What is a chokepoint?

A chokepoint is a narrow passage on a shipping route: a canal such as Suez or Panama, a strait such as Malacca or Hormuz, or a cape such as the Cape of Good Hope. Ships can often go another way, but the alternative is usually much longer, so most traffic uses the passage.

Why they matter

Because so many vessels use the same passage, a single event there can affect cargo far away. A grounded ship, a security threat, a drought that limits how deep a ship may sit in the water, or a strike at nearby ports can all slow or reroute traffic. The effect shows up as ships waiting, ships taking the long way round, or fewer ships passing at all.

How this site counts them

We track daily transits through each chokepoint using public ship tracking statistics from IMF PortWatch. A transit is one vessel passing through. We describe changes in those counts and record the disruptions that happened nearby, but a change in a count is not proof of what caused it. See how effects are measured.

Browse every chokepoint we cover on the chokepoints page, or see them on the map.