The Loadstar Leader: FMC study into maritime chokepoints forgot Hormuz

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There is considerable irony that just under a year before the US and Israel launched the attacks on Iran, the US Federal Maritime Commission announced it would launch a study into “seven international maritime chokepoints to identify any regulations, policies, or practices that create unfavorable shipping conditions”.

The seven corridors to be studied were: the Northern Sea Passage, the English Channel, the Malacca Strait, the Singapore Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Panama Canal, and the Suez Canal.

Conspicuously absent from this list was the Strait of Hormuz – a glaring oversight.

A waterway, one barely known to the wider public, through which shipping traffic passed freely just a month ago, now sits at the centre of the 24/7 news cycle. Worse still, its “reopening” is purportedly now a key US war aim despite it, to all intents and purposes, having provoked its closure. How it “reopens” may prove the more interesting development.

Aside from the terrible civilian toll of the conflict, the US commander-in-chief has inadvertently presented Iran with an unprecedented opportunity to swell its coffers; and, if reports are to be believed, they are set to capitalise on this.

From the White House’s perspective, it is an extraordinary own goal, for the rest of the world it is a massive kick in the teeth.

“Iran charges $2m for passage” headlines have blared in recent days. This new toll system has not been officially imposed, as The Loadstar understands the situation. Rather, Tehran is billing vessels up to $2m on an ad hoc basis, with suggestions some have even coughed up.

Reports are also circulating of claims from “an Iranian member of parliament” that plans are moving ahead to bring this toll system into law.

At $2m, the fee is almost double that to pass through Suez and potentially four times the cost of navigating the Panama Canal. But, for carriers – who are expected to pass the extra costs onto their customers – the toll may prove the most effective option of getting goods moving again with little sign that the Iranians are willing to negotiate with the White House.

In any case, for container shippers that extra costs may well be broadly similar to paying for trucking rates across the Saudi landbridge.

Hormuz is the latest waterway to be affected by global crisis. Caught in the grip, or sphere of influence of an aggressive Washington administration, Panama is contending with a lawsuit from the Chinese, having stripped Hutchison of its terminals – although technically a contractual dispute over port concessions, for many of those unaware of the finer details it is inextricably connected to the canal itself and competing America and Chinee interests

And in Egypt, Yemen’s Houthis rebels have shown their support for the besieged Gaza by effectively severing southern access to the Red Sea and thus partially blockading Suez. For all the mockery and (justified) vilification of Tehran, it has proved the most effective at controlling its sphere of influence without shooting itself in the foot at the same time.