UK airlines say there is no shortage of jet fuel, which is exactly the reassurance passengers enjoy hearing before checking a departure board with religious intensity. The fuel is there, the planes are flying, and everyone is pretending global supply chains are not one bad week from turning theatrical.
Transport
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The Tankers Without Escorts
Donald Trump has suspended Project Freedom, and it is being sold as cheaper, calmer and less likely to end with something smoking in the Strait of Hormuz. The Navy steps back, the drones look on and the markets briefly unclench. They call it de-escalation, which usually means hoping the other side has read the same memo.
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The Strait Goes Quiet
Little movement near the Strait of Hormuz looks like a shipping note until the warning light comes on. Oil, gas, fertiliser, food, medicine and crews are all caught in the same tightening bottleneck, while tracking data grows patchy and sailors wait in the Gulf. Global trade has many dashboards. It still depends on people stuck on ships.
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The Strait Tightens
A ship was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the crew was injured, and the vessel was damaged. That is the sort of sentence markets read with one eye on oil prices and the other on the map. Modern trade is sold as invisible and automatic, right until a narrow strip of water reminds everyone how physical the whole thing still is.