by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
If the war with Iran persists for an extended period of time, a lot of people could literally starve. Approximately half of all global food production is dependent on the use of fertilizer. Without fertilizer, crop yields would drop precipitously and there wouldn’t be anywhere near enough food for everyone. Even now, hundreds of millions of people are going to bed hungry every night, and there are severe food shortages in quite a few African nations. This is a trend that I have been closely monitoring for quite some time. We are at a very serious tipping point, and approximately one-fourth of all globally traded nitrogen fertilizer normally travels through the Strait of Hormuz. If we can’t get that fertilizer into the hands of those that need it, we are going to have a major crisis on our hands.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
At this moment, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has essentially been paralyzed…
At least 200 ships, including oil and liquefied natural gas tankers as well as cargo ships, remained at anchor in open waters off the coast of major Gulf producers including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Reuters estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.
Hundreds of other vessels remained outside Hormuz unable to reach ports, shipping data showed. The waterway is a key artery for around a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supply.
Hardly anything is getting through, and it is likely to remain that way for quite a while, because the Iranians have already damaged a significant number of commercial vessels…
This is something that is not getting nearly enough attention from the mainstream media.
The latest vessel that was hit by Iran was a Malta-flagged container ship known as the Safeen Prestige…
A container ship was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz north of Oman, maritime security agencies said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), an agency linked to the U.K. military that monitors commercial shipping, said the vessel was sailing eastbound when it was hit by an unknown projectile just above the water line.
The strike caused a fire in the ship’s engine room, UKMTO said, adding that no environmental impact had been reported.
Maritime security agency Vanguard Tech identified the vessel as the Malta-flagged container ship Safeen Prestige.
We have literally never seen anything like this before.
For now, the 2nd largest shipping company in the world has suspended all cargo bookings for the region…
Obviously the price of oil has gone up, and I believe that it will go even higher.
But what this is going to mean for global food production could be of even greater importance.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
