Maritime & Chokepoints

Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz is the maritime chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which a large share of the world’s seaborne crude oil and LNG must transit.

The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the open ocean. It is the single most closely watched energy chokepoint on Earth because a very large share of seaborne crude oil and liquefied natural gas has no alternative route out of the Gulf.

In WorldMonitor, Hormuz is one of the chokepoints with live flow estimates: vessel activity, congestion, and disruption signals are correlated against energy markets so an operator can see whether a Gulf tension event has a plausible transmission path into oil and gas prices.

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Related terms

Maritime Chokepoint

A maritime chokepoint is a narrow passage through which a large share of global trade, energy, food, or military movement must pass, so a disruption there removes optionality from the whole system.

Automatic Identification System AIS

AIS (Automatic Identification System) is the transponder standard that broadcasts a ship’s identity, position, and course, and is the primary data source for tracking vessel traffic through chokepoints.

Chokepoint Congestion

Chokepoint congestion is an above-normal build-up of vessel traffic waiting to transit a strait or canal, detected from AIS activity and used as an early sign of disruption.

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