Every Global Trade Chokepoint Explained
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
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Carrying about 90% of trade, maritime shipping and the waterways they pass through are vital to the global economy, with various narrow straits and canals having major impacts. So where are these chokepoints on global trade and why are they so important?
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1 - www.ics-shipping.org/shipping...
2 - www.oecd.org/ocean/topics/oce...
3 - pancanal.com/wp-content/uploa...
4 - fortune.com/2024/01/02/panama...
5 - pancanal.com/en/panama-canal-...
6 - pancanal.com/en/how-the-panam...
7 - www.ft.com/content/0dda1cb4-0...
8 - www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/bu...
9 - www.marinelink.com/news/ship-...
10 - www.ics-shipping.org/statemen...
11 - www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
12 - www.spglobal.com/commodityins...
13 - www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/Pa...
14 - www.reuters.com/world/middle-...
15 - www.theguardian.com/world/202...
16 - www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chain...
17 - www.businessinsider.com/infla...
18 - www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/det...
19 - www.reuters.com/business/ener...
20 - www.crisisgroup.org/trigger-l...
21 - www.ismworld.org/supply-manag...
00:00 Introduction
00:53 The Panama Canal
02:36 The Red Sea
04:39 The Strait of Hormuz
05:48 The Malacca Strait
07:18 Brilliant
It's marvelous how much wealth flow in the world is dependent on such narrow passages. Could you do a video on how these trade routes are kept open and policed? and how this plays out among larger players like China and US?
I'd like to see their video, but the brief version is that the US Navy currently has the role of guarantor of free trade on the high seas, so the threat of a visit by a carrier task group keeps most groups playing nice.
America. America protects global free trade and countries like China try to control it
This is actually a great idea for a video topic! Though, some of the information is secretive or sensitive. As a former Navy Sailor who has gone through the Suez Canal a few times, I was privy to some of that, so I know that there is some information that they would not be able to find
@@westrim mostly yes except for the south china sea where china plays a far greater role, also egypt and israel have considerable navies in the red sea
I like how the 7:44 stock footage shows the girl failing to catch the graduate cap and getting hit in the face.
For those wondering how the Royal Navy ended up controlling the seas during the empire period, this is how, control all the chokepoints.
Want to enter or exit the Mediterranean? Got to go through Gibraltar and Suez (both were historically British controlled. The Brits still have airbases in Cyprus to replace the Suez role).
Want to sail around South America or Africa, the Falklands and South Africa said hello?
Want to go through the Strait of Malacca? Singapore says hello.
All are current or former British colonies
Actually no, while the chokepoints were very important to the empire and global trade. The primary factor is that the empire secure those colonies at the time where they were less developed. Which is why entering the 20th century, it became increasingly problematic to hold on to the empire. The distance is simply too impractical, choke point or not, and they have increasingly less ability to keep their colonies from asserting themselves. Choke points has a lot of significance to many countries geopolitical power, but not for the empire. Which is why CANZUK is as m@r@nic a delusion as Brexit. You can't restore the empire even if they get Suez back. Loosing Suez hasten the fall, but it was never crucial factor for the rise of the empire.
@@biocapsule7311so the british holding all these choke points wasn't a major reason the royal navy controlled the seas and the world's sea trade?
Because that's what the commenter said. And none of what you've said contradicts that.
They ruled the sea by getting these choke points with aid from their massive fleet, that's undisputed, whether they were developed or not doesn't matter, nor does their involvement in decolonisation when the commenter said about the UK ruling the sea.
@@hardcorelace7565 No, the choke point made certain things more efficient, benefited certain countries, colonies at the cost to other colonies. It changed geopolitics for very selected locations. However it's not what allow the empire to 'rule the sea'. The whole premise imply that their navy rules because of how important those locations are. So if they no longer rule, something must have change. But the importance of the location didn't change, they have only grew in importance. Yet the Brit has lose everyone of them.
