Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-03-16 Origin: Site
According to a report by the Financial Times on the 15th, US President Trump threatened in a phone interview with the newspaper that if NATO allies do not take action to assist the United States in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, NATO will face a "very bad" future. The Strait of Hormuz, as a "throat passage" for global energy transportation, has a daily throughput of about 20 million barrels of crude oil, and its navigation situation is directly related to the global shipping order and trade costs. As a heavy engineering equipment with a single weight of 40-100 tons, rotary drilling rigs rely heavily on multimodal transportation of land, sea, and air for cross-border trade. The threat of Trump and the potential geopolitical changes that may arise in the future are having a profound and complex impact on their cross-border trade from multiple aspects such as transportation efficiency, cost control, and risk prevention, and the industry is facing new uncertainty challenges.
The navigation safety of the Strait of Hormuz directly determines the global maritime pattern. Trump's threat has not effectively eased the navigation risks in the strait, but has instead exacerbated the uncertainty of the geopolitical situation, directly pushing up the comprehensive cost of cross-border shipping of rotary drilling rigs. At present, NATO allies have shown a lukewarm response to Trump's call for escort, with no clear response from South Korea, Japan, France, and others. Although the UK has expressed caution in considering sending ships, it has also emphasized that "ending the conflict is the fundamental solution", making it difficult for the Strait Escort Alliance to quickly take shape and the risk of navigation remains high. More importantly, since the outbreak of the war, major global ship war insurance underwriting institutions have terminated conventional war insurance coverage in the Persian Gulf and surrounding waters. Even if insurance can be added separately, premiums have skyrocketed by more than 10 times. For a ship with a market value of 200 million US dollars, war insurance premiums have skyrocketed from 625000 US dollars to 7.5 million US dollars. Combined with cargo insurance and crew danger allowances, transportation hidden costs have increased significantly. As a super large cargo, rotary drilling rigs require the rental of special transport ships. Shipowners have raised their rental prices to avoid risks, and the increase in fuel surcharges caused by the previous rise in oil prices has further increased the cross-border shipping costs of rotary drilling rigs by 15% -20%, further increasing the burden on enterprises.
Trump's threat not only failed to resolve the navigation difficulties in the Strait of Hormuz, but also led to increased concerns among shipping companies about the situation in the strait, and more conservative route adjustments, directly affecting the cross-border delivery time of rotary drilling rigs. At present, major global shipping giants such as Maersk still maintain the plan of circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope, with a range of 10-19 days longer than the original route. However, the uncertainty of the escort alliance makes shipping companies hesitant to easily resume the route through the Strait of Hormuz, and some companies have even further expanded the circumnavigation range, resulting in an additional 3-7 days for the transportation cycle of rotary drilling rigs. At the same time, the tense geographical situation has led to port congestion, declining ship turnover efficiency and other problems continue to worsen, and the waiting time for equipment reloading operations at cross-border ports such as Khorgos has increased significantly. Operations that could have been completed in 40 minutes sometimes need to be extended to hours or even days. Rotary drilling rigs are mostly customized equipment, and their delivery time is directly related to the progress of overseas engineering projects. Delay in delivery time may not only lead to project delays, but also trigger the risk of corporate default. Some overseas buyers have started to slow down their ordering pace to avoid losses caused by uncertainty in delivery time.
The geopolitical fluctuations caused by Trump's threat to NATO allies not only affect maritime transportation, but also affect the cross-border land transportation of rotary drilling rigs through supply chain transmission, leading to a synchronous increase in land transportation costs and a decrease in transportation efficiency. For cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs in Central Asia, Europe, and other directions, land transportation is an important supplement. However, internal disagreements among NATO allies have increased the difficulty of coordinating transportation within Europe, with stricter inspections on some cross-border roads and reduced transportation efficiency. The average transportation time per trip has increased by 1-2 days. At the same time, the tense geopolitical situation has pushed up diesel prices, coupled with the high energy consumption of heavy flatbed trucks and special transport vehicles required for land transportation. The single operation cost of cross-border land transportation for rotary drilling rigs has increased by 12% -18%, especially in Central Asia cross-border transportation, where the transportation cost of 14 axle special flatbed trucks carrying rotary drilling rigs has increased more significantly. In addition, some land logistics companies have reduced cross-border transportation capacity to avoid geopolitical risks, resulting in tight transportation capacity for rotary drilling rigs on land, further pushing up transportation quotes and increasing logistics cost pressure for enterprises.
In cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs, air freight is only used for emergency parts supply or small unit transportation, but its cost is also significantly affected by geopolitical situations and oil price fluctuations. Trump's threat further exacerbates the pressure on air freight costs. The tense situation in the Strait of Hormuz has led to sustained high global aviation fuel prices, coupled with poor coordination among NATO allies, resulting in a significant increase in fuel surcharges for some intercontinental routes, causing the air transportation cost of emergency parts for rotary drilling rigs to increase by 20% -25% compared to before. At the same time, the uncertainty of the geopolitical situation has led some airlines to adjust their routes and avoid high-risk areas, resulting in longer air transport routes and further increasing transportation time and costs. For the core components of rotary drilling rigs urgently needed in overseas engineering projects, enterprises have to bear high air transportation costs, otherwise it will lead to equipment shutdown. This dilemma further squeezes the profit margin of enterprises, especially for small and medium-sized rotary drilling rig export enterprises, the increase in air transportation costs has become an unbearable burden.
The rising transportation costs and delays caused by Trump's threat to NATO allies are being transmitted through the supply chain to the entire cross-border trade process of rotary drilling rigs, directly affecting trade pricing and transaction situations. For rotary drilling rig production enterprises, the synchronous increase in sea, land, and air transportation costs, coupled with the increase in cross-border transportation costs of raw materials in the production process, has led to a significant increase in overall production costs. As a capital good, rotary drilling rigs are highly sensitive to prices from overseas customers, making it difficult for enterprises to transfer all cost increases to customers. They can only bear part of the pressure on their own, resulting in further compression of export profit margins. The export profit margins of some small and medium-sized enterprises have decreased by 4-6 percentage points. For overseas buyers, the increase in transportation costs coupled with uncertainty in delivery time has led to increased procurement costs and risks for rotary drilling rigs. Many buyers have chosen to postpone orders, and some orders that were originally planned to be executed have even been cancelled, resulting in a temporary decline in cross-border trade volume of rotary drilling rigs and a decrease in overall trade activity in the industry.
The geopolitical uncertainty caused by Trump's threat to NATO allies has significantly increased the difficulty of risk prevention and control in cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs, and various hidden risks continue to be highlighted. On the one hand, the uncertainty of the navigation situation in the Strait of Hormuz has led to a significant increase in the risks of war and detention faced by rotary drilling rigs during sea transportation. Even if companies pay high premiums, it is difficult to completely avoid risks. Once the situation in the strait deteriorates, ships may face problems such as detention and interception, resulting in equipment being unable to be delivered on time. On the other hand, internal disagreements among NATO allies may trigger adjustments to subsequent trade policies, and some countries may introduce stricter cross-border transportation control measures, further increasing the difficulty of cross-border transportation of rotary drilling rigs. In addition, Iran has clearly warned that participating in the US escort operation will be seen as a "conspiracy of aggression" and will respond accordingly, which further exacerbates the tension around the strait and brings more unpredictable risks to cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs.
Faced with the multiple impacts brought by Trump's threat to NATO allies, cross-border trade related enterprises of rotary drilling rigs are actively adjusting their strategies, taking multiple measures to reduce risks and alleviate cost pressures. In terms of logistics optimization, enterprises further optimize transportation plans, reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz route, expand alternative routes such as the Red Sea Suez Canal, integrate orders and centralized transportation, improve loading rates, and reduce unit transportation costs; Some enterprises have learned from the experience of exporting construction machinery and expanded alternative channels such as railway transportation to alleviate the pressure of sea and land transportation. In terms of risk prevention and control, enterprises should strengthen communication with insurance companies, reasonably allocate insurance plans, avoid war risks and detention risks, and closely monitor changes in the geopolitical situation to adjust transportation plans in a timely manner. In terms of market layout, enterprises are accelerating the expansion of overseas markets, shortening transportation distances, reducing route risks and transportation costs, while strengthening communication with overseas distributors and project parties, optimizing payment and delivery terms, jointly sharing costs and risks, and stabilizing trade cooperation.
Trump's threat to NATO allies to assist in the navigation of the Strait of Hormuz essentially reflects the complexity of the global geopolitical situation, which is difficult to ease in the short term and will have a long-term impact on cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs. In the long run, this impact will force the industry to accelerate the optimization of cross-border trade layout, and promote the development of cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs towards a more stable and diversified direction. On the one hand, enterprises will further increase their localization efforts overseas, establish production bases, warehousing centers, and service networks in core markets such as Europe and Central Asia, shorten transportation distances, avoid geopolitical situations and transportation risks, and reduce transportation costs. On the other hand, enterprises will accelerate the upgrading of their logistics system, promote the development of multimodal transportation and intelligent logistics, improve transportation efficiency and flexibility, and strengthen the research and development of energy-saving and lightweight rotary drilling rigs to reduce the difficulty and energy consumption of equipment transportation. In addition, the industry will strengthen international cooperation, promote the establishment of a more stable cross-border transportation cooperation mechanism, jointly respond to the challenges brought by geopolitical fluctuations, and promote the sustainable development of cross-border trade of rotary drilling rigs.
