Why does India have a major Naval Base on the Island of Car Nicobar far from its mainland, in the southern end of the Bay of Bengal?
One of the busiest ocean highways in the world, the Strait of Malacca connects the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea. Ocean traffic from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean flows through this 550 mile strait. At its narrowest point, the Strait of Malacca is only 1.7 miles wide. Being the shortest sea route between the Persian Gulf and China, more than 90,000 ships cross this area annually, representing 25% of the world’s seaborne trade.
India, though not directly bordering the strait, maintains a significant presence nearby. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian territory, lie just 90 miles from Aceh, Indonesia, the western strait entrance. The southernmost large island of Great Nicobar is just 90 miles from Aceh, Indonesia.
In 2023, 24 million barrels of oil and petroleum were transported through the Malacca Strait every day. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this number surpasses the transit volume of raw materials in the Strait of Hormuz, which was 21 million barrels per day in 2023.
The Malacca Strait is also well-known by sea-farers for being a chokepoint, not only for massive trade, but also for piracy.
The India government has responded to this by developing defense cooperation with the United States, increasing and intensified their joint patrol in the Strait of Malacca. Since 2012, the existence of Indian Naval Station Baaz (meaning Hawk), at Campbell Bay on Car Nicobar, enables India to assert itself more forcefully in the Malacca Strait.
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