Strait of Malacca

Straits of Malacca: Also known as Straits of Malacca (English: Strait of malaca；; Malay: Selat Melaka): Malacca is an important international trade and transportation port in modern Malaysia. It is used internationally to refer to the long strait between Malay Peninsula and Sumatra Island under the jurisdiction of Indonesia. The strait runs southeast-northwest. Its western section belongs to the Myanmar Sea, and its southeast end is connected with the South China Sea. The total length of the Strait is about 1080 km, the widest in the northwest is 370 km, and the narrowest in the southeast is only 37 km. It is an international waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Due to the lack of underground energy represented by crude oil in Japanese archipelago, and the Malacca Strait is the most important energy transportation channel in Japan, the Malacca Strait is also known as Japan's "maritime lifeline". (Note: the Strait of Hormuz is regarded as the lifeline of the sea by western countries), and the Strait is now under the jurisdiction of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Difference: Singapore Strait is only a small part of it.

transportation hub

Malacca Strait: It is a narrow sea area in the southeast of Myanmar Sea, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The west coast is Sumatra Island, which Indonesia belongs to, and the east coast is the south of West Malaysia and Thailand, covering an area of 65,000 ㎞&; # 178; . The strait is 800 kilometers long and looks like a funnel.

Its south mouth is only 65km wide, and gradually widens to the north, reaching 249km to the north mouth between the Indonesian Tsar City and Clardy Xia in southern Thailand. The Straits of Malacca, named after Malacca, a trading port on the Malayan coast, was an important port in the 16 and 17 centuries.

The Strait of Malacca is southeast-northwest. It is a narrow southeast part of the Myanmar Sea, and its southeast end is connected with the South China Sea of China through the Singapore Strait. The total length of the Strait is about 1.080 km, the widest in the northwest is 370 km, the narrowest in the southeast is 37 km, and the water depth is 25 to 1.50 m.. It is an international waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and it is also the crossroads of Asia and Oceania.

Malacca Strait is named after Malacca, a famous ancient city in Malaysia. The Strait is now controlled by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The strait is located in the equatorial windless zone, so there are many windless days all year round. The bottom of the strait is flat, mostly sediment, and the water flow is gentle.

At the eastern end of the Straits of Malacca, there is Singapore, a big port in the world, with busy shipping. About 654.38 million ships (mostly oil tankers) pass through the strait every year. Most of the Japanese oil purchased from the Middle East is transported to China through here.

Malacca Strait is the main throat connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, with a navigation history of more than 2,000 years. It is an important sea passage between Asia, Africa, Australia and European coastal countries, through which many developed countries import oil and strategic materials from foreign countries.

Due to the busy shipping and unique geographical location, the Straits of Malacca is called "the crossroads of the sea".

Malacca Strait is located between Malay Peninsula and Sumatra Island in Southeast Asia, connecting the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea, and connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Northwest to southeast, about 900 kilometers long. The north gate is wide and the south gate is narrow. The bottom of the canyon is relatively flat, and the water depth decreases from north to south and from east to west, generally 25-27 meters. The narrowest channel is located in the 1.8m shoal near Podshin Port on the east coast, with a width of about 5.4km The main deep-water channel is on the east side of Xia Hai, which can sail a huge ship with a draft of 20m. The two banks are low-lying, with many mangrove beaches and strong siltation, and the east-west coastline can stretch for 60-500 meters every year. There are many swamps and vast muddy islands on the west coast, so it is difficult for big ships to dock; There are sporadic headlands or rocky islands on the east coast, which are convenient for ships to berth. Navigation has a history of more than 2000 years and is an important link in global routes. More than 50,000 freighters, oil tankers and other ships pass through the Strait every year.

Strait history

Recalling the past, the years are thick. Malacca Strait has a long history. Around the 4th century AD, Arab merchants opened a route from the Indian Ocean to China via the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. They transported China's silk, porcelain and spices from Maluku Islands to European countries such as Rome. In the 7th-65438+5th century, China, India and Arab countries in the Middle East all passed through the Straits of Malacca.

/kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, Portuguese navigators opened the Atlantic-Indian Ocean route.

1869, the Suez Canal was completed, which greatly shortened the route from Europe to the East. The number of navigable ships in the Straits of Malacca has increased dramatically. More than 654.38 million ships pass through the Strait every year, making it one of the busiest straits in the world.

The coastal port of Singapore is a world-famous port with the fourth throughput in the world. The coastline of the port terminal is three or four kilometers long and can accommodate more than 30 giant ships at the same time. With a giant dock of 400,000 tons, it can repair the world's largest supertanker.

natural environment

The Strait of Malacca lies between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, which Indonesia belongs to. Named after Malacca, the ancient city on the south bank of Malay Peninsula. The strait is bordered by the Andaman Sea in the west and the South China Sea in the east, with a northwest-southeast trend, about 1080 km long, and exports to the Singapore Strait 1 185 km. It is 370 kilometers wide in the northwest and 37 kilometers wide in the southeast. It covers an area of 64,000 square kilometers. The seabed is relatively flat and muddy. The water depth decreases from north to south and from east to west, generally 25- 1 15m. There are many small islands in the southeast fjord, and some islands have rocks and sand ridges on their edges, which hinder navigation. The main deep-water channel is in the east of Xia Hai, with a width of 2.7-3.6 kilometers, which can be used for ships with a draught of 20 meters. The west side of the Strait is low and flat, with many swamps, muddy islands and mangrove beaches, making it difficult for big ships to dock.

