through it, the wider Pacific Ocean. It runs between the western coast of the Malay Peninsula (Malaysia and Singapore) to the north and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the south. At its narrowest point — the Phillips Channel near Singapore — the waterway is only about 2.8 kilometres (1.7 miles) wide, making it one of the most congested shipping passages in history. In geopolitical terms, the Strait of Malacca is a chokepoint — a narrow stretch of water where maritime traffic must funnel through, giving it outsized strategic and economic significance. Simply put: if the strait shuts, a catastrophic portion of global trade has nowhere to go. “The Strait of Malacca is to global trade what the jugular vein is to the human body — not the largest vessel, but the one whose obstruction is most immediately fatal.” Figure 1: The Strait of Malacca — the narrow corridor connecting the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. (Source: StraitMalacca.com) Geography and Physical Characteristics The strait stretches approximately 800 kilometres (500 miles) in length, running from the Andaman Sea in the northwest to the Singapore Strait in the southeast. Its width narrows progressively from around 250 km in the north to less than 3 km near Singapore. Key Physical Facts 📐 Physical Characteristics at a Glance 📏Length: ~800 km (500 miles) ↔️Width (narrowest point): ~2.8 km — Phillips Channel, Singapore 📐Width (widest point): ~250 km in the northern approaches ⚓Minimum navigable depth: ~25 metres in the main channel — limiting very large crude carriers (VLCCs) 🌍Bordering countries: Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia 🌊Connected bodies: Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the Singapore Strait / South China Sea 🚢Traffic separation scheme: Managed since 1981, co-administered by Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia The shallow depth of certain sections means the very largest fully laden supertankers — specifically Ultra Large Crude Carriers (U...
Immediately Restore Freedom of Navigation through Strait of ...
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Hormuz crisis erodes global maritime legal order, Kuala Lumpur ...
The Hormuz crisis is eroding the international legal framework governing freedom of navigation ... Strait of Malacca, through which approximately 40% of global ...
Security Council Demands Freedom of Navigation in Hormuz as ...
... Strait is evolving into a systemic risk for global trade. More than ... Straits of Malacca and Singapore carry even more oil than Hormuz. The debate ...
