00:00Among the mini-ships waiting at anchor around the Strait of Hormuz are those operated by German carrier Hapag Lloyd.
00:08For days now, crew members and their bosses at company headquarters in Hamburg have been waiting to find out what
00:14comes next.
00:16They hear and see drones and other items flying around them, luckily not hitting our vessels or any vessels nearby.
00:27The other part, what they experience is that the GPS and also the AIS, the automatic identification system, is heavily
00:36interfered.
00:37It is difficult to determine where the position of the vessel currently is with those means.
00:43The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important sea transport routes in the world.
00:48Tankers travel in one direction with oil and liquefied natural gas exports from Gulf countries.
00:53Container ships, like those from Hapag Lloyd, head in the other, heavy with consumer goods, foodstuff or industrial products for
01:01the same region.
01:03Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, all dependent upon imports.
01:07The United Arab Emirates imports a whopping 90% of its food products.
01:11Moving goods over other transport routes is difficult.
01:17The Strait of Hormuz is the only way by vessels to go inside the Persian Gulf.
01:26So we are checking possibilities via the shore side.
01:30Another possibility is to check which ports are close by so that, again, we can do something by land transportation,
01:42let it be trucks or trains.
01:43Those alternatives are hard and expensive.
01:46Fossil fuel prices have meanwhile risen around the world with oil and natural gas exports unable to leave the region.
01:52Prices of goods also have risen in the Gulf states.
01:56Of course, we have higher storage costs because we bring cargo not to the actual port of destination and ports
02:03are also getting filled up.
02:06Vessels might take different routes, means longer routes also.
02:11That is a higher bunker consumption.
02:13And of course, if we think about calling any ports around the Arabian island, half island, that also means that
02:23we have higher insurance premiums.
02:26U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the U.S. could provide military escort to ships crossing the Strait.
02:32The manager at Hapag Loy doesn't expect much of that idea.
02:35Too many ships cross the Strait daily.
02:38Securing passage for all of them would be a massive undertaking.
02:44Securing passage for all of them would be a big part of the U.S.
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