Chokepoint Report — week of 7 September 2026
Vessel movements through the world's maritime chokepoints, 7 September to 13 September 2026. Every transit below was detected from live AIS positions and screened against OFAC, EU, UN and UK sanctions lists.
3,829 transits recorded across 10 chokepoints. 69 involved a vessel on a sanctions list.
Traffic by chokepoint
No week-on-week comparison this issue. Our AIS