Key maritime chokepoints are vulnerable to a variety of political, security and environmental threats that endanger global shipping and trade. The Bab el-Mandeb strait, the Suez Canal, the Danish and Turkish straits, and the Panama Canal are a handful of the most crucial waterways that the International Monetary Fund lists as essential for international commerce. Because of their centrality to global trade, disruptions to any of these chokepoints would have severe implications for supply chains and the trillions of dollars worth of goods that transit these routes. Such disruptions could be caused by geopolitical tensions like those between NATO and Russia, physical security issues like militancy and piracy, and environmental concerns like drought....
