The Chokepoints That Control World Trade

On 14 October 2026, Reuters reported that two cargo ships had sunk near the Strait of Hormuz within about a day. Both had been hit by projectiles, one of them weeks earlier. In normal times, about a fifth of the world’s oil passes through that strait. Since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February 2026, it has been largely closed to normal traffic.

That is the logic of global trade chokepoints. A handful of narrow passages carry a large share of the world’s oil and goods, so trouble in one is felt everywhere. Which passages matter most, how much passes through each, who controls them, and what has gone wrong in each since 2021?

What are global trade chokepoints?

A chokepoint is a narrow passage on a busy sea route that ships cannot easily avoid. Four things decide how much one matters.

First, volume. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that about 77.5 million barrels of oil a day moved by sea in 2023. That is roughly three-quarters of world supply.

Second, width. In a narrow channel, one grounded ship, one mine or one missile battery can stop traffic.

Third, the detour. Some chokepoints have a pipeline or a longer sea route around them. Others have nothing close.

Fourth, the shore. Global trade chokepoints fall into two families. Canals belong to the state that runs them, and earn tolls. Natural straits are lined by coastal states, and sometimes by armed groups. So the risk is not only closure: insurers raise premiums, lines reroute, and costs travel down supply chains.

World trade chokepoints compared: the key numbers

The table compares the main global trade chokepoints, using the latest figure found for each.

Chokepoint	Connects	What passes (latest figure)	Who controls the shores	Disruption since 2021
Strait of Hormuz	Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman	20 million barrels of oil a day (EIA, 2024)	Iran and Oman	Largely closed since 28 Feb 2026
Strait of Malacca	Indian Ocean and South China Sea	About 24 million barrels a day, the largest flow (EIA, 2023)	Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore	No closure
Bab el-Mandeb	Gulf of Aden and Red Sea	About 9 million barrels a day (EIA, 2023); more than halved in 2024	Yemen; Djibouti and Eritrea	Houthi attacks since Nov 2023; Houthis take Yemen’s shore, Sep 2026
Suez Canal (with the SUMED pipeline)	Red Sea and Mediterranean	8.8 million barrels a day (EIA, 2023); over 26,000 ships in 2023	Egypt (Suez Canal Authority)	Ever Given, 2021; transits halved in 2024
Panama Canal	Atlantic and Pacific	13,404 transits in the year to September 2025	Panama (Panama Canal Authority)	Drought limits, 2023-24
Turkish Straits	Black Sea and Mediterranean	Oil and grain from Black Sea ports	Turkey	Closed to warships, February 2022
Danish Straits	Baltic Sea and North Sea	About 5 million barrels a day (EIA, 2023)	Denmark and Sweden	No closure

Figures differ by source and year, so the dates matter. The EIA put Hormuz at 20.9 million barrels a day in 2023 and 20 million in 2024. The International Energy Agency also gives about 20 million, about a quarter of seaborne oil trade. This article uses the EIA where it can, because it publishes one consistent series. The EIA revised that series in March 2026, so the 2023 figures here are rounded.

Trade shares vary too. The Red Sea route normally carries about 12% of world trade, CNN reported in September 2026. UNCTAD, the UN trade body, estimated that 22% of seaborne container trade passed through Suez in 2023. For Panama, Reuters gives about 3% of seaborne trade, while other estimates reach 5%.

Hormuz and Malacca: the two great oil gates

Most Gulf oil heading east passes two gates: first Hormuz, then Malacca. Each carried about 20 million barrels a day or more before 2026.

The Strait of Hormuz

Hormuz is the only sea exit from the Persian Gulf. Iran lines its northern shore, and Oman’s Musandam peninsula the southern one. The strait is about 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest. In 2024, its oil flow equalled about 20% of world petroleum consumption, according to the EIA.

Since the war began on 28 February 2026, Iran has kept the strait largely closed to normal traffic. There have been two short-lived openings. After a ceasefire in early April, Iran said on 18 April that it had closed the strait again, NPR reported. Traffic partly resumed after a US-Iran memorandum on 17 June, Al Jazeera reported, but it did not last.

