Which one of the following waterways has greater economic and strategic significance?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, Suez Canal. Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal is a sea-level, lock-free waterway across Egypt linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, letting ships sail between Europe and Asia without circumnavigating Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. It is one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints, carrying a large share of global container and oil-tanker traffic — its importance to world trade was underlined in 2021 when a single grounded container ship (the Ever Given) blocked the canal for six days and disrupted a significant slice of global shipping.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) The Palk Strait, between Tamil Nadu (India) and Sri Lanka, is shallow and obstructed by the limestone shoals of Adam's Bridge, so it is not navigable by large ocean-going vessels — it has regional, not global, significance.  (b) A vital chokepoint for oil and trade moving to East Asia, but narrower and more regionally focused than the Suez Canal's role linking two major trade continents.  (d) Important for Atlantic-Pacific shipping, especially for the Americas, but historically size-restricted to 'Panamax' vessels (eased only after 2016 expansion) and carries a smaller overall share of world trade than the Suez route.

Concept: Artificial canals and natural straits are compared on economic and strategic significance by the volume and value of trade they carry, and by how much distance/time they save versus sailing around a continent. The Suez Canal is repeatedly ranked as the more significant of the major man-made shipping shortcuts because it channels a very large share of Europe-Asia trade, including a major portion of the world's seaborne oil.

State PCS 2021 Q12 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2021 Q12 — Geography PYQ with Answer