Strait of Hormuz Closure Triggers Work From Home, 4-Day Weeks In Asia (fortune.com)
- Reference: 0180957324
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/03/12/0710204/strait-of-hormuz-closure-triggers-work-from-home-4-day-weeks-in-asia
- Source link: https://fortune.com/2026/03/11/iran-war-fuel-crisis-asia-work-from-home-closed-schools-price-caps/
> On March 10, Thailand ordered civil servants to take the stairs rather than the elevator, and to work-from-home for the duration of the crisis. It increased the air-conditioning temperature to 27 degrees Celsius, and will tell government employees to wear short-sleeved shirts over suits. (Thailand has about 95 days of energy reserves left, according to [4]Reuters ).
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> Vietnam also called on businesses to let people [5]work-from-home to "reduce the need for travel and transportation." The Philippines is pushing for [6]a four-day work week , and has ordered officials to limit travel "to essential functions only."
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> South Asia is getting hit hard too. Bangladesh brought forward the Eid-al-fitr holiday, allowing universities to [7]close early in a bid to save fuel. Pakistan also instituted a [8]four-day week for government offices and closed schools. India suspended shipments of liquefied petroleum gas to commercial operators to prioritize supplies for households, leading to [9]worries from hotels and restaurants that they may be forced to close without fuel supplies.
Countries across the region are also considering price caps, subsidies, and [10]tapping strategic oil reserves . On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency " [11]unanimously" agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from its reserves.
The Associated Press offers a [12]look at the energy supplies that countries hold and when they tap them.
[1] https://fortune.com/2026/03/11/iran-war-fuel-crisis-asia-work-from-home-closed-schools-price-caps/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war
[3] https://www.reuters.com/graphics/IRAN-CRISIS/OIL-LNG/mopaokxlypa/
[4] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/thailand-orders-bureaucrats-use-stairs-work-home-energy-saving-drive-2026-03-10/
[5] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/vietnam-urges-people-work-home-save-fuel-iran-war-disrupts-supplies-2026-03-10/
[6] https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/philippine-government-starts-four-day-workweek-as-energy-prices-bite
[7] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bangladesh-shuts-universities-early-save-power-amid-energy-crisis-2026-03-09/
[8] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/10/pakistan-orders-sweeping-austerity-measures-as-iran-war-triggers-oil-crisis
[9] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4w92408ywo
[10] https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-oil-gas-02339048caa3fe1f08a198eb9224de2b
[11] https://www.axios.com/2026/03/11/trump-strategic-oil-reserve-gas-prices-iran-war
[12] https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-oil-gas-02339048caa3fe1f08a198eb9224de2b
"Sippowicz wears a tie on a short-sleeved shirt!" (Score:4, Funny)
"Thailand ordered ... government employees to wear short-sleeved shirts over suits."
Okay, but adding another layer like that is just going to make them hotter.
Re: (Score:2)
Joking aside... why chill a building to accommodate fashion instead of having fashion adapt to the climate?
You probably still want to cut the humidity and temperature, but it doesn't need to be 20C in there. Have the buildings be a bit warmer and let the fashion designers make short sleeve suits! I'm sure they can come up with something, it's literally their job.
Re: (Score:1)
> Joking aside... why chill a building to accommodate fashion instead of having fashion adapt to the climate?
Such is the influence of 19th and 20th century Western business culture on Asia. People wear western suits because that was what was expected in business in the world after colonialism.
But the YOB started with the piracy! (Score:2)
Not much of a joke, but the one I was looking for would involve the boat sinkings near Venezuela as the "seminal piracy" that led rather naturally to this little fiasco at Hormuz.
However I'm sure y'all know that I don't do funny. For my next failure, let me try a math joke. The basis is how much oil is actually involved. It would seem like it's not yet that much and the world economy shouldn't be shaking in its boots--except that something is amplifying the effects. It's the futures, stupid. Well, actually
Being rich and having good social security (Score:1)
Triggers Work From Home, 4-Day Weeks In Europe
Oh, good. Can't wait. (Score:2)
I'm certain this will trigger another round of freak-out stories from the usual suspects about how work from home can never, ever work and people are just too lazy to get anything done when working from home. I knew there was some part of my dystopia missing these last few weeks.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, the number #1 selling item for Amazon during Covid was the device that made your mouse cursor jiggle. So..... yeah.
No worries (Score:2)
Everything goes according to (AI) plan...
Re: (Score:1)
More like Putin's plan
1. Makes Europe dependent on Russian oil/gas
2. Keeps US occupied
3. Limits arms that US can send to Ukraine
4. Sets China and Russia up to supply anybody in the region that wants to join fray against US
The only real question is if Trump got tricked into this, or knowingly put US under Putin's heel
Re:No worries (Score:4, Informative)
Iran is a major supplier of critical drone components to Russia for their war on Ukraine.
Having the price of oil go up helps their shadow fleet provide general funding, but now that the fleet is subject to capture and confiscation that's not such a great tradeoff for losing capability to replace materials required for the war effort.
