<p>Sea freight carries about 84% of global trade by volume, but a large share of it squeezes through a few narrow corridors. Before the Iran War, between 90 and 120 vessels a day crossed the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran started to attack commercial ships and lay sea-mines in the Strait, insurers withdrew their war-risk cover and the daily traffic fell to below 10 vessels. Within weeks, petrochemical producers in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had declared force majeure, in a chain that began with Gulf naphtha and ended in factories with no visible link to the Gulf. Yet Hormuz is just one of 13 critically-important global maritime passageways. A study in <em>Nature Communications, </em>a scientific, peer-reviewed journal, puts the value of trade at risk of disruption at $191.5 bn a year, or about 0.77% of global maritime trade. </p><p>Many enterprises, if asked only a year or two ago about maritime risks, may not have even mentioned Hormuz as an item that was keeping them up at night. While the risk of another, Hormuz-like situation elsewhere in the world remains low, it is non-zero. This interactive piece looks at how a disruption in other key chokepoints could impact businesses, and the potential channels through which this impact may be felt.</p>
<p>Sea freight carries about 84% of global trade by volume, but a large share of it squeezes through a few narrow corridors. Before the Iran War, between 90 and 120 vessels a day crossed the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran started to attack commercial ships and lay sea-mines in the Strait, insurers withdrew their war-risk cover and the daily traffic fell to below 10 vessels. Within weeks, petrochemical producers in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had declared force majeure, in a chain that began with Gulf naphtha and ended in factories with no visible link to the Gulf. Yet Hormuz is just one of 13 critically-important global maritime passageways. A study in <em>Nature Communications, </em>a scientific, peer-reviewed journal, puts the value of trade at risk of disruption at $191.5 bn a year, or about 0.77% of global maritime trade. </p><p>Many enterprises, if asked only a year or two ago about maritime risks, may not have even mentioned Hormuz as an item that was keeping them up at night. While the risk of another, Hormuz-like situation elsewhere in the world remains low, it is non-zero. This interactive piece looks at how a disruption in other key chokepoints could impact businesses, and the potential channels through which this impact may be felt.</p>
