Straits of Dover, Taiwan busiest among 6 passages in Jan 2022-Apr 2024

The Strait of Dover, situated between south east England and northern France, connects the English Channel to the North Sea. The Taiwan Strait connects the East China Sea to the South China Sea.

Ship crossings through the Suez Canal and the Bab-Al Mandab Strait began to decline from mid-December 2023, with the Suez Canal experiencing a decrease in crossings by 66 per cent year on year (YoY) by the first week of April this year, and the Bab-Al Mandab Strait showing a 59 per cent YoY decrease in crossings over the same period.

The Bab-Al Mandab Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Weekly crossings through the Strait of Hormuz, situated between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, between February and April this year showed a significant decrease compared with previous years, especially between weeks 5 and 10, with an average 23 per cent reduction in crossing volume compared with the same weeks in the previous year, primarily from tanker crossings, an ONS release said.

The flow of ship crossings around the Cape of Good Hope started to increase in December last year and throughout the first weeks of 2024, more than doubling levels observed in February 2023.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)