CHOKEPOINTS IN SEA TRANSPORTATION

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CHOKEPOINTS IN SEA TRANSPORTATION

• Adopted from https//worldgeographycylakes.wikisp
  aces.com/.../cfisdCHOKEPOINTS...

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What are chokepoints?

• Hint In your history class they might be called
  bottlenecks.
• But geographers call them chokepoints.
• Now, take a minute and imagine what a chokepoint
  or a bottleneck might look like.

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Chokepoints or bottlenecks?
Have you ever had trouble getting catsup out of
the bottle? What caused the trouble? Was it
partially caused by trying to get something too
thick through too small a place?
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Chokepoints or bottlenecks?

• Have you ever wondered how they got those ships
  into those bottles?
• How does something that big go through the narrow
  space at the top of the bottle?

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Chokepoints or bottlenecks?

• Why do people choke?
• Sometimes its because something too large got
  stuck in their throat.

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Chokepoints

• Its just the same when people try to transport
  goods around the world.
• Sometimes countries are trading one good for
  another.
• Sometimes countries are transporting soldiers or
  armaments to battle sites.
• The control of these narrow passageways is
  critical. Whoever has the control is in power.

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Chokepoints

• I have the power.
• I control the chokepoint.

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Corinth Canal (Greece)
There are approximately 200 straits ( narrow
bodies of water connecting two larger bodies of
water) around the world, but only a handful are
known as chokepoints.
httpwww.bikeabout.otg/journal/notes_96.htm
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Chokepoints

• A chokepoint is a strategic strait or canal which
  could be closed or blocked to stop sea traffic.
• The Suez Canal and the Straits of Hormuz
  (pictured on the map) are examples of chokepoints.

Strait of Hormuz
Suez Canal
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CHOKEPOINTS OR BOTTLENECKS ?
With the rise of industrial Europe and seaborne
trade, entrepreneurs thought of building a canal
to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea
directly, thus saving time either from sailing
around Africa or transporting freight across the
Suez Peninsula.
http//www.standto.com/qorsuez.html
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SUEZ CANAL
The Suez Canal was completed in 1869 under the
leadership of a French company under de Lesseps.
European capital (money) built it and operated
it.
Why would European companies be willing to fund
the building of the canal? How would it make
them more competitive?
http//people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch1en/conc1
en/suez.html
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SUEZ CANAL
Mediterranean Sea
The Suez Canal brought a new era of European
influence in Pacific Asia by reducing the journey
from Asia to Europe by about 65,000 km. The
region became commercially accessible and
colonial trade expanded.
Suez Canal
Red Sea
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The Suez Canal is only 101 miles long but was
built across the Egyptian desert. It is one of
the most significant maritime shortcuts ever
built by man.
http//people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en/conc5
en/suezconstr.html
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IMPACT OF THE SUEZ CANAL

• Shortened the route around Africa by 4,000 miles.

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SUEZ CANAL

• Shortened the route around Africa by 4,000 miles.
• Saved two weeks of shipping time.

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SUEZ CANAL

• Shortened the route around Africa by 4,000 miles.
• Saved two weeks of shipping time.
• If you can shorten your shipping time, you can
  ship more items in the same amount of time that
  it used to take.

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SUEZ CANAL

• Shortened the route around Africa by 4,000 miles.
• Saved two weeks of shipping time.
• If you can shorten your shipping time, you can
  ship more items in the same amount of time that
  it used to take.
• Tonnage shipped jumped from 500,000 tons to
  3,500,000 tons in ten years after the Suez Canal
  opened.

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• This allowed the Europeans to take a greater
  interest in the Asian markets than ever before.
• British control of the canal was viewed as the
  Lifeline of the Empire because it allowed the
  British quicker access to the colonies in Asia
  and Africa.

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Strait of Gibraltar

• Has long been fought over
• Has been held by the Phoenicians, Romans,
  Visigoths, and the Moslems
• The British won the Battle of Trafalgar defeating
  Napoleon

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OIL DEPENDENCY
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OIL DEPENDENCY

• For the past 50 years, one of the main sources of
  energy used by developed and developing nations
  has been oil.
• For nations with little of this resource,
  disruption of the availability of oil or a large
  price increase, causes economic or political
  problems.

On your paper, write down two effects of closing
a chokepoint.
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SECURING THE SUPPLY STRATEGIC POINTS OF CONCERN

• For centuries, straits such as Gibraltar have
  been protected by international law.
• In 1982, the Law of Sea Conventions further
  protected the international access for nations to
  sail through straits and canals.

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Click on each of the tankers for information
about the chokepoint.
After you have visited each of the chokepoints,
click on this button.
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Suez Canal
.

• It is the only sea route between the Red Sea and
  the Mediterranean Sea.
• With the Middle East tension, the Suez Canal is
  a prime target for many nations. In 1967, the
  Arab-Israeli War shut down the canal for 8 years.
• A third of the cargo is oil.

http//geography.about.com/library/weekly/
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BAB el MANDEB
.

• Bottleneck for traffic between the Mediterranean
  Sea and the Indian Ocean
• 3.2 million barrels of oil daily move through
  this chokepoint.
• All the nations along the Red Sea are Islamic and
  the rulers of Sudan are backed by Iran.

http//geography.about.com/library/weekly/
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STRAIT OF HORMUZ

• Critical point in the lifeline flow of oil from
  the Persian Gulf area. A quarter of the worlds
  oil supply passes through this strait. 15.5
  million barrels of oil a day pass through.
• Closely monitored by the U.S. military and its
  allies
• Connects the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea
  (part of the Indian Ocean

http//geography.about.com/library/weekly/
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Strait of Hormuz
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/choke.html
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THE BOSPORUS STRAIT

• Joins the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara

http//geography.about.com/library/weekly/
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http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/choke.html
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Strait of Malacca
http//geography.about.com/library/weekly/

• Tankers pass through this strait bordered by
  Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Located in the Indian Ocean, this strait is a
  shortcut for oil tankers traveling between the
  Middle East and the oil-dependent nations of the
  Pacific Rim (especially Japan.)
• More than 50,000 ships pass through this strait
  yearly.

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Panama Canal

• Connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean
  Sea and Atlantic Ocean
• 0.5 million barrels of oil go through it daily
• Needs to be widened

http//geography.about.com/library/weekly
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Barrels of Oil Transported through Chokepoints
Daily
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Lets recap what we know about chokepoints.

• A chokepoint is a strategic strait or canal which
  could be closed or blocked to stop sea traffic.
• The Suez Canal and the Straits of Hormuz
  (pictured on the map) are examples of chokepoints.

Strait of Hormuz
Suez Canal
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• If a chokepoint is closed, it affects world trade
  patterns, the economy and politics.
• That can lead to higher prices and/or war.
• Keeping these straits or chokepoints open is very
  important.
• The control of these narrow passageways is
  critical. Whoever has the control is in power.