If what you claim is true, they wouldn't have a problem with WW2. If anything, it's their vulnerability, one of the major reasons why the empire fair rather badly in WW2, they were spread too thin. They don't have the resources or ships to cover all the territories vital to them. It wouldn't be a problem when those regions were underdeveloped. But that cease to be the case. Which is why the Empire fell like dominos. SE Asia colonies fell the moment they loose Singapore did, and Singapore fell without a fight.
The choke point benefit the empire's exploitation (not really trade as we know it) but it made the empire practically indefensible on equal footing. Too many vital spots, you take out Suez, you cut off half the empire. It got so difficult that they have no choice other then to concentrate the war effort on Britain and the Atlantic.
Minor nitpick, I'm not sure that historically the Falklands was all that significant from a naval perspective. My understanding the main initial value of islands like the Falkands was guano (bird poop is was very valuable source of nitrogen for fertiliser before the Habers-Bosch process) or whaling and it was abandoned/sparsely occupied for most of the 19th century - useful for ships (civilian and military) needing to make emergency repairs, but it didn't have a significant naval presence.
@@biocapsule7311 you do realise britain fought in Africa for the entire time italy and Germany were in Africa in ww2? And british control of Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus and alexandria/suez allowed britain to contain the Italian fleet to the med and subsequently destroy it in multiple decisive battles which required the use of air assets stationed in some of those places.
Suez cut the length of time for communication and trade to India by between 30 and 40% which vastly increased the usefulness and reduced the cost of trade/exploitation of india and Asia. British control of south africa allowed britain to be the only country other than France to be able to easily and cheaply move ships around Africa before suez was built. These choke points massively aided in making the empire profitable, as well as being very advantageous strategically as it forced much larger forces into specific areas so britain didn't need to defend large swathes of territory hence why britain could use a smaller military. India for example was defended from other European powers by its distance, as they would have to go around Africa due to British control and defense of the suez, india is also defended from the Americas and china/japans navy due to it having to go through Malaysia which is also defended by britain. Then there is the money aspect, suez generated a lot of money in tariffs for britain, the rest did so at a smaller scale if at all, but as I said they also allow for military cuts as all britain has to do is defend several choke points to make certain nations (italy and med countries) into non threats, make others (germany/france/Russia) fight in theatres britain dominates (north Atlantic) and make others have to fight in heavily defended areas before they can get to valuable areas (Japan/america). So britain only needs to garrison those areas heavily instead of using an army large enough to defend 1/4 of the worlds land which would be rather expensive and as long as britain maintains a strong fleet (which it would have to do anyways) then no one can attack the main Islands or hold any of these choke points for long. This strategy changed was used in ww2 and mostly worked, Singapore and malaysia fell due to blunders, but the rest of the important choke points held.
Military spending is a security tax that increases with the nations enemies strength and your nations size, britain had many strong enemies and a massive size yet didn't spend an equally massive amount on its military, like britain was as powerful comparatively as the usa is now, maybe even more powerful since there wasn't a rival, yet britain didn't spend 8-9x the amount on military that the nation in second did and sometimes during it's reign britain didn't even spend more on its military than its rivals yet was still more powerful.
While lower in economic implications, the Danish Straights and the Straights of the Bosporus could have strategic importance.
I don't see much strategic importance on the Danish straights, all countries are in eu and nato after all. Turkish straight could be much more interesting
@@konstantinosskarmoutsos5935 Not Russia.
Love these topics about general world geopolitics and overall strategic dynamics, every now and then it feels refreshing to have an all rounded, global point of view to put more regional news into perspective. As always, good job TLDR!
The problem with the strait of Malacca is that when China starts taking active military action against Taiwan and other areas, they will be blocked from that strait and any detour in the area because they will all be in proximity to nations what will end up being hostile to permitting China to send ships through their waters. That's a big part of the whole "9 dash line" (which became ten dashes this year), control of and access to important trade routes.
😂 How many dashes does the roc claim
I think one overlooked things is how critical certain rivers are to global trade. Like the Mississippi in the US handles around 75% of tonnage as the Danish Straights and that all uncorks at New Orleans, a very disaster prone city.
These educational videos are really cool! Thank you for making them.
