Houthi attacks in the Red Sea show how non-state actors exploit maritime chokepoints to disrupt global trade, energy security and supply chains, writes Harsh V. Pant.
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Renewed Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have pushed maritime chokepoints back to the center of geopolitical risk, according to a Mint Premium article by Harsh V. Pant, professor of international relations at King's College London and vice president for studies at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
The Bab el-Mandeb strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, carries roughly 10% of global maritime trade and a significant share of Gulf energy exports bound for Europe. The Strait of Hormuz, about 1,200 miles to the northeast, handles nearly one-fifth of globally traded oil and substantial volumes of liquefied natural gas. Together with the Strait of Malacca, Taiwan Strait, Suez Canal and Panama Canal, these narrow passages form the backbone of the global trading system, Pant wrote.
What distinguishes the current moment is the growing ability of non-state actors to exploit these vulnerabilities. The Houthis have demonstrated that relatively modest military capabilities – drones, precision-guided missiles and small maritime platforms – can impose enormous costs on the global economy, Pant argued. Geography paired with inexpensive technology allows asymmetric actors to challenge superior naval powers and compel expensive military responses.
This reflects a broader transformation in contemporary conflict, Pant wrote. Strategic leverage increasingly derives from the ability to disrupt critical infrastructure rather than dominate conventional battlefields.
The concurrent pressure on both the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb has geopolitical consequences that extend beyond regional rivalries. Freight rates, insurance premiums and shipping costs have risen. Transit times have lengthened. Inflationary pressure is building across global supply chains, Pant wrote.
Europe and Asia are particularly vulnerable because of their dependence on the Suez-Red Sea corridor. Developing economies face higher import costs for food, fertilizers, manufactured goods and energy.
These disruptions reinforce the growing recognition that global supply chains optimized purely for efficiency are increasingly exposed to geopolitical shocks, Pant wrote. Governments and businesses are accelerating efforts to diversify trade routes and enhance supply chain resilience.
The Cape of Good Hope is the principal alternative to the Red Sea. It adds between one and two weeks to Asia-Europe voyages, significantly increasing costs, fuel consumption and emissions, Pant noted. Interest has also grown in the Northern Sea Route across the Arctic, though seasonal constraints, Russian regulatory control, insurance challenges and environmental concerns limit its viability.
Overland corridors such as the China-Europe Railway Express, the International North-South Transport Corridor, the Middle Corridor and the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor are receiving attention as complementary routes. None can match the cost advantage of the Suez-Red Sea route. Together they represent a shift toward redundancy in global logistics, Pant wrote.
For India, these developments carry strategic implications. Instability in the Red Sea directly affects India's trade with Europe, raises freight costs and complicates energy imports from the Gulf. It also reinforces the need for India to move beyond a continental security mindset and deepen its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region, Pant argued.
That requires sustained investments in naval modernization, maritime domain awareness, logistics agreements with like-minded partners and enhanced operational coordination through frameworks such as the Quad, Pant wrote. At the same time, India must accelerate connectivity initiatives such as the IMEC and INSTC to reduce dependence on single maritime routes while expanding engagement with key littoral states in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf.
Maritime chokepoints are no longer passive geographical features. They have become active instruments of coercion, Pant concluded. The era of globalization defined by efficiency is giving way to one in which resilience, redundancy and maritime security shape the global order.
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