Merchant shipping was already using the route around Africa before Italy entered the war. At that stage the traffic had not yet been concentrated into a mature convoy system, so ships were spread across a wide ocean area. That dispersion helps explain why Admiral Graf Spee found surprisingly few targets along a strategically important route. Peacetime commercial geography shaped the later need for convoy concentration and trade protection in the Indian Ocean.
Notable Point · 24:56-25:32
Why the Cape route mattered before convoy concentration
Merchant traffic was already moving around Africa before Italy entered the war, but its dispersion initially gave a surface raider surprisingly few targets.