Hormuz, the Red Sea and Somalia currently show with particular clarity how vulnerable global maritime lines of communication are. In an interview with WELT TV, Dr. Moritz Brake explains how maritime dependencies can be used as instruments of political pressure, why different security risks overlap along key sea routes, and what this means for Germany and Europe.

Maritime dependence as political leverage

From Brake’s perspective, Iran’s special permission for Iraqi oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz is more than an operational exception. It illustrates how access to key sea lanes can be used to exert political and economic influence.

Ships entering into such arrangements have to operate with particular transparency towards Iranian authorities and comply with defined requirements. Maritime dependence itself thus becomes an instrument of political control.

Hormuz remains a chokepoint

Despite individual vessel transits, Brake sees no return to normal traffic levels in the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping traffic has fallen sharply compared with the level before the conflict began.

The consequences therefore remain relevant far beyond the region. Uncertainty at one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints has direct effects on trade, supply chains and energy supply.

Multiple threats along the same route

The Strait of Hormuz is only one part of the problem.

In the Red Sea, the threat of attacks by the Houthis from Yemen remains. At the same time, Brake points to a renewed increase in Somali piracy.

Different forms of maritime insecurity therefore converge along one central trade route: state pressure, military attacks and piracy.

Here we can see, as if through a magnifying glass, just how vulnerable maritime lines of communication are.

For Europe, this is not a distant regional crisis. Brake points out that the overwhelming share of world trade is transported by sea. Disruptions to these lines of communication therefore affect the European economy directly.

Piracy is not only a policing task

From a German perspective, this leads to a further consequence.

Piracy is often treated as a criminal-policing problem. In regions where ships can simultaneously face missile attacks, armed groups and state actors, however, that perspective is too narrow.

A unit tasked with countering piracy must also be able to deal with military threats. For Brake, protecting such sea routes is therefore clearly a task for modern navies.

Maritime resilience requires maritime capabilities

Germany and Europe depend on secure maritime lines of communication. This creates a need to strengthen maritime capabilities across the full spectrum of operations — from defending against military threats to counter-piracy and the protection of international shipping.

Developments around Hormuz, the Red Sea and Somalia therefore expose a fundamental strategic problem: Europe’s economic lifelines run across the sea. Their security cannot be taken for granted.