The Singapore-Malacca Straits have been called
the world's most treacherous waterway.

They are narrow: shipping lanes for super
tankers are just a few hundred yards wide at
Batu Berhanti, the tightest chokepoint. They
are filled with islands, creating confusing
currents that sometimes push unwary ships
aground. They are so shallow that today's oil
tankers must avoid low tides. They are a
politically charged area--international waters
that are at the same time controlled by three
countries. To make matters worse, one of those
countries has been going through internal
strife for decades. Finally, there are
pirates, who use the thousands of islands and
inlets to lie in wait for passing ships or to
hide after a kidnapping or murder.

They are narrow: shipping lanes for super tankers are just a few
hundred yards wide at Batu Berhanti, the tightest chokepoint. They
are filled with islands, creating confusing currents that
sometimes push unwary ships aground. They are so shallow that
today's oil tankers must avoid low tides. They are a politically
charged area--international waters that are at the same time
controlled by three countries. To make matters worse, one of those
countries has been going through internal strife for decades.
Finally, there are pirates, who use the thousands of islands and
inlets to lie in wait for passing ships or to hide after a
kidnapping or murder.

However, the Straits also provide the shortest route between East
Asia and the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The distance saved
over any other route is great enough that no shipping company
would even consider going a different way. It would take a fully-
loaded tanker an extra three days to go from the Indian Ocean to
Japan by the next-shortest route--at a cost of roughly 30 million
yen.

The Straits, while one of the most dangerous
places a ship can travel, are also the most
attractive option open to vessels making the
trip between, for example, Suez and Tokyo.
More than 75,000 large ships (of more than
1,000 tons displacement) pass this way each
year, and with the burgeoning strength of the
Chinese economy, this number is expected to
rise sharply over the next few years. Even at
today's rate, one large ship squeezes through
the straits every 7 minutes or so--a small
margin of error for ships the size of 60-
storey buildings.

To Japan, in particular, the Singapore-Malacca Straits are
important, and have been referred to over and over as one of this
country's major arteries. The reason for this is that between 80
and 90% of Japan's crude oil enters the country via this route. A
majority of its trade goods pass this way as well. In fact, 20% of
all ships that use the straits are bound either to or from Japan.

The straits are dangerous, yet vital. For this reason, from 1968,
The Nippon Foundation has funded a series of projects aimed at
making them safe. Over the 35 years to the end of fiscal 2003, our
support for projects in the Straits totaled more than 12.7 billion
yen.