UN Secretary-General Warns of Near-Standstill in Shipping Through Strait of Hormuz, Threatening Global Food, Energy, and Trade Security
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has "nearly come to a standstill," threatening global food, energy, and trade security.
He stated that since the conflict began, oil prices remain about 33% to 36% higher, global container shipping rates have risen by 84% compared to a year ago or before the conflict, and the costs of essential inputs like fertilizers are also rising significantly. The right to navigate freely is a matter of international law and relates to the supply of basic goods for billions of people.
Guterres called on the relevant parties to seriously engage in the trust-building mechanism proposed by the UN task force, initially focusing on the safe passage of fertilizers and related raw materials, which could be expanded to other products.
The strait is a vital energy and trade chokepoint globally, and the significant decline in shipping has driven up prices and exacerbated hunger risks.
Due to the events, geopolitical conflicts are transmitting through shipping bottlenecks to global commodity and food costs. Beneficiaries are alternative shipping routes and stockholders, while those under pressure are energy and agricultural importing countries that rely on the strait.
Source: Public Information
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Guterres has repeatedly warned about disruptions in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Black Sea, emphasizing that food supply chains are collateral damage from the conflict. The UN established a task force in March, now proposing an actionable confidence-building mechanism to prioritize the flow of fertilizers.
On the capital front, shipping disruptions force trade to shift to longer routes and higher premiums, with resources moving from normal strait passage to detours and inventory buffers. The motivation is to maintain a minimum level of humanitarian and basic goods flow amid military standoffs, preventing price spirals from further impacting vulnerable countries.
This is similar to supply chain shocks following the 2021 Suez Canal blockage or Houthi attacks in the Red Sea; currently, we are in a phase of compounded crises with multiple straits under pressure.
Essentially, this is about regulatory changes and supply chain restructuring. The freedom of navigation under international law is factually restricted in conflicts, and the mechanism lies in partially restoring the flow of critical goods through neutral verification and de-escalation arrangements, to mitigate global inflation and worsening food security.
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- Chokepoint disruptions lead to simultaneous global cost increases
- Food becomes collateral damage from the conflict
- Freedom of navigation ultimately requires mechanism guarantees