Malacca Strait could be the next hinge point if Asia isn’t careful
Straits like Hormuz and Malacca are pressure points where commerce and power converge. What once defined success now defines vulnerability
Whether diplomacy can prevent a wider economic rupture remains uncertain. But one lesson is already clear: the Strait of Hormuz is no longer just a regional security problem. It is a warning about every strategic chokepoint on which the global economy depends. Shipping security is hard power in real time, and strategic straits have become pressure points where geography, commerce and power collide. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the Strait of Hormuz.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that around 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products passed through Hormuz in 2025, roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade, with about 80 per cent of those flows destined for Asia. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates rely on the route for liquefied natural gas exports, which together account for nearly a fifth of global LNG trade.
Hormuz disruption showed how quickly a chokepoint can become a macroeconomic event. Global oil supply fell by 10.1 million barrels per day in March, the largest disruption in history, as oil prices recorded their largest-ever monthly gain and North Sea Dated crude traded around US$130 a barrel, about US$60 above pre-conflict levels.