@4:13 you say Shanghai but the map show Singapore...
If you want know where the choke points are just read the map of the former British empire
Started watching when I lived in montana yall have had a great impact and make wonderful content keep it up
4:14 you say shanghai but show singapore on the screen
Global trade is one "naughty" mother trucker.
(Had to bypass mods, lmao).
And then there is the arctic route that will be a better alternarive to the suez and guess who has the biggest arctic coast, the most amount of the acrtic infractructure, port and icebreakers.
Russia
What happens with Sunda Strait (Sumatra-Java Strait)? EU used the Sunda Strait before Mallaca during the Netherland-India, it's better than Lombok, TBH, is it because of the Mt. Cracatoa?
Yups... Mt. Krakatau/Krakatoa between Sumatra and Java island is a big threat... Mega tsunami/mahapralaya in ancient times when eruptions... That's why we moved our capital city Jakarta to East Kalimantan/Nusantara...
The lombok strait is deeper than sunda and malaca, that’s why bigger tanker usually past that strait.
Sundaland continental shelf, relatively shallow water in Malacca in Sunda strait than in Lombok up to Makassar strait.
@@giraffestreet yes but ppl used mallaca for decades
@@birdie3189 Yes because it's the most convenient. But for the really really big ship they use Lombok strait
05:48 there is certainly no snow at the Malacca straight.
Great video idea
Not related to this... but UK has nothing for Ukraine in the 2024 budget. You should make a video about it.
UK still pays Mudryk's wages. Lol
Yemen have the right for their water security.
Imagine if China decide to fish in the Mexican Gulf ... or build a Comerce checkpoint between Florida and Cuba on Cuba water?
Americans would meltdown haha
8:58 Hosted by Zac Michaelis??
4:16 - So, you say that the freight costs have surged by 150% . . Wonder how exactly the pricing then works. That much of a percentage increase based on miles travelled?
You'd think it is per mile travelled and like you've shown here -> 4:08 it went up from 8440mni to 11720nmi (3280nmi increase).
So, if 8440nmi is 100% of the usual costs then 11720 is 138.86%, an increase of 38.86% and not 150%. There is probably a lot more to it, ie salary costs of the sailors, insurance costs, increase in fuel prices, etc, but that only tells me the costs might have been going up regardless of the route travelled.
Either that or the kinds of ships / fuel used has to be different for a longer journey and therefore it is that more expensive? (Potentially less docking or refuelling points etc) Or the salary increase, because it is seen as "overtime" or something? Or time delay? Or just plain old greed?
Hard to say, but very interesting piece of news of how much more it costs to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.
Because if 8440nmi in 100% of the usual costs, not you're playing like you say 150% of the usual price. You're paying more than double, as if the ship actually travelled 21,100nmi.
Unless you meant to say a 50% increase to the usual price. That would be 12,660nmi travelled and would make more sense.
I suspect that it's a matter of capacity/urgency. There are only so many ships. If this month their journeys take 50% longer in time than previously, then this month they can deliver only 2/3 of what they did previously. The price may reflect what one would pay to be in the 2/3 that arrives as opposed to the 1/3 that doesn't ship.
It's called capitalism. All prices are speculative.
@@entreprenerd1963 Ah, fair point.
So, really the delay factor along with the capacity of available ships?
So, really that tells me payment and how much it is (for the shipping industries) isn't wholly depended on miles travelled or time spent on the sea (if it was it wouldn't matter, because really it would end up being about the same time spent on the sea, but less deliveries in that time), it has to do more with delivery. They probably then get paid more by delivery and the frequency / amount of those deliveries.
So them increasing prices is trying to offset those that business lost (eg. in the month of Jan so much deliveries would've been done in this month, but now they're not able to meet that usual amount and increasing the costs per delivery is them trying to break even). And they probably have to. So and so sailor or shipping guru gets paid this amount each month and debt payments are due and they have to meet their usual quota.
All that said I think my point still stands.
Percentage wise have they lost out on 150% of their usual business for travelling only 3280nmi (38.86% increase) more?
