Maritime choke points

Free navigation on our oceans?

Around seventy percent of the planet is covered by water, and we could be led to believe that everyone can travel and navigate wherever they want.

It is a little more complicated than that.

There are nations that have jurisdictions in the seas adjacent to their land and there are international maritime traffic regulations. Together these limit the notion of free navigation in many parts of the world.

Freedom of navigation on the high seas historically has been governed by customs and bilateral agreements between nations. It was only with the creation of UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) in 1982 that freedom of navigation became a right for all states.[1]

So in principle, ships could travel wherever they wanted.

However there are many places in the world where passage by sea is hindered by natural or artificial obstacles. Narrow straits or channels or canals or waterways passing through the territory of neighbouring countries.

These restrictive routes are often called maritime choke points and there are many.[2]

Often, their value to the shipowner is that they reduce transit time on a voyage thus lowering transport costs. The downside is that they are heavily trafficked and demand a high level of operational skill and they can also be subject to political interference by neighbouring countries. Examples are the closure of the Suez Canal during war, piracy that disrupts passage in the Gulf of Aden and the attacks by Iran on tankers in the Straits of Hormuz leading to the oil rich states in the Arabian Sea.

[3]

 

It was the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that came into effect in 1994 that changed the seascape of the world’s oceans by giving rights to maritime nations over their adjacent seas.

The seas from the coast for 12 nautical miles are territorial waters and are subject to the jurisdiction of the maritime state, a sort of extension of the maritime state’s authority. Freedom of navigation is allowed here.

The next 12 nautical miles is called the contiguous zone in which the coastal State may exercise the control necessary to prevent and punish infringements of its customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws within its territory or territorial sea.

The EEZ (Economic Exclusive Zone) extends 200 nautical miles from the coast and gives the maritime state jurisdiction over living and non-living resources such as fish and minerals.

International waters are generally accepted to be the seas beyond the territorial limit of 12 nautical miles and in which no country has jurisdiction and where there is freedom of navigation. However there are many disputes over these areas. Perhaps the most noticeable is the Northwest passage which is designated international water, but which Canada and the USA consider internal waters. The Northern Sea Route north of Russia is another example of contested seas.

Controlling and policing these areas is controversial and is open to abuse where commercial ships have been hindered in their voyage as in SE Asian waters.

 [4]Another layer of restriction appears with marine traffic control, and this applies especially in straits and around conspicuous headlands such as the English Channel. A Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) is a service that provides for the safe navigation of ships. It is a mandatory scheme in territorial waters. In the English Channel and Dover straits this means that east-going vessels follow the French coast traffic lane and west-going traffic follows the English coast traffic lane. Segregation of traffic with one-way systems provides the necessary safety for vessels.

So the worlds seas have restrictions and some control to both help the seafarer and to protect the marine environment.

References

‘Cross Channel Atlas - Channel Space’. Accessed 14 September 2023. https://atlas-transmanche.certic.unicaen.fr/en/page-376.html.

‘Freedom of Navigation’. In Wikipedia, 7 May 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Freedom_of_navigation&oldid=1153545793.

Magazine, Hakai. ‘In Graphic Detail: Choked Off’. Hakai Magazine. Accessed 17 June 2023. https://hakaimagazine.com/videos-visuals/in-graphic-detail-choked-off/.

Staff, BRINK Editorial. ‘World Oil Trade Hinges on These 8 Vulnerable Chokepoints’. BRINK – Conversations and Insights on Global Business. Accessed 17 June 2023. https://www.brinknews.com/world-oil-trade-hinges-on-these-8-vulnerable-chokepoints/.

 

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[1] ‘Freedom of Navigation’.

[2] Magazine, ‘In Graphic Detail’.

[3] Staff, ‘World Oil Trade Hinges on These 8 Vulnerable Chokepoints’.

[4] ‘Cross Channel Atlas - Channel Space’.