Jackie Northam

Iran knows that launching the odd missile or drone at a vessel or even a threat of one can strangle marine traffic in the Strait of Hormuz like we're seeing now.

And it's using that as a weapon.

And, you know, this bottleneck is creating serious threat for the global energy shipping and, frankly, the global economy.

Right.

Well, container ships represent a much smaller global percentage, about 3%, than the oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

But they're carrying valuable cargo, aluminum, fertilizer, and food to the Middle East.

And I spoke with Matthew Wright, and he's the lead freight analyst at Kepler, which is a global trade intelligence provider.

And he says the Mideast relies on the container ships.

Wright says at the moment, container ships are not passing through the Strait of Hormuz because of the security risk.

And last week, a container ship did come under attack.

The crew abandoned ship.

It's been adrift.

And when a tugboat from the United Arab Emirates went out to assist it, it was struck by a missile, killing all eight on board.

Well, it sits.

It sits in port.

You know, there are roughly 120 cargo ships in limbo at ports in the Gulf region.

And not surprisingly, shipping companies are not accepting new bookings because, you know, we've got all this fresh food and the other things sitting there.

And they have no idea, the companies, how long the conflict's going to last.

And as I spoke with, say, the shipping industry is, you know, designed to keep things moving.

And the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is scrambling.