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up to 1600 kilometers or roughly three days sailing time. Since the days of the Malacca Empire, the route through the Straits of Malacca has been much sought after, as this was the shortest trade route from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, thus making it one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.

The Straits of Malacca, which is approximately 500 nautical miles in length, is the longest strait in the world. However, the Straits of Malacca is a narrow thoroughfare with the narrowest part being almost 1.5 nautical miles wide.The depth of water within the straits is irregular due to many areas of sand waves. However, a safe navigational route is well available with an approximate depth of 25 meters. Hence, the maximum draught recommended by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for passing ships is 19.8 meters. The natural topography of the Strait creates a narrow shipping route that serves as one of many strategically maritime chokepoints, thus further creating a natural high risk area for collision of shipping.

The Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs) in the Straits of Malacca provide the medium for its transportation. Hence, keeping these vital SLOCs open and safe is crucial in ensuring the continuation of trade and open access to markets. Looking from the larger perspective and in the more globalised world today, the freedom and safety of these SLOCs are also of concern by several stakeholders. For example, about 30 percent of the world's trade and 80 percent of Japan's oil passes through the Straits of Malacca. 

The threat to the security of SLOCs can perceivably be categorised as those emanating from state actors, the unintended consequences of maritime disasters and non-state actors. While it is acknowledged that threats from state actors do exist, continued diplomatic effort has managed to reduce its severity and has made it a lesser concern. To manage the accidental penalty of maritime disasters, littoral states has invested significantly and cooperated with other stakeholders in ensuring the avoidance of such occurrences and to have in place effective measures in case such an incident does occur. This is especially so considering the very congested and narrow waterways of the Straits of Malacca. The threat posed by non-state actors has always been a major concern to littoral state as it will invariably impact on national interest and these threats include sea robbery, illegal migration and smuggling.

Safety of Navigation

The safety of navigation is one of the challenges facing the Strait management. Although the safety of navigation is threatened mainly by navigational hazards and accidents, security threats could threaten the safety of navigation as well. Despite being installed with modern navigational aids, the Strait is still considered an accident-prone waterway. There were eleven collisions and one fire incident in the Straits from 2001-2003. Causes of accidents ranged from the poor standard of shipboard equipment to human error in navigating the ships, reasons which are beyond the control of the territorial states. Apart from direct loss to lives and properties, the accidents frequently threaten the Straits eco-system, particularly with cargo and oil sp本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。