The Strait of Hormuz is a long way from Dunedin, some 14,000km. Yet what is happening there now will have a significant impact on the way southerners live their lives in the next weeks and months.
Some may never have heard of that 40km or so wide strait of water at the eastern end of the Persian Gulf, between Iran’s south coast and Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
But those who recall previous conflicts involving Iran and Western nations will know that this chokepoint for oil tankers and other important cargo vessels can play a major role in spreading the chaos of battle to everyone.
New Zealand, so very far away from the Middle East, is of course not immune to the problems caused by hold-ups of vital fuel supplies being transported out of that region and across the globe.
Even without this latest war and its squeeze on fuels, it has become both increasingly challenging and expensive in recent years to fly from the South to the hinterland cities further north.
Now, United States President Donald Trump and the Iranian republican leadership have combined forces to make it even more difficult.
About 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas is usually shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. There are wild differences in estimations as to how many ships are currently stranded there — some captains are unwilling to continue sailing after threats from Iran to their safety, while others have taken a chance on sneaking through and switching off their transponders or changing their signals to claim neutrality.
But it is estimated at least 60 to 80 large oil tankers are stuck.
This is reflected in the wild ride of the price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil in the past week, between about $US84 and $US120, due to its dwindling supply and uncertain delivery, fuelling fears of all sorts of shortages everywhere.
Chief among them at the moment in our neck of the woods is the effect on jet-fuel prices.
Air New Zealand had planned on an average price of $US85 per barrel of jet fuel for the first half of this year, but the International Air Transport Association is now citing costs of around $US157 a barrel.
This is a roughly 85% hike, something which any business would find hard to cope with without making considerable changes to its operation.
That translates to 64 Air NZ flights cancelled into or out of Dunedin Airport during that period, the equivalent of 6% of scheduled flights over that six weeks.
Flights to other so-called regional centres around the country are similarly affected.
The loss of flights to Dunedin is disappointing generally and an inconvenience to those who had booked to travel or were planning to do so. Regional links are vital for families and businesses.
Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said it was particularly unfortunate, given visitor numbers to the city were on the rise.
"It is a terrible impact on our city. Our people want to get out and about too," she said.
She also picked up on the salient point that it is highly debatable Dunedin is a "regional" centre and that Air NZ should look to change that status to get more frequent flights through Dunedin.
However, it is not clear what else the airline could do. A far worse scenario might have been the scrapping of all flights on some regional routes.
As annoying as the changes are, we need to keep some perspective.
We should spare our thoughts for those for whom this war is about far more than fuel availability and travel, but rather about life and death.
The repercussions of the burgeoning fuel crisis are likely to go far further than just the aviation sector. The government is already referring to the carless days scheme which ran for about nine months from mid-1979 to try to deal with a similar emergency after the Iranian Revolution.
Renewable energy and electric vehicles are the way to go.
How are we doing on that front?