Still, thanks for the point raised. One I didn't consider and really I am just a commoner trying to understand the world he lives in a bit better :P
Keep in mind that the more fuel you have to bring along the less room you have for profitable cargo.
You forgot to add Bashi Channel, which is also a choke point between Taiwan and the Philippines.
All the choke points are in the "global south".
Keep studying geography, you'll get there one day!
They still need trade so it wouldn’t matter
@NihongoWakannai global south isn't literal south
Only because the video didn’t talk about the Danish and Turkish Straits.
Yes, baltic coubtries are my favorite south countries!
ASEAN is doing its best to keep things peaceful and moving .
What a great video
4:14 is it Shanghai or Singapore?
Exactly, they made a mistake in the map there, Shanghai is in China.
The Northwest Passage
Mexico’s Interoceanic Corridor in Tehuantepec for the win!
How come you haven't posted any news about what's been happening at the International Court of Justice today and the events leading up to it? It does have some relation to this video with the problems at the Suez Canel. Quite big news too that's currently being under-reported.
The world is getting smaller and smaller.
?
It's not actually
Or is it? ‘Vsauce music plays’
just go around the horn like a gentleman
Lucky Australia own most of the Torres strait 😊
and tasmanian strait too!
we have to bring back the Magellan strait tho to many pirates in Indian ocean
@@birdie3189 Indeed 🤠🤘
@@rizkyadiyanto7922 Indeed 💯
5:33 I see you highlighted uae but the country on the strait of hormuz is actually Oman. They have an exclave like kaliningrad specifically for this
check again
@@planetoid8251? They have the uae flag there
Why did you mention Shanghai, but show Singapore on the picture😂
Why don’t they use the Sunda Strait instead of the Malacca Strait?
Short Answer: Singapore
Long Answer: Malacca Strait literally crosses 3 Countries. Rather than taking detour, it's better to load/unload stuffs there. And Singapore's Port Management is very good.
Columbia needs to build a sea level canal thru the Darian.
They cant even build a road through it…
Its Colombia, it's Darien and the narrowest parts of the Darien jungle are still in Panama
Never heard of a country named Columbia, I guess you meant Colombia. Most of the darian gap is located in Panama, not Colombia. The area is much wider with no major rivers in order to create artificial lakes. The issue here is there's drought in the region so building a new canal would have the same issue. Also, it doesn't make sense economically.
They can't conntect both America's with a road, let alone create trans-ocean canal
Mexico already built the canal alternative
It is normally pronounced "hor-mooz" with a long "u".
But who controls the strait of Malacca? Is it international waters or is it territorial waters?
Territorial waters, controlled by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore :)
@@randomguy2108 then aren't the commenters that want a US blockade of it, effectively infringing on the sovereignty of the 3 SE nations?
@@randomguy2108 so the commenters that want a US blockade are effectively declaring war on the 3 SEA countries?
@@randomguy2108 so the people calling for a blockade of it are effectively attacking the 3 asian countries?
@@user-op8fg3ny3j not if the blockade is done with the countries' permission.
Neat
This may be a dumbass question but what if they just filter the sewage & send it to the Panama Canal & use it to mitigate the drought?
This has to be the dumbest suggestion i've ever seen.
1. Yes it's very dumb
2. Even if we don't filter for maximum water volume, it probably still won't enough
I did not think it dumb but an idea. But I doubt it’s feasible.
@@JoeeyTheeKangaroo But you have seen it.
I suppose maratime trade is more realiable, but how would Zeppelins (With modern design and technology) work for cargo transports?
Not, given their cargo capacity sucks ass. Airplanes are a better way to do that, and even they have a lot of limits.
They would work poorly. The fundamental problem with Zeppelins was and still is how much weight they can carry and their ability is seriously limited, nowhere near to what a shop can do. It's why even in terms of air transport, planes overtook them, both for passengers and cargo. Maybe in the future they could have a comeback... maybe... but at the present, they're nowhere near to what a ship or a plane can do.
