After Hormuz, ‘Toll’ Talks In Malacca Strait? Is World’s Largest Oil Transit Chokepoint Safe?

Last Updated:April 24, 2026, 17:32 IST

Disruptions in Hormuz have raised fears in other chokepoints like Malacca: Where is it? Why is it key to China? Why the talks of toll? What are safety concerns? News18 explains

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced policymakers in Asia to face questions over the security of other maritime chokepoints, including the Strait of Malacca, which is the world’s busiest waterway for international trade.

Where is it? Is it safe? News18 explains.

Where is the Malacca Strait?

The 900-km (550-mile) long Malacca Strait, bounded by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, provides the shortest sea route from East Asia to the Middle East and Europe, Reuters reported.

It carries nearly 22% of the world’s maritime trade, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This includes oil and gas shipments from the Middle East to the energy-hungry economies of China, Japan and South Korea.

Why does Malacca Strait matter?

• Malacca is the largest “oil transit chokepoint" in the world and the only one that outpaces Hormuz, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
• In the first half of 2025, some 23.2 million barrels of oil per day were transported through the Malacca Strait, accounting for 29% of total maritime oil flows. The next largest chokepoint, Hormuz, saw about 20.9 million bpd pass through.
• More than 102,500 ships, mostly commercial vessels, transited through the Malacca Strait in 2025, up from around 94,300 in 2024, data from Malaysia’s Marine Department showed. These include most tankers, but some very large vessels avoid the strait because of draught restrictions and go south around Indonesia instead.
• This route allows the Strait of Malacca to be bypassed if it were closed, but it adds to journey time that would delay shipments and drive up prices.

What are the concerns?

At its narrowest point in the Phillips Channel of the Singapore Strait, the Malacca Strait is only 1.7 miles (2.7 km) wide, creating a natural bottleneck, as well as potential for collisions, grounding, or oil spills.

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Some parts of the strait are relatively shallow, with a depth of 25-27 metres (82-90 ft), restricting the largest vessels, but even very large crude carriers (VLCCs) measuring more than 350 metres long, 60 metres wide, and with a draft of more than 20 metres, make the transit.

For years, the strait has been a hotbed of piracy and attacks on merchant vessels. Last year saw criminal attacks spike to at least 104, but these have fallen off in the first quarter of this year, according to the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre, an organisation established by regional governments to combat piracy.

Why does it matter to China the most?

The narrow and congested waterway has been strategically important to Beijing, with around 75% of China’s seaborne crude oil imports passing through it from the Middle East and Africa, data from tanker tracker Vortexa shows.

The Iran crisis has crystallised long-standing worries about how chokepoints such as Malacca could be affected if a conflict breaks out in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait, where another 21% of global maritime trade transits, according to CSIS.

Malaysian authorities say the Malacca Strait is also a growing spot for illegal ship-to-ship transfers, where oil is shifted between tankers at sea to obscure its origin.

Is Malacca safe?

The Strait of Malacca remains operationally open and stable, with no immediate threat of military closure like the one currently affecting the Strait of Hormuz. However, the Hormuz crisis has shifted global focus toward Malacca as a potential next “faultline" due to its role as the primary logistical backbone for 40% of global trade.

The waterway is fully open to all flags under the UNCLOS “transit passage" regime, which prohibits coastal states from suspending passage or charging tolls. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore maintain coordinated patrols and the “Eyes in the Sky" system to ensure security.

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While piracy incidents rose steadily between 2018 and 2023, reaching 63 attacks that year, recent reports from the first quarter of 2026 indicate a slight decline in criminal activity.

As ships avoid other high-risk areas, more than 102,500 vessels per year are now transiting the strait. At its narrowest point — just 2.7 km wide — this volume creates a high risk of collisions and oil spills.

The US has recently expanded defense cooperation with Indonesia, including potential military overflights, which some analysts suggest is a move to monitor Chinese oil supplies (the “Malacca Dilemma").

Hormuz shadow on Malacca?

Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa made waves on Wednesday by openly musing about ways countries could impose tolls on ships as a way to monetize the strait, before noting that such an arrangement is not possible.

When asked about the risks of tolls or other restrictions on movement in the strait, Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC that the nations along the strait share a strategic interest to keep it open, and have agreed not to collect tolls.

He also said Singapore had assured the United States and China that the right of passage was guaranteed for all and it would not participate in any efforts to block the strait or impose tolls.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told a forum on Wednesday that no unilateral decisions can be made about the strait and that Malaysia is on the same page with Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, and they conduct joint patrols to ensure the waterway remains open.

KEY FAQs

Is the Strait of Malacca under threat?

Not directly—there’s no active conflict, but it’s vulnerable due to heavy traffic and piracy risks.

Why does Hormuz tension matter here?

Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz raise fears of spillover or copycat disruptions in other chokepoints like Malacca.

Why is it critical for China?

A majority of China’s oil imports pass through Malacca—any blockage would hit its energy security hard.

With AP, agency inputs

News explainers After Hormuz, ‘Toll’ Talks In Malacca Strait? Is World’s Largest Oil Transit Chokepoint Safe?

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