THERE are any number of reasons why shipowners have an interest in the continued stability of Iran, and not the least of them is that the country controls the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that provides the only deepsea access to much of the Middle East Gulf.
Every single day, the equivalent of 15 suezmaxes traverse the strait. Over a year, that equates to vessels carrying a full 20% of world crude consumption.
If you need a reminder of what can happen when local politics gets out of hand, look back no further than the so-called tanker war of the 1980s, in which 546 merchant vessels were damaged and 430 civilian seafarers were killed.
The outcome of the Iran’s present political turmoil — which has seen demonstrations on a scale unprecedented since the downfall of the Shah in 1979 — remains unclear. But the worry has to be that widespread unrest can only have a deleterious impact regionally.
Whatever one’s sympathies in this matter, it remains crucial not just for shipping, but the world economy as a whole that the oil continues to flow.
It is a big ask, given the level of protection against piracy that shipping now expects in the Gulf of Aden. But if the worst comes to the worst, the world’s navies may yet find themselves called upon to offer their services to this end.