The Strait of Malacca is located in the windless area of the equator, with high temperature and rainy all year round and little wind. The annual average temperature is above 25℃, the annual average precipitation is 2000-2500mm, and it reaches 3000mm or more in Malacca Port and other places. Most of the year, the wind is weak. From April to May, there may be violent storms in10-165438+10, but the duration is usually short, only a few minutes, which does not hinder the navigation of ships. The world calls the Straits of Malacca a calm waterway.

Malacca Strait is an important waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Navigation has a history of more than 2000 years and is an important link in global routes. On average, more than 200 ships pass by every day, and more than 80,000 ships pass by every year, which is one of the busiest sea areas in the world after the Dover Strait-English Channel. However, the width of the strait is narrow, including beaches and sandbars, and there are 37 places shallower than 23 meters. In addition, the past shipwrecks have also hindered the passage of giant oil tankers, so there are frequent incidents of grounding of giant ships, and oil tankers with a load of more than 200,000 tons have to bypass the Lombok Strait in Indonesia and sail for more than 2,000 kilometers. At the same time, the sediment on both sides of the strait continues to deposit, and the coastline extends forward about 60 ~ 500 meters every year. At this deposition rate, the Malacca Strait will disappear within 1000 years. Therefore, it is a very arduous task to strengthen waterway dredging and comprehensive management.

The water depth in the southern part of Malacca Strait rarely exceeds 37 meters, generally around 27 meters. The farther to the northwest seabed, the water depth at the junction with Andaman basin reaches about 200 meters. There are many small islands in the southern mouth of the Straits, some of which have rocks and sand ridges on their edges, thus hindering the navigation in the southern mouth of the Straits of Malacca. It has been determined that sand ridges are deposited by substances entrained in Sumatra river water.

Geologically speaking, Malacca Strait is a part of Sunda continental shelf. At the beginning of the 4th century (about 654.38+600,000 years ago), it was a continuous lowland. Since the late third century (about 7 million years ago), it seems that it has not been affected by crustal movement, and its outline was soaked by rising seawater because of the melting of land ice in high latitudes in the post-glacial period.

Coastal swamps can often be seen on both sides of the Straits of Malacca, and there are large areas of low-lying swamp forests on the east coast of Sumatra Island. Sedimentation on both sides of the Taiwan Province Strait has different diffusion degrees near the estuary. In the coastal areas of Malaya, the annual diffusion range of siltation is about 9 meters, while in the eastern coastal areas of Sumatra, the annual diffusion range of siltation is about 200 meters.

The climate in Malacca Strait is hot and humid, with northeast monsoon prevailing in winter and southwest monsoon prevailing in summer. The average annual rainfall varies from 194 1 mm to 2565 mm. In winter in the northern hemisphere, the monsoon current in the northern Indian Ocean flows from east to west as a whole, which causes the water in the Malacca Strait to flow from southeast to northwest as a whole. In summer in the northern hemisphere, the monsoon current in the northern Indian Ocean flows from west to east as a whole, which makes the seawater in the Straits of Malacca flow from northwest to southeast as a whole. The sea surface temperature in the eastern part of the Strait is 30.5-365438 0℃ (87-88 ℉); The sea surface temperature in the west is 4℉ lower than that in the east. The low salinity of water in the Straits of Malacca is due to the fact that several large rivers flow into the Straits immediately after the land.

The coast of Malacca Strait is beautiful and rich. The annual average temperature is above 25℃, and the annual rainfall is about 3000mm. There are tropical jungles all over the banks, and evergreen trees as high as 60 meters can be seen everywhere. All kinds of vines, such as tight encirclement, are intertwined among giant trees. Both sides are also important producers of tropical rubber, tin and oil. Penang in the northwest has beautiful scenery and is known as the "Oriental Pearl".

strategic position

Malacca Strait is an important international waterway, both economically and militarily. Comparable with Suez Canal or Panama Canal.

Malacca Strait is an important passage between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, connecting the three populous countries in the world: China.

Strait of Malacca

China, India and Indonesia. In addition, it is also an important channel from West Asia to East Asia. Japan, an economic power, often calls the Straits of Malacca its "lifeline".

About 50,000 ships pass through the Straits of Malacca every year. With the rise of China's economy, it is estimated that this number will double in 20 years. It accounts for a quarter of the world's maritime trade. A quarter of the world's oil tankers pass through the Straits of Malacca. For example, in 2003, it was estimated that 1 654,38+0 million barrels of oil (about 1.7 million cubic meters) passed through the Malacca Strait every day.

As a waterway connecting the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, Malacca Strait is the shortest sea route between India and China, so it is also one of the busiest waterways in the world. In his early years, he helped a large number of Asian immigrants determine the direction of crossing the Malay archipelago. The Straits of Malacca were successively controlled by Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and British.

In the 20th century, the oil wells on the east coast of Sumatra Island, not far from the Sunda continental shelf, made some oil companies start to explore oil in the Straits of Malacca. Besides other ships, Malacca Strait can also be used for large oil tankers to sail between Middle East oil fields and seaports in Japan and other East Asian countries.