If this was a Trump move at Putin's urging, it may not have been the best one. On the other hand, economic desperation might have made it the least bad choice.
Re: (Score:2)
Somewhat correct. The drone supply part is unfortunately no longer true, Russia made tweaks to the base design and now almost entirely make them domestically (code name Geran).
Re: (Score:2)
True.
Re: (Score:1)
The likely trick is that the risk run by the 'shadow fleet' is almost entirely tied to political will. You can certainly turn off/spoof transponders if you are feeling a little naughty; but you can't really hide something the size of an oil tanker; just throw up a mess of paperwork and legal ambiguity.
In an environment of high oil prices and difficultly keeping people onboard with an Israeli crusade and an American debacle, it potentially becomes considerably harder to sell other countries on caring hard
Re:I'm planning a long road trip... (Score:4, Informative)
No natural gas = no electricity ..... www.pjm.com , renewables are a joke in the % contribution. You would be sitting at home along with everyone else.
Turns out we don't need all that fuel (Score:5, Insightful)
All this shows is that society does not need to consume that much fuel, we can adapt.
Re: (Score:3)
Not necessarily. The examples here are of emergency measures that may or may not have serious economic impacts. The adaptation here even in this summary involves less services available to people who need access to government offices and even cites concerns about the closure of two major industries.
We've done barely anything to reduce fuel and already societies are starting to crack even if we limit the scope to just the summary here.
On the bright side... (Score:1)
The one thing that could erode Trump's support is the rise in fuel prices.
When the MAGAs can't cheaply fill up their F350s, they will become 'restive'.
Re: (Score:2)
The US is near energy independent. The countries in a pickle are China, Japan and South Korea.
Gas lines already happening in China
[1]https://x.com/EnergyAbsurdity/... [x.com]
[1] https://x.com/EnergyAbsurdity/status/2031509234249072966
Re: (Score:1)
The US may be able to supply its own energy, but US oil is still a part of the worldwide oil market, and prices here fluctuate based on world events. East Asia is screwed in the short term because scheduled deliveries of oil are not happening, but in the long term hypothetical that the disruptions continue they'd switch to get their oil from somewhere else, and everyone's prices would go up.
Re: (Score:2)
While the US might not have as *hard* of an impact, prices have shot up quite a bit, higher than they were when they were blasting Biden for high gas prices in 2024 Because even if we can produce enough for ourselves, companies want to sell to whomever is most desperate..
As an aside, the guy you linked to I have not known at all, but was insufferable as soon as he cited Grok as a reason to trust a video, and that thanks to Trump the US doesn't have to worry about this, when it was Trump that made this mess
But at least gas prices are down! (Score:1)
Just ask Trump!
All this could have been avoided (Score:1)
By electing anyone but a war-mongering child rapist well known for his ties to organized crime for half a century, who antagonised all his allies while cozying up with mass-murdering psychopath like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un or Benyamin Netanyahu.
War in Iran "very complete" my ass. It's as complete as the war in Afghanistan where US and other allied soldiers died for nothing, having had their asses kicked for 20 years before running back home with their tails between their legs to shattered lives and brok
what about laws that make the office pay for commu (Score:2)
what about laws that make the office pay for commute / make fuel costs be per tax (up to some cap)
Re: (Score:2)
When you are talking about 70-90% of your petroleum travelling across what is now a shooting war that heavily favors anyone who wants to interfere with shipping it's not really a question of little price tweaks anymore; it's a matter of figuring out which oil-related activities are most important because the others are probably going to stop happening in the immediate future.
Re: (Score:3)
I think this suggestion would be in the spirit of 'in addition to' rather than 'instead of'.
All the hard measures listed are about government controlled offices and institutions, with a less compelling "please do work from home" call to businesses. Businesses that externalize the commute cost so they don't have a particularly strong motivation to be accommodating.
If you made the businesses bear the commute costs, then they at least would have real skin in the game. Not just for the current situation, but
Re: (Score:2)
No disagreement with aligning incentives; I was just seeking to point out that this is the sort of commodities issue where you are quite likely looking at the usual somewhat abstract squabble over money dissolving into "literally not available". In relatively liquid market economies you get so used to it just being a price question that it's always a bit of a mental adjustment when "Not. In. Stock." suddenly turns relatively hard.
Re: (Score:1)
US numbers but the effect is the same. If gas hits $10/gal (300% increase) it can now cost more to get to work then you earn in lower wage jobs. At this point people don't show and you can A) pay more, or B) Work from home or C) wave bye to your business. This will more or less cripple any econ, weather you think you have a contract or not. You cant fight economics here and people will get it.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, if it gets severe enough, the workers will nope on out because going to work costs more than it's worth.
However, people will "tuck it" much longer than a business will. If there's "commute budget" that the company can just keep for itself if it can figure out how, it'll be more aggressive about 'work from home' than an employee is willing to push their luck in pushing *against* work in person.