So for listeners who don't live and breathe contracts, can you explain what force majeure really means?

Well, I think the first thing to say is that it was actually a client who told me that they were describing this year as the year of force majeure.

So I can't claim credit for that moniker.

But I think it's very true.

Now, one thing to note about common law law.

systems of law, like ourselves, Singapore, England, Hong Kong, is that there is no doctrine of force majeure, unlike in some civil law countries like France, which is where the term force majeure comes from.

But what we do see in contracts which are under English law, Singapore law, Australian law, Hong Kong law, et cetera, is a force majeure clause.

Under what circumstances would a Strait of Hormuz type disruption actually qualify as a force majeure under the sorts of contracts that you're seeing generally in the market?