They are the busiest sea crossings on the planet. Their role is critical for global maritime trade as they are “lifelines” for the global economy and planet’s well-being.
This has been particularly evident in recent years when geopolitical developments in Ukraine and the Red Sea have caused disruptions in global trade, as reflected in shipping statistics on six of the world’s busiest sea lanes.
The straits considered by the UK’s Office for National Statistics are the Straits of Dover, the Suez Canal, the Bab-Al Mandab Strait in the Gulf of Aden, the Straits of Hormuz, the Cape of Good Hope and Taiwan Strait.
The Dover Strait and the Taiwan Strait were the busiest of the six sea passages analyzed, with cargo vessels accounting for the largest proportion of vessels (50% in the Dover Strait and 60% in the Taiwan Strait).
Vessel crossings through the Suez Canal and Bab-Al Mandab Strait began to decline from mid-December 2023, with the Suez Canal seeing a 66% drop in crossings by the first week of April 2024 compared to the corresponding week of the previous year, while the Bab-Al Mandab strait saw a 59% drop in crossings over the same period when Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea began.
Weekly crossings through the Strait of Hormuz between February and April 2024 showed a significant decrease compared to previous years, especially between weeks 5 and 10, with an average decrease of 23% in the volume of crossings compared to the same weeks last year; mainly from tanker crossings.
The flow of vessel passages around the Cape of Good Hope began to increase in December 2023 and throughout the first weeks of 2024, more than doubling the levels seen in February 2023, due to the Red Sea Bypass.
There were no significant changes in vessel passage trends through the Taiwan Strait or the Dover Strait for the reporting period.
The Straits of Dover
The Strait of Dover, located between southeast England and northern France, connects the English Channel to the North Sea. It is one of the world’s busiest sea crossings, allowing goods and passengers to be transported between mainland Europe and the UK.
Dover is the busiest of the six passages examined, with an average of around 1,300 ships crossing the Dover Straits per week in 2023. Vessel crossings through the Dover Straits remained stable throughout 2022 and 2023 , unlike the Strait of Hormuz, where we usually see quieter periods at the beginning and end of the year.
In the first 14 weeks of 2024 (up to the beginning of April), 17,260 ships passed through the Dover Strait, compared to 18,658 in the same period of 2023 and 17,522 in the same period of 2022.
Cargo ships were by far the most common type of ship crossing the Dover Strait, accounting for 50% of total crossings in 2023. Cargo and tanker crossings were stable throughout 2023, at similar levels to the previous year.
| Week of Entry | No. of Crossings | No. of crossings | No. of Crossings | No. of Crossings | No. of Crossings | No. of Crossings |
| Bab-Al Mandab Straits | Cape of Good Hope | Dover | Hormuz Straits | Suez Canal | Taiwan Straits | |
| 1/1/2024 | 303 | 592 | 1236 | 463 | 316 | 1261 |
| 8/1/2024 | 288 | 578 | 1237 | 429 | 280 | 1199 |
| 15/1/2024 | 250 | 559 | 1245 | 500 | 271 | 1115 |
| 22/1/2024 | 226 | 601 | 1271 | 491 | 242 | 977 |
| 29/1/2024 | 232 | 648 | 1443 | 438 | 221 | 1141 |
| 5/2/2024 | 228 | 628 | 1240 | 460 | 238 | 1093 |
| 12/2/2024 | 230 | 686 | 1291 | 454 | 210 | 1086 |
| 19/2/2024 | 241 | 674 | 1094 | 458 | 233 | 868 |
| 26/2/2024 | 229 | 679 | 1204 | 449 | 212 | 1212 |
| 4/3/2024 | 212 | 655 | 1276 | 425 | 203 | 1273 |
| 11/3/2024 | 221 | 606 | 1300 | 577 | 169 | 1387 |
| 18/3/2024 | 207 | 646 | 1261 | 545 | 176 | 1284 |
| 25/3/2024 | 214 | 1075 | 460 | 157 | 1289 | |
| 1/4/2024 | 196 | 544 | 160 | 1178 |
Suez Canal and Bab-Al Mandab Strait
The Suez Canal and the Bab-Al Mandab Canal had similar trends to each other.
The Suez Canal, the man-made waterway located in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is a critical maritime bypass, allowing ships to avoid the long journey around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, thus reducing the of travel and expenses for ships traveling between Asia and Europe.
