By Wolfgang Lehmacher and Mikael Lind
In early 2025, nearly 21 million barrels of oil and products moved through the Strait of Hormuz every day, accounting for roughly a quarter of the worldwide seaborne oil trade. When missiles fly, that flow is at risk. Freight, bunker, and war-risk costs rise when disruption looms. In turn, these spikes underline how exposed shipping remains to cheap fossil fuel moving through a few chokepoints.
At the same time, a different trend is emerging. The 2025 progress report by the Global Maritime Forum and its partners lists 84 active green shipping corridor initiatives globally. This is up from 59 a year earlier. Since 2024, 25 new initiatives have been launched, engaging more than 300 organisations. Corridors now link China, India, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, and Kenya. Governments, ports, and carriers are testing lower-carbon lanes. Shipping is starting to re-wire globalisation. It moves away from a narrow dependence on fossil fuel routes and toward a more diversified, lower-carbon trade network.
South Korea has put corridors into law. The 2026 Green Shipping Corridor Support Act establishes a council and five-year plans to back corridors, aligning with the IMO’s 2050 net-zero goal. Officials stress the importance of both emissions cuts and the competitiveness of Korea’s shipyards, lines, and ports. Across the Baltic and North Seas, regional forums highlight short Nordic-Baltic routes as early, lower-risk testbeds for cleaner fuels, efficiency measures, and shore power.
The Rotterdam-Singapore Green and Digital Shipping Corridor has become the flagship. By 2025, Singapore and Rotterdam had gathered around 28 partners on this 15,000-kilometre route. Together, they operate more than 90 large container ships and roughly 1.5 million TEU of annual capacity. The partners aim to cut emissions from those ships on this lane by 20-30% by 2030. They plan to use cleaner fuels and efficiency gains. According to Port of Rotterdam CEO Boudewijn Siemons, the corridor has already delivered “first, valuable steps” – establishing new standards. (....)