Chokepoint

A maritime chokepoint is a narrow, congested passage whose closure or disruption would sharply constrain global trade, concentrating risk into a few miles of water. The classic eight are Hormuz, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, Malacca, the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, the Danish Straits, and the Cape route alternative. Chokepoints drive war-risk pricing, naval presence, and contingency routing because a single incident, a grounding, a strike, or a blockade can ripple through supply chains worldwide.