Meanwhile, the United States has blockaded Iran’s own ports, from 13 April to 18 June and again since 14 July, CNBC reported. Iran’s seaborne crude exports fell to zero in September, Euronews reported. Brent crude peaked at $126.41 a barrel on 30 April.

October brought more attacks. Lloyd’s List counted 143 transits between 28 September and 7 October, USNI News reported, a small fraction of pre-war traffic. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a container ship sank after hitting a mine. However, Singapore said its sunken ship, the GFS Pride, had been hit by an unknown projectile. Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran is using new tactics to keep oil prices high and to influence the US midterm elections.

Iran says the strait stays closed until Washington meets its conditions. Saudi Arabia has worked around it. Its East-West pipeline ran at full capacity, and exports from Yanbu, on the Red Sea, rose towards 5 million barrels a day. Drone attacks shut the pipeline in September, but loadings resumed later that month. That moved the risk elsewhere. Our article on whether Iran can close the Strait of Hormuz goes deeper.

The Strait of Malacca

Malacca runs between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It links the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and the Pacific. At its narrowest, in the Phillips Channel near Singapore, it is about 1.7 miles (2.7 km) wide, according to the EIA.

By volume, the Strait of Malacca is the world’s biggest oil chokepoint: about 24 million barrels a day in 2023, the EIA estimates. It is the main route between the Gulf and the big Asian importers: China, Japan and South Korea. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore share its waters, and no country charges a toll for passing.

For China, this is a long-standing strategic worry, because much of its imported oil arrives this way. Ships leaving Malacca enter the South China Sea, where China’s claims are disputed by its neighbours.

Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal: the Red Sea route

The shortest sea route between Asia and Europe has two gates. A ship enters the Red Sea through Bab el-Mandeb in the south and leaves through the Suez Canal in the north. The alternative is the long way around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Bab el-Mandeb

Bab el-Mandeb lies between Yemen on one side and Djibouti and Eritrea on the other. The EIA gives its width as 18 miles (29 km) at the narrowest point. CNN and Al Jazeera report about 32 km, because the figure depends on where it is measured. In 2023, about 9 million barrels of oil a day passed through it.

In November 2023, Yemen’s Houthi movement seized the cargo ship Galaxy Leader and began attacking shipping, AP reported. By early 2025, according to AP, the Houthis had targeted more than 100 merchant ships, sinking two and killing four sailors. Oil flows through the strait fell by more than half in the first eight months of 2024, the EIA found. A US air campaign in 2025 ended with an Oman-brokered ceasefire in May.

In 2026 the strait became more important, not less, because Saudi oil now leaves through the Red Sea. On 20 July, the Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping, CNBC reported. On 11 August, a Houthi attack on the ship Tihamah killed six people, Yemen’s government said. In September, the Houthis took the port of Mokha and Perim island in the strait itself, Al Jazeera reported.

Then, in early October, a Saudi-backed government offensive began. The government said it had retaken Mokha, but the Houthis denied losing ground, and the claim had not been independently confirmed. Our articles on why nobody can conquer Yemen, why everyone suddenly wants Eritrea and why Israel wants a base in Somaliland explain the struggle for this coast.

The Suez Canal

Egypt’s Suez Canal opened in 1869 and is run by the Suez Canal Authority. Together with the SUMED pipeline beside it, it carried about 8.8 million barrels of oil a day in 2023.

On 23 March 2021, the container ship Ever Given ran aground and blocked the canal for six days. The blockage held up some $9 billion of trade each day, according to the academic site Port Economics, Management and Policy. More than 400 ships queued at both ends.

The Red Sea attacks did far more lasting damage. By early 2024, Suez transits were down 42% from their peak, UNCTAD estimated, and weekly container ship transits were down 67%. The canal handled 13,213 ships in 2024, against more than 26,000 in 2023, the canal authority said. Its revenue fell from a record $10.25 billion to $3.99 billion.

Now the Hormuz crisis is pushing traffic back. In July 2026, 1,340 ships crossed, 27% more than a year earlier, and revenue rose 42%, Bloomberg reported. The canal’s chairman expects $5.8 billion to $6 billion for 2026, up from $4.1 billion in 2025. That is still well below the 2023 record.

