Strait of Malacca
| Strait of Malacca | ||
|---|---|---|
| Connects waters | Andaman Sea | |
| with water | South China Sea | |
| Separates land mass | Sumatra | |
| of land mass | Malay Peninsula | |
| Data | ||
| Geographical location | 1 ° N , 103 ° E | |
|
||
| length | 800 km | |
| Smallest width | 2.8 km | |
| Greatest depth | 200 m | |
| Coastal towns | Malacca , Singapore . | |
| Islands | (numerous) | |
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The Malacca Strait is a strait in Southeast Asia between the Malay Peninsula and the northeast coast of Sumatra . It connects the Andaman Sea with the Strait of Singapore , the South China Sea and the Karimata Strait (the latter continues to the Java Sea ). It lies completely above the Southeast Asian continental shelf and is therefore a maximum of about 200 meters deep.
From the city-state of Singapore in the south to the northern coast of Sumatra, the distance is around 800 kilometers with a width between 50 and 300 kilometers. At the southern end there are numerous passages between Singapore, the Indonesian Riau Islands and the east coast of Sumatra, some of which are considerably smaller and at the shallowest point a depth of only about 25 meters.
Economical meaning
Most economically important are the ports of Port Klang in the immediate vicinity of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and that of the city-state of Singapore . The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest waterways in the world, with around 2000 ships passing through it every day. Between 20 and 25% of the world trade carried by sea shipping passes through this strait.
With the construction of ever larger ships, Malakka Street could develop into a bottleneck for the dimensioning of ships in the foreseeable future. Malakkamax ships , however, which will fully exploit the depth of the passage, are only in the planning stage;
Again and again there were plans for a direct water connection over the isthmus of the Malay Peninsula in southern Thailand to connect the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea through a navigable canal (" Kra Canal " or "Thai Canal"). Such a connection would massively devalue the use of the Strait of Malacca and the port of Singapore and make their use largely unnecessary. Experts estimate the construction costs of such a sewer to be up to 28 billion dollars.
The construction of the Chinese oil and gas pipeline along the Silk Road with the Xinjiang junction is expected to relieve the waterway to a certain extent .
The fishing industry is carried out via Jermal platforms.
Strategic importance
Due to the high volume of shipping traffic for imports, exports and energy supplies in the Asian countries, especially China , the Strait of Malacca is of great strategic importance. In terms of security policy, China is faced with the “Malacca dilemma”, as the USA could easily block this lifeline for China's economy and energy in the event of a conflict. However, other Asian states such as India , Japan , South Korea and the ASEAN members, but also Europe and the USA, are economically dependent on the free passability of the Strait of Malacca. Because of this importance, the Strait of Malacca is also known as the "aorta of the Indo-Pacific region ".
It has long been one of the hardest hit by also according to their importance, especially for the oil trade pirate infested waterways. On January 9, 2004 z. B. the tanker Cherry 201 hijacked. After long ransom negotiations, four seamen were shot dead by the pirates. However, the security policy problem of piracy is now considered to have been successfully overcome.
In the strait the battle of the Strait of Malacca took place during the Second World War .
Trivia
In the film Alice in Wonderland: Behind the Mirrors , the protagonist Alice fights against an attack by pirates in the Strait of Malacca on a crossing from China to England .
literature
- Michael Stehr: Piracy and Terror at Sea. Non-state violence on the world's oceans from 1990 to 2004. Köster, Berlin 2004.
- Munich Re: Piracy - Threat at sea. A risk analysis. Munich Reinsurance Company, Munich 2006.
Web links
- Michael Richardson: Asia's Middle East Oil Dependence: Chokepoints on a Vital Maritime Supply Line ( Trends in Southeast Asia, 1/2007, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore - PDF, 32 pp., 169 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information according to Google , confirmed in the Diercke World Atlas (139th edition 1968, page 104): The 200-meter line only begins west of Phuket or Malaysia and north of Kutaraja or Sumatra .
- ↑ http://benmuse.typepad.com/ben_muse/2007/03/panamax_malacca.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/jan/27/pollution.uknews
- ↑ http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2000/10/megaships_the_b.html
- ↑ See also Panamax and Suezmax .
- ↑ Wolfgang Hirn: Challenge China . Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn, 2006, p. 198.
- ↑ China.org.cn: China is building oil and gas pipeline along the Silk Road, September 21, 2005.
- ^ Felix F. Seidler: Maritime Power Shifts in the Indo-Pacific Area: Geopolitical and Strategic Trends. (PDF; 590 kB) (No longer available online.) Institute for Security Policy CAU Kiel , p. 3 , archived from the original on August 22, 2013 ; accessed on March 11, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael Schuman: How to Defeat Pirates: Success in the Strait. Time Magazine , accessed February 1, 2013 .