Chokepoints squeeze shipping

Conflict in the Red Sea, the closure of Hormuz and climate-driven draft limits at Panama are squeezing global shipping at once, leaving operators with few options for reroutin

SHIPPING ROUTES

Existing
Through Suez Canal
Through Panama Canal

New (Year-round commercial 
shipping expected later 
this century)

Northwest passage
Northeast passage


CHOKEPOINTS

Under strain
Not affected


Ice extent (Sep 2025)

Military bases
U.S. and NATO
New planned U.S. 
bases in Greenland
Russian


Shanghai
World’s busiest 
container port with 
55.06 million TEU* 
(2025)

Malacca Strait
25% of seaborne
trade


Strait of Hormuz
20 million barrels a day 
(mb/d) or 25% of world’s 
seaborne oil trade (2025)
Severely disrupted by 
U.S.-Iran conflict

Bab al-Mandeb Strait
Around 12% of global trade, 
including 11% of maritime oil 
and 8% of liquefied natural gas (2023)
Disrupted amid Houthi attacks

Disruption forces vessels to reroute around 
Cape of Good Hope ​in southern Africa, adding 
weeks and significant costs to journey

Rotterdam: Europe’s largest 
container port and among 
world’s top 11, with about 
14.2 million TEU (2025)

Panama Canal
Around 5% of 
maritime trade
Disrupted from 
El Niño-related water 
shortages, with limits on vessel 
transits and draft causing delays 
and higher shipping costs


PACIFIC OCEAN
25,600km
Bering Strait

ALASKA 
(U.S.)

ARCTIC CIRCLE 
CHINA
U.S.
CANADA

ARCTIC 
OCEAN

RUSSIA
North Pole
16,100km
15,800km

ATLANTIC
OCEAN

GREENLAND 
Denmark)

IRAN
19,550km

INDIAN
OCEAN

Red Sea
Suez Canal

Through Cape of Good Hope

Through Cape of Good Hope
25,600km


*Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit

Sources: Reuters, EIA, Port of Rotterdam, Panama Canal Authority, Container News, Arctic Portal, Government of Canada, IISS
Picture: Newscom
© GRAPHIC NEWS