Now ask which one the US needs and if the US protects all these routes but doesnt need them all why not just stop protecting a few
We need all of them, as the world economy is so globalized that if even one is put out of action it would have catastrophic effects on no just the us but its allies.
@@rexthewolf3149 Yep, the world is so interconnected now that a knock on effect on one has an impact on others, especially the big economies like the EU, US and China.
So it's in the interest of all to keep things moving for the global economy.
English Channel is more of a choke point than the straights of Malacca 😂
Какой симпатичный мужчина 🤗😋😘
Cant grow food..witout water.... money/trade isnt any good, if we're starving.
The only place with reasonable people is panama. The only commerce chokepoint I trust is Panama channel.
The panama canal is no where near as secure as the malacca straight
Yeah body..sure, making bussines with one country is always more difficult to have bussines with three countries....such a hilarious way to think@@skepabbas9400
i so want a future full of airships!!!
expect the high rise of cost in transported products...
idk how that could be better than airplanes with bigger cargo space.
Zeppelins do have the potential niche of being cheaper fuel-wise & being able to land in places airplanes can’t. I don’t think planes or boat would be replaced wholesale but there is room for them
but the VIBES! Think of the cool vibes@@dilucragnvindr130
Zeppelins or blimps simply can't carry the weight a ship or even a plane can (if you're thinking of air travel).
Very useful…. In terms of environmental impact, it probably wouldn’t hurt to make these points unusable. Certain activities would become cost prohibitive.
You forgot the one at Bosporus
It's in the honorable mentions at 7:06.
The Bosporus is important from a military point of view, keeping the balance in the Black Sea but it's not as big of a trade checkpoint as the others mentioned in the video. It's probably the same reason why the Gibraltar straight didn't appear as well, although I see the argument for both of these (and the Dardanelles) to at least be mentioned.
From this video it's very clear why South Africa is interesting in prolonging the Gaza conflict as much as possible, by hampering Israel's efforts to bring an end to Hamas. They are profiting off the conflict in a big way, with nearly all European shipping having to stop there.
Prolonging how
@@shafsteryellow The very fact of the ICC hearings slow down the war, because as long as there is no verdict, Israel wants to placate the involved parties and lower the intensity. Since the outcome must be the same, this means the war has to be longer. It's kind of like Bernoulli's equation.
Honestly what's the big deal if the Strait of Hormuz hypothetically gets blocked? The Mediterranean isn't that far off by a land route. Just send everything through either Egypt of Sudia Arabia, losing this choke isn't nearly the same deal as being forced to switch from the Suez Canal to going around Africa.
Expenses most likely. Most of the oil rich nations have ports in the Persian gulf and can sail the oil out free. Going through the Mediterranean via land route means negotiating and paying every nation between Saudi Arabia and the near east coast. As well some of the most unstable nations like Lebanon, Syria, and Palestinian West Bank are there and raise threat of attack.
There aren't currently pipelines to handle the volume, and couldn't be for a couple years even if we started immediately.
Metric!
Panama canal is done... the next few years will only be worse and traffic will gradually lower... yes with some exceptions... now transcontinental infrastructure will be the word
I may be really ignorant here but this seems to be the elephant in the room to me here.... Why don't countries simply just transport things by air? Why/how is it so much more expensive?
Because planes can't handle extremely heavy goods, nor can they handle alot of goods. Boats are great for moving alot of heavy goods. Not to mention, there's not enough planes to move everything
The total length of the largest cargo airplane ever built, the Antonov AN-225, is 84 meters. Then it got destroyed in the Ukraine-Russian war. Meanwhile, Ever Given, the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal, has a total length of 399 meters.
I can't imagine how long the airport runway for a 399-meter cargo airplane is going to be.
Water = buoyancy
Buoyancy = more weight less effort
More weight = more size
More size = more capacity
More capacity = cheaper goods
Oman we better block the oil path and tell the World our importance in the world, the US shouldn't have a right to veto
Ur gonna see why US citizens don’t have free healthcare
6th
second
FIRST yooo
One subscribe =One push-up
Is that part of your New Year's Resolution cos 585,000+ push ups will take u a loooong ass time to complete 😂
Commenting 4 algorithm
Stop referring to the Yemeni Armed forces as rebels. Do ur research they are in power not a proxy dude- let me unsubscribe 🚶 🇿🇦
Sorry, can't get on board with that pronunciation of Panama... 🤦♂️
And it’s just you
Your add segments are so bad and disruptive and unannounced that I sincerely consider not watching you guys anymore. I am NOT against adds, I am super in favor of them. Your implementation really sucks. And I watched a "feedback" video of this channel that just glosses over this. Just watch other channels and see how well it can be done!
End the Illegal occupation of Israel and stop it from committing Genocide of Palestinan people
The so called "occupied" "Palestinians" have loved since 1947 to open wars they cannot ever win at using terrorist tactics and then cry about getting ripped apart in return.
The so called "Nakba" they request the world to recognize as their national day of mourning over the Jews winning the 1947 war the Arabs themselves have opened in hopes to massacre and sabotage the UN's decision is 100% their own fault, and so is this current war which might very well mark the finish of their stupid revisionist national storytelling. Pathetic.
If UA-cam or this channel itself removes my reply to this dumb comment perhaps you should remove the revisionist defamation comment of the OP instead.
Who is illegally occupying Israel?
@@westrimnobody, it is the opposite
To be clear to everyone in the world 🌍🇮🇳🇮🇳
Indian Ocean is India's ocean no can enter in it without india acceptance of it is china 🇨🇳 or whether it is American
Strait of Malacca is control by india in Andaman Islands
Bab Al Mandan is controlled by indian navy in Seychelles and Mauritius
Strait of hormoz is controlled by military in Oman in dubm base
😂😂😂😂😂
Indian colonial empire when?
Most of the Indian ocean is out of India’s EEZ remember Indian ocean stretches out till Mauritius and Southern Africa too
Saying it in a youtube comment doesn't make it true bro.
Blocking the Malacca Strait is the same as declaring war against Indonesia. India should respect ancient agreements. The Strait of Malacca was the border between Jambudwipa and Sunda Islands/Nusantara/Dwipantara/Saptadwipa in the past. Malaka = mleccha = foreigner...
The Cholamandala-Sriwijaya war strategy will not work a second time. If you dare to join QUAD and AUKUS to close this strait, then get ready to feel the anger of the Indonesian people... Saka-Yavana-Daha-Kediri (Sundanese-Javanese), Malaya-Kamboja-Champa (Malay), Dewata Cengkar (Melanesia-Sahul), and other ethnicities that inhabit the Southeast Asian islands...
Even if the Malacca Strait is closed, port cities in ancient times such as Jepara, Semarang around Mt. Muria and the Sunda Strait are ready to open...
We are not afraid of India's Brahmos missiles and ICBM missiles from the West. Because we are sure that Rama Bargawa's ajian danurweda will be revealed to us in times of emergency. To us our land, to you your land... Like the Bharatayuda, we have air, water and land defense with Gatotkaca, Antasena/Antareja and Jayakatwang (the children of Bima) as symbols. We will defend the sovereignty of Bumi Pertiwi, our homeland...
We have even given up Kali Serayu/Bumi Majeti which is the birthplace of our ancestors namely Aji Saka/Ajiwaka/Ajivaka. In fact, the center of Buddhism for our people has been moved to Borobudur in Central Java and the center of agama Siwa for Indonesia has been moved to Mount Semeru/Mahameru in East Java due to Cholamandala-Sriwijaya war... Jiwa-Jawi-Jawa-Sukma-Atma...
Please do not disturb each other and maintain peace in the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions... QUAD and AUKUS should be disbanded...
🙏🙏🙏
Simply because it is called the Indian Ocean does not make it property of India, the ocean belongs to all the countries that have a shoreline on it.
🪔Ali Baba & Bab alMandab Thieves🪔
We Yemeni are not thives, we want to help our brothers by anything we can do, thats it
@@Proud_Hadrami🇸🇴❤️🇾🇪
this thing matter..not the politica