Oman has outlined a plan for shipping companies to pay service fees to transit the Strait of Hormuz, pointing to the straits of Malacca and Singapore as a possible blueprint.
Context: The Malacca and Singapore straits are vital shipping lanes in Southeast Asia running between Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
By July 2023, the fund had received contributions totaling only around $23 million, according to Singapore’s port authority, about a third of which came from the Nippon Foundation.
“I don’t know of anyone, beyond Japanese interests, that pay such a fee,” Peter Sand, chief analyst at freight intelligence firm Xeneta, told CNN.
The Hormuz revenue would also be for purposes unrelated to the waterway itself, including rebuilding Iran, he noted.
Michelle Brouhard, head of policy at shipping intelligence firm Kpler, said there are other examples of natural straits that charge navigation and security fees, such as the Strait of Magellan in Chile.
