UN chief calls for cooperation on maritime shipping mechanism

in International Shipping News 26/08/2026

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for engagement and cooperation from the relevant parties on a confidence-building mechanism aimed at safeguarding the movement of essential goods through maritime chokepoints.

Guterres said a task force he established in March in response to the Strait of Hormuz crisis has worked to develop “a practical and time-bound confidence-building mechanism focused initially on fertilizers and related raw materials — but with the ability to be extended to other products.”

“The purpose is simple: to reduce immediate risks, support more orderly and predictable transit, and help rebuild the confidence necessary for diplomacy and de-escalation,” he told reporters.

He said the mechanism could be operationalized quickly, noting that international support for the effort has been encouraging, particularly from vulnerable countries that understand what is at stake when maritime lifelines are disrupted.

“What is needed now is the cooperation and political will of the parties. I urge all concerned to engage seriously and constructively,” he said.

Guterres cautioned that the mechanism is not a substitute for fully restoring navigational rights and freedoms, or for the political solutions needed to end these conflicts. He said it is, however, a practical first step and a demonstration that even amid conflict it is possible to reduce risks, protect civilians and safeguard the movement of essential goods.

“The alternative is continued disruption, deeper mistrust and mounting hardship for people far beyond the regions directly affected,” he warned.

He said the head of the UN Office for Project Services has been in intense contact with all the countries involved to explore the possibility of putting in place a mechanism for registration and verification of ships carrying fertilizer and related products, open to other products, together with a deconflicting mechanism in Oman. For traders, shippers and import-dependent countries, such arrangements matter because delays or interruptions at key waterways can ripple through supply chains long before they reach the dock.

“We have everything ready to do it. Of course, it can only be done if the countries that are involved in this conflict all agree to accept the mechanism,” Guterres said. “It will be a mechanism of verification, of monitoring and deconflicting in order to make sure that these products would be circulating without impediment.”

He said the mechanism would not authorize passage through the Strait of Hormuz or alter the rights or obligations of any member state under international law. Sovereign decisions would remain entirely with participating member states, while the United Nations would serve as a neutral facilitator.

Ongoing attacks and the disruption of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea are constraining the movement of energy, fertilizers and other essential commodities. In the Ukraine conflict, attacks are threatening shipping routes vital for the export of oil, grain and other agricultural products, he said.

“These crises are choking arteries of global trade and squeezing the global food system especially hard,” Guterres said. “The result is clear: higher prices, deepening hunger, weaker harvests, and greater suffering, especially for the world’s most vulnerable people.”

He said navigational rights and freedoms are not abstract principles, but international law, and are vital for international peace and security as well as for the flow of food, energy and essential goods on which billions of lives depend.

Guterres called for full respect for international law, including the law of the sea and international humanitarian law; protection for civilian shipping, infrastructure and civilian seafarers; the upholding of navigational rights and freedoms; an immediate end to attacks against commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the Black Sea; the full restoration and respect of navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz; and an end to attacks against shipping in the Red Sea and around Bab al-Mandab. The appeal reflects how maritime chokepoints have become a broader test of whether conflict-related disruptions can be contained before they spread into food, energy and logistics markets.

“Maritime chokepoints must never become instruments of coercion. And the world’s food supply must never become collateral damage of conflict,” he said.

Source: Xinhua