The Bab-Al Mandab Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It is an important transit route for ships traveling between Europe and Asia and between Europe and East Africa.
The Suez Canal and the Bab-Al Mandab Strait serve as gateways to and from the Red Sea, allowing goods such as oil and natural gas to be transported, underscoring their strategic importance.
Vessel crossings through the Suez Canal and Bab-Al Mandab Strait remained stable from January to November 2023. The flow of crossings through the crossings began to decline from mid-December 2023. By the first week of April 2024 ( week 14), the volume of crossings through the Suez Canal decreased by 66% compared to the corresponding week of the previous year.
In particular, during the considered period, crossings through the Suez Canal decreased to 3,088 compared to 5,988 in the same period of 2023 and 5,099 in 2022.
Similarly, Bab-Al Mandab Strait saw a 59% drop in crossings compared to the same week last year. This is in line with the widely reported disruption of shipping in the Middle East due to attacks on Houthi rebel ships.
The decline in crossings through both passages from mid-December 2023 is attributed to a sharp decline in both trucks and tankers. By the first week of April 2024 (week 14), the volume of cargo ships and tankers passing through the Suez Canal were 71% and 61% lower than the level of vessel passage seen in the previous year, respectively.
In the Bab-Al Mandab Strait, cargo ship crossings started to decline slightly earlier than tanker crossings at the end of December 2023, while tanker crossings started to diverge from the previous year’s trends only from the beginning of January 2024. By the first week of April 2024, cargo ships and tankers were down 68% and 56% below the level of vessel passage seen in the same week of the previous year, respectively. A total of 3,277 ships passed through the Bab-Al Mandab strait in the first 14 weeks of 2024 compared to 6,590 in the same period of 2023 and 5,706 in 2022.
Straits of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz, located between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, connects important trade routes between the Persian Gulf and Asia, Europe and Africa. It serves as a major route for the transportation of oil and liquefied natural gas from the Persian Gulf.
No significant disruption was observed in vessel passage through the Strait of Hormuz throughout 2023. However, the volume of vessel passage was significantly lower than in previous years from February 2024, when we would normally see an increase in passage by during this period. This is particularly noticeable between weeks 5 and 10, where the volume of crossings was, on average, 23% lower than in the same weeks last year.
This decrease was mainly attributed to tanker crossings. The volume of transits made by tankers between weeks 5 and 10 was 23% lower than the total transits during the same weeks in 2023. On the other hand, there was no significant disruption in dry cargo transits through the Strait of Hormuz. In total, until the beginning of April 2024, 6,693 ships passed through the Straits of Hormuz, compared to 7,780 in the same period of 2023 and 8,327 in the first 14 weeks of 2022.
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope, located at the southern tip of Africa, is a seaway connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is an important ‘conduit’ for trade and allows the movement of goods between Europe and Asia and around Africa.
The flow of vessel passages around the Cape of Good Hope began to increase steadily in December 2023 and throughout the first weeks of 2024. By the second week of February (week 7), the number of vessel passages through of the seaway was more than double the volume of the same week in 2023. The timing of this increase coincides with the decrease in vessel crossings seen in the Suez Canal and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. While ship crossings were down slightly by the first week of April, they were still significantly higher than previous years (57% higher than 2023).
The increase in the volume of ship crossings towards the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 is reflected in the trends of crossings made by both trucks and tankers.
By the second week of February (week 7), the volume of cargo ship crossings was about three times the level seen in the previous year, while the volume of tankers was more than 2.5 times higher. In total, in the first 14 weeks of 2024 from the Cape of Good Hope, ship crossings reached 7,552 compared to 4,432 and 4,254 in the corresponding period of 2023 and 2022.
Taiwan Straits
The Taiwan Strait, located between Taiwan and China, connects the East China Sea with the South China Sea, allowing the movement of passengers, goods and energy resources between major economic hubs such as China, Taiwan, Japan and global markets.
On average, in 2023, about 1,200 ships crossed the Taiwan Strait in a week, making it the second busiest of the six routes examined.
Cargo vessels accounted for 60% of total crossings in 2023. Cargo and tanker crossings were stable throughout 2023 and similar to levels seen from the previous year. The results suggest that there was no significant disturbance in the passage of ships through the Taiwan Strait during the reporting period. In total, 16,363 ships “passed” through the Taiwan Straits in the first 14 weeks compared to 17,005 ships in the corresponding period of 2023 and 14,923 in 2022.