The Panama Canal: a chokepoint that runs on rain

The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and the Pacific, and it is run by the Panama Canal Authority. Unlike Suez, it lifts ships through locks filled with fresh water from rain-fed lakes. So, of all the global trade chokepoints, it is the one most exposed to the weather.

In 2023, a drought hit the canal’s watershed. The authority cut daily booking slots to 24 in November 2023 and 22 in December, The Waterways Journal reported. By early 2024, transits were down 49% from their peak, UNCTAD estimated. As the rains returned, the canal recovered: 13,404 transits in the year to September 2025, up 19.3%, with revenue of about $5.7 billion, Baird Maritime reported from the canal’s figures.

In 2026, the Hormuz closure sent more ships to Panama. Between October 2025 and June 2026, the canal handled 10,726 transits, an average of 35 a day, the Panama Canal Authority said. Traffic peaked at 40 to 41 ships a day during the closure, FreshPlaza reported. Now an expected El Niño threatens new capacity limits.

It is a political chokepoint too: in January 2026, Panama’s Supreme Court annulled a Hong Kong company’s concession for two ports at its entrances, CNN reported. Our article on why Trump wants the Panama Canal covers that fight.

The Turkish and Danish Straits: Europe’s sea gates

The Turkish Straits

The Bosporus and the Dardanelles link the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through the Sea of Marmara. The Bosporus runs through Istanbul and is less than 1 km wide at its narrowest. Oil and grain from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine pass this way.

Turkey controls both shores. The 1936 Montreux Convention guarantees merchant ships free passage in peacetime but lets Turkey limit warships. In February 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Turkey invoked it to close the straits to warships. Ships returning to their home bases in the Black Sea were exempt.

The Danish Straits

The Danish Straits, the Øresund and the Great and Little Belts, link the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. They carried about 5 million barrels of oil a day in 2023, the EIA estimates, much of it Russian exports from Baltic ports.

Denmark and Sweden line these waters, and both are now NATO members. That matters for Russia’s Baltic exports and for Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad. Our article on why Sweden joined NATO explains what that change meant for the Baltic.

Other narrow seas matter too, such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Taiwan Strait, about 130 km wide (see why China wants Taiwan). There is more analysis of global affairs on the region page.

What to watch next

Four things will decide how the global trade chokepoints behave over the coming months.

• Hormuz talks. A US-Iran deal would reopen the strait. Meanwhile, a US official has said the US could have three aircraft carriers around Iran by the end of November.
• The battle for Yemen’s coast. Whoever holds Mokha and Perim can threaten Bab el-Mandeb. Watch whether the Houthis strike tankers leaving Yanbu, now Saudi Arabia’s main outlet.
• Rain in Panama. If El Niño brings another drought, the canal may have to limit transits again, just as demand is high.
• Suez’s recovery. The canal authority’s forecast of up to $6 billion for 2026 depends on the Red Sea staying passable.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main chokepoints in the world?

The main global trade chokepoints are the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Turkish Straits and the Danish Straits. By oil volume, Malacca is the largest, at about 24 million barrels a day in 2023, followed by Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

What does chokepoint mean in trade?

In trade, a chokepoint is a narrow passage on a major shipping route, such as a strait or a canal, that ships cannot easily avoid. Because so much cargo funnels through it, a closure, an accident or an attack there can delay shipments, raise freight and insurance costs, and push up prices far away.

Is the Strait of Hormuz open or closed?

As of 16 October 2026, the Strait of Hormuz is largely closed to normal traffic. Iran has restricted it since US and Israeli strikes began on 28 February 2026, apart from short-lived openings in April and June. Iran says it will stay closed until the United States meets its conditions, and attacks on ships rose in October.

Is the Bab el-Mandeb strait closed?

Bab el-Mandeb is open but dangerous. The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping in July 2026 and took Yemen’s coast at the strait in September. Ships still pass, but fewer than before November 2023, when Houthi attacks began. A Saudi-backed offensive to retake the coast started in early October 2026.

Who controls the Strait of Malacca?

No single country controls the Strait of Malacca. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore share its waters, and no state charges ships a toll to pass. It is the world’s busiest oil chokepoint, carrying about 24 million barrels a day in 2023, mostly between the Gulf and the big importers of East Asia.