Chokepoint Report — week of 24 August 2026
Vessel movements through the world's maritime chokepoints, 24 August to 30 August 2026. Every transit below was detected from live AIS positions and screened against OFAC, EU, UN and UK sanctions lists.
7,135 transits recorded across 10 chokepoints. 98 involved a vessel on a sanctions list.
Traffic by chokepoint
No week-on-week comparison this issue. Our AIS coverage was materially lower in the previous week (161,962 position records this week against 89,382 the week before), so any percentage change would measure our own data collection rather than shipping activity. The counts below are what we observed; the comparison returns once both weeks are comparable.
| Chokepoint | Transits | Vessels | vs last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Channel | 2,631 | 1,344 | — |
| Strait of Malacca | 1,462 | 1,318 | — |
| Turkish Straits | 1,006 | 749 | — |
| Danish Straits | 839 | 693 | — |
| Cape of Good Hope | 583 | 527 | — |
| Suez Canal | 244 | 238 | — |
| Strait of Hormuz | 181 | 131 | — |
| Panama Canal | 127 | 100 | — |
| US Gulf | 48 | 47 | — |
| Bab el-Mandeb | 14 | 13 | — |
Sanctioned vessels
| Chokepoint | Transits | Distinct vessels |
|---|---|---|
| Suez Canal | 22 | 22 |
| Danish Straits | 18 | 18 |
| English Channel | 17 | 14 |
| Turkish Straits | 15 | 15 |
| Strait of Malacca | 13 | 12 |
| Strait of Hormuz | 12 | 11 |
| Cape of Good Hope | 1 | 1 |
Direction of travel
Through the English Channel: 1,323 southbound, 1,308 northbound.
AIS gaps
86 voyage legs from 86 vessels included a period with no AIS signal. A gap is not itself evidence of wrongdoing — coverage is imperfect and transponders fail — but it is the pattern sanctions-evading operators use, and it is why we track it.
Cargo movements
Draught changes indicating 689 loaded, 618 discharged, inferred from AIS-reported draught against each vessel's laden and ballast baseline.
Method: transits are detected by tracking vessels across zone boundaries in live AIS data. Sanctions status is matched on IMO and MMSI against the published lists and refreshed daily. Figures are what we observed; AIS coverage is not complete, so treat them as a floor rather than a census.