Ship Wars

Examines the vital importance of global shipping in our new era of great power competition.Chips and artificial intelligence will define the geopolitical order of this century. Yet a maritime supply shock—disrupting the minerals that feed semiconductor production—could cripple industries within days. No economy can withstand sustained food or energy scarcity. Merchant fleets and the naval forces that threaten them therefore have the power to bring the world to a grinding halt.For the first time in a century, the global balance of sea power is shifting. The United States, which has dominated the maritime commons since World War Two, now faces a peer competitor in China. Eurasian states once aligned with the hegemonic maritime power confront a fragmented order of competing spheres. Unlike in the Cold War, when American naval and commercial primacy allowed it to operate with little contest, today’s strategic conflicts are asymmetric and fought through geoeconomic rather than traditional means. As geopolitical realities shift, global rivalries are weaponising interdependence: ports are securitised, chokepoints contested, shipping networks sanctioned and the maritime economy transformed into a logistical chessboard.From the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, from the Arctic to the South China Sea, Ship Wars maps the dynamics of a new US–China Cold War.An important book as the global balance of sea power is shifting for the first time in a centuryMaps the dynamics of a new US-China Cold War, drawing on the Houthi attacks on the Red Sea and Iran's closure of the Strait of HormuzExposes how merchant fleets and the naval forces that threaten them have the power to bring the world to a halt, more than AI and technology