Chokepoint
Strait of Hormuz
The Gulf to the Arabian Sea
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf to the Arabian Sea and is around 33 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes narrower still. UNCTAD records it as carrying roughly 11 per cent of maritime trade and about a third of global seaborne oil exports. Its defining characteristic is that, unlike most chokepoints, there is no practical sea alternative.
What passes through it
- A large share of seaborne crude oil and LNG exports
- Petrochemicals and refined products from Gulf refineries
- Container services calling at Gulf ports
Typical disruption
- Regional tension affecting commercial navigation
- Vessel detentions and inspections
- GPS interference reported by vessels in the area
- Insurance capacity for the corridor tightening or withdrawing
The alternative, and what it costs
There is no comparable sea route. Some oil can move by overland pipeline to terminals outside the Gulf, at limited volume. For container and project cargo out of Gulf ports, a disruption here has no straightforward workaround.
What this means for your suppliers
Exposure here is usually indirect. Few finished goods transit Hormuz, but energy and petrochemical feedstock prices move quickly, and those feed into plastics, packaging and transport costs within weeks.
If you buy anything petrochemical-derived, treat a Hormuz disruption as an input-cost signal rather than a transit-delay signal.
Because there is no alternative routing, mitigation is commercial rather than logistical: forward cover, alternative suppliers outside the region, or accepting the price.
Other chokepoints
The rest of the map
See it against your own lanes
We load a sample of your suppliers, run a live scenario, and show which orders would slip.