Facts
22 short facts about ports, chokepoints, trade lanes and the disruption archive, with the source of every number. None is written by hand: each is computed at build time from our registries, the IMF PortWatch series, the reviewed event archive or a stored effect row, so the figures are current to data through 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026). One appears on the home page each day. Counts about the archive describe the archive, which is a curated record and not a census of every disruption.
Ports
Singapore ranks first of 2,065 ports by average daily port calls, at 125.6 a day from 2025-09-01 (1 September 2025) to 2026-08-31 (31 August 2026).
Japan has the most of the 100 busiest ports by daily calls, as PortWatch lists ports: 23.
Singapore, Shanghai and Rotterdam are the three busiest ports by daily calls, together averaging 312.7 calls a day from 2025-09-01 (1 September 2025) to 2026-08-31 (31 August 2026).
Trade lanes
Arabian Gulf to Northwest Europe crude: sailing around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Suez Canal adds 4,703 nautical miles, 72.7 percent more, on the printed table distances.
Distances: US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Pub. 151, Distances Between Ports, 11th edition (2001). World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Asia to Mediterranean: sailing around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Suez Canal adds 6,535 nautical miles, 83.3 percent more, on the printed table distances.
Distances: US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Pub. 151, Distances Between Ports, 11th edition (2001). World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Asia to North Europe: sailing around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Suez Canal adds 3,429 nautical miles, 32.5 percent more, on the printed table distances.
Distances: US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Pub. 151, Distances Between Ports, 11th edition (2001). World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Qatar to Northwest Europe LNG: sailing around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Suez Canal adds 4,696 nautical miles, 76.6 percent more, on the printed table distances.
Distances: US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Pub. 151, Distances Between Ports, 11th edition (2001). World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Malacca Strait is on the usual routing of 17 of the 50 curated lanes in our registry, more than any other chokepoint.
Brazil to China iron ore has the longest usual routing of the 47 curated lanes with a table distance: 11,305 nautical miles.
Distances: US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Pub. 151, Distances Between Ports, 11th edition (2001). World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Chokepoints
Sunda Strait had the largest change in daily transits of the 28 chokepoints with data: an average of 30.9 in the 28 days to 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026), against 33.9 in the 28 days before (-8.8%).
Taiwan Strait averaged 229.4 transits a day in the 28 days to 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026), the most of the 28 chokepoints with data in this build.
At the Dover Strait, the busiest of the last 120 days to 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026) was 2026-05-23 (23 May 2026) with 210 transits, and the quietest was 2026-08-03 (3 August 2026) with 126.
At the Korea Strait, the busiest of the last 120 days to 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026) was 2026-08-04 (4 August 2026) with 282 transits, and the quietest was 2026-09-09 (9 September 2026) with 151.
At the Malacca Strait, the busiest of the last 120 days to 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026) was 2026-07-27 (27 July 2026) with 269 transits, and the quietest was 2026-07-19 (19 July 2026) with 170.
The event archive
The longest disruption in the archive so far is "Drought cuts draft and daily transits at the Panama Canal", which ran 551 days from 2023-03-01 (1 March 2023) to 2024-09-01 (1 September 2024).
Labour action is the most common event type in the archive so far: 12 of 53 reviewed records.
Measured effects
COVID-19 controls cut container handling at Yantian in Shenzhen. PortWatch counted 1.6 calls per day at Yantian from 2021-05-25 (25 May 2021) to 2021-06-24 (24 June 2021), against an expected 8.9, a change of -81.9%. Series: container ship port calls.
This is a measured change in public data during the event window, compared with a baseline before it. It shows timing, not cause. We describe an event as causing a change only when an official source says so.
Source: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), International Monetary Fund, using UN Global Platform AIS data. Statistics derived by World Freight Monitor. World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Cyclone Biparjoy suspends operations at Gujarat ports. PortWatch counted 0.7 calls per day at Mundra from 2023-06-12 (12 June 2023) to 2023-06-17 (17 June 2023), against an expected 7.7, a change of -91.3%. Series: container ship port calls.
This is a measured change in public data during the event window, compared with a baseline before it. It shows timing, not cause. We describe an event as causing a change only when an official source says so.
Source: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), International Monetary Fund, using UN Global Platform AIS data. Statistics derived by World Freight Monitor. World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Dockworkers strike halts US East and Gulf Coast container ports. PortWatch counted 0.3 calls per day at New York-New Jersey from 2024-10-01 (1 October 2024) to 2024-10-03 (3 October 2024), against an expected 6.3, a change of -94.7%. Series: container ship port calls.
This is a measured change in public data during the event window, compared with a baseline before it. It shows timing, not cause. We describe an event as causing a change only when an official source says so.
Source: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), International Monetary Fund, using UN Global Platform AIS data. Statistics derived by World Freight Monitor. World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Hurricane Ida closes New Orleans and the Lower Mississippi River. PortWatch counted 0.9 calls per day at South Louisiana from 2021-08-28 (28 August 2021) to 2021-09-03 (3 September 2021), against an expected 6.4, a change of -86.5%. Series: port calls.
This is a measured change in public data during the event window, compared with a baseline before it. It shows timing, not cause. We describe an event as causing a change only when an official source says so.
Source: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), International Monetary Fund, using UN Global Platform AIS data. Statistics derived by World Freight Monitor. World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Typhoon Dolphin halts container terminals at Ningbo and Shanghai. PortWatch counted 19.8 calls per day at Shanghai from 2026-08-07 (7 August 2026) to 2026-08-11 (11 August 2026), against an expected 91.9, a change of -78.5%. Series: port calls.
This is a measured change in public data during the event window, compared with a baseline before it. It shows timing, not cause. We describe an event as causing a change only when an official source says so.
Source: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), International Monetary Fund, using UN Global Platform AIS data. Statistics derived by World Freight Monitor. World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Typhoon Saudel closes Ningbo and Shanghai container terminals. PortWatch counted 12.3 calls per day at Ningbo from 2026-08-26 (26 August 2026) to 2026-08-28 (28 August 2026), against an expected 49.7, a change of -75.2%. Series: port calls.
This is a measured change in public data during the event window, compared with a baseline before it. It shows timing, not cause. We describe an event as causing a change only when an official source says so.
Source: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), International Monetary Fund, using UN Global Platform AIS data. Statistics derived by World Freight Monitor. World Freight Monitor (worldfreightmonitor.com).
Machine readable: facts.json.