Hello everyone, welcome back again with us in another episode of Military TV. Today,
we are going to talk about the Strait of Malacca and why it is so important to the world's
economy and military. World trade, which involves a large portion
of the world's energy supplies, must move through some "choke points" between producing
areas and their final destination. The Straits of Malacca is one of these "choke points."
The Malacca Strait, which connects Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, has long been a major
trading route into and out of Asia, and it is regaining prominence. This has been in
continuous use since antiquity, with Roman, Greek, Chinese, and Indian traders all taking
advantage of this natural river. It is now the world's second-busiest waterway. From
the 15th century to the present, its strategic importance has made it a centre of international
strife. The Suez Canal's opening in 1869 only added to the Strait's importance, as it became
a crucial connection between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, cutting the gap between Europe
and the Far East in half. More recently, it has acted as the key transit
route for essential commodities needed to fuel Asia's and the world's fast-growing economies.
In 2010, nearly half of the world's total annual seaborne trade tonnage passed through
the Strait of Malacca and the neighbouring Straits of Sunda and Lombok, according to
figures from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Study of
Maritime Transport 2011. Malacca's economic importance to Asia and the broader global
economy will rise as the region's economies develop.
In 2011, approximately 15.2 million barrels of oil were extracted every day and passed
through the Strait of Malacca, the shortest sea route between African and Persian Gulf
suppliers and Asian markets. This is approximately 19 times the volume that passed through the
Panama Canal over the same time span, and four times the volume that passed through
the Suez Canal. From the economies side,
The Strait of Malacca is one of the world's most important shipping lanes, both economically
and strategically. Don't you wonder how? The strait links major Asian economies such
as India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, China, Japan, Taiwan,
and South Korea, and is the largest shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific
Ocean. The Strait of Malacca is part of the Maritime Silk Route, which runs from the Chinese
coast to the southern tip of India to Mombasa, then through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean
through the Suez Canal, then to the Upper Adriatic region to Trieste, the northern Italian
hub with rail links to Central Europe and the North Sea.
Every year, over 94,000 vessels travel through the strait, making it the world's busiest
strait, transporting approximately 25% of the world's traded goods, including crude,
Chinese manufactured goods, coal, palm oil, and Indonesian coffee. The Strait carries
about a quarter of all oil transported by sea, mostly from Persian Gulf suppliers to
Asian markets. The strait carried an estimated 13.7 million barrels per day in 2007, rising
to an estimated 15.2 million barrels per day in 2011. It is also one of the world's most
congested shipping choke points, as it narrows to just 1.5 nautical miles deep at the Phillip
Channel (near Singapore). The maximum size of a vessel that can pass
through the Strait is known as Malaccamax, which means that the Strait's minimum depth
of 25 meters is inadequate for some of the world's largest ships (mostly oil tankers).
The 50,000 ships that travel through the Straits each year transport between one-fifth and
one-quarter of the world's sea trade. Oil is the most important transported commodity,
second only to general freight. The straits, which are just 1.5 nautical miles wide at
their narrowest point, the Phillips Channel in the Singapore Strait, are one of the world's
busiest traffic chokepoints. As a result, the Straits are important for both East Asia's
energy needs and European-Asian trade. More than a third of global trade passes through
the Straits of Malacca in both directions, according to reports.
Furthermore, when it comes to military matters, the Strait of Malacca plays a vital role.
The Chinese military's progress has focused on their forces' ability to participate in
anti-access or area-denial operations. An anti-access area denial strategy is based
on the premise that while a state cannot defeat the US in a traditional war, it can invest
in less costly alternatives that limit the US's ability to deploy its advantages. Through
the implementation of its 'Air-Sea War' doctrine, the US has developed a way of thinking about
how to fight this form of strategy. That is, matching a particular capacity to a specific
need in order to optimise the outcome while mitigating risk.
The annual haze that remains in the Straits due to raging bush fires in Sumatra is another
shipping danger. The haze can literally choke shipping by lowering visibility to as low
as 200 metres, rendering navigation dangerous on such a narrow and busy trade route.
The ecologically sensitive ecosystem of high bio-diversity bordering the Straits is being
threatened by increased shipping activities along the shipping lane and rapid growth in
coastal areas. The Malaysian government invested EUR 11 million in 256 navigational aids and
EUR 22 million in a vessel traffic control system to ensure navigational protection in
the narrow and shallow Straits. Between 1978 and 1994, there were 476 incidents in the
Straits, including oil spills, with an average of 30 accidents each year. Oil tankers make
up about 36% of the vessels passing through the Straits.
So, when it comes to the Malacca Strait, we draw conclusions.
The Straits of Malacca are important for global trade and regional cooperation advancement.
They are vulnerable to social, political, and natural disasters, but they also offer
great economic and social growth opportunities. Here are the following reasons why Malacca
Strait is so important. The Straits of Malacca transport the bulk
of European trade with China and Japan. The oil imports from the gulf states via the Straits
of Malacca account for the bulk of Japan's energy needs. As an alternative to the Northern
‘Silk Path,' the Straits have linked the Indian subcontinent with East and Southeast
Asia, as well as Europe and China, for centuries. The ASEAN area, which includes Indonesia,
Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, is at the heart of one of the developing world's growth
poles. In addition, the areas bordering the Straits are rich in natural resources, ranging
from fisheries to mangrove swamps and rain forests, from tin mining to gas and oil fields,
but they are also threatened by tidal devastation (tsunami), pollution from shipping, and industrial
pollution, and the “SIJORI” growth triangle of Singapore, Johor, and Riau is partially
realized, as is the industrial growth of the Western part of Malaysia bordering the Straits;
the industrial area around Penang, and international tourism production on the islands of Langkawi
and Phuket. Thanks for watching and we hope you enjoy
the video.