The Strait of Malacca connects the Pacific Ocean to the east with the Indian Ocean to the west.
The
Strait of Malacca is a narrow, 805 km (500 mile) stretch of water between
Peninsular Malaysia (West
Malaysia) and the
Indonesian island of
Sumatra. It is named after the Empire of
Melaka that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.
Economic importance
From an economic and strategic perspective the
Strait of
Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.
The strait is the main shipping channel between the
Indian Ocean and the
Pacific Ocean, linking major Asian economies such as
India,
China,
Japan and
South Korea. Over 50,000 (94,000?) vessels pass through the strait per year, carrying about one-quarter of the world's traded goods including oil, Chinese manufactures, and Indonesian coffee.
About a quarter of all oil carried by sea passes through the strait, mainly from Persian Gulf suppliers to Asian markets such as China, Japan, and South Korea. In 2006, an estimated were transported through the strait.
[, Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy]The maximum size of a vessel that can make passage through the Strait is referred to as
Malaccamax. The strait is not deep enough (at 25 metres or 82 feet) to permit some of the largest ships (mostly
oil tankers) to use it. A ship that exceeds Malaccamax will typically use the
Lombok Strait,
Makassar Strait,
Sibutu Passage and
Mindoro Strait instead. At
Phillips Channel near
Singapore, the Strait of Malacca narrows to 2.8 km (1.5 nautical miles) wide, creating one of the world's most significant traffic
choke points.
Shipping hazards
Piracy in the strait has risen in recent years. There were about 25 attacks on vessels in 1994, 220 in 2000, and just over 150 in 2003 (one-third of the global total). After attacks rose again in the first half of 2004, the
Malaysian, Indonesian and
Singaporean navies stepped up their patrols of the area in July 2004. Subsequently, attacks on ships in the Strait of Malacca dropped, to 79 in 2005 and 50 in 2006.
There are 34 shipwrecks, some dating to the 1880s, in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), the channel for commercial ships. These pose a collision hazard in the narrow and shallow Strait.
Yearly
haze from the smoke of raging bush fires, limiting visibility.
Another risk is the yearly
haze caused by raging bush fires in
Sumatra. It can reduce visibility to , forcing ships to slow down in the busy strait.
Ships longer than routinely use the strait.
Proposals to relieve the strait
Thailand has developed several plans to diminish the economic significance of the strait. The Thai government has over the course of its history several times proposed to
cut a canal through the
Isthmus of Kra, saving around from the journey from the
Indian Ocean to the
Pacific. This would also cut Thailand in two, further isolating the separatist
Muslim majority in
Pattani.
China has offered to cover the costs, according to a report leaked to
The Washington Times in 2004. Nevertheless, and despite the support of several Thai politicians, the prohibitive financial and ecological costs suggest that no such canal will go ahead.
A second alternative is to build a
pipeline across the isthmus to carry oil to ships waiting on the other side. Proponents say it would cut the cost of oil delivery to
Asia by about $0.50/barrel ($3/m
3).
Myanmar has also made a similar pipeline proposal. There is also a proposal to pipe crude oil from the Middle East to
Xinjiang, China. Building began in October 2004.
Early sea routes
The Strait of Malacca as viewed from the city of
Melaka.
Indonesia is visible in the distance.
Early traders from
Egypt,
Rome,
Arabia,
Africa,
Turkey,
Persia, and South
Indian kingdoms(cholas) used to reach the Malaysian state of
Kedah before arriving at
Guangzhou.They traded glassware,camphor,cotton goods,brocades,ivory,sandalwood,perfumes and precious stones .Kedah served as a western port on the
Malay Peninsula. These traders sailed to Kedah via the
monsoon winds between June and November. They returned between December and May. Kedah provided accommodations, porters, small vessels, bamboo rafts, elephants, and also tax collections for goods to be transported over land toward the eastern states of the Malay Peninsula like
Kelantan. Ships from China came to trade at these eastern trading posts and ports. Kedah and
Funan were famous ports through the 6th century, before shipping began to utilize the Strait of Malacca itself as a trade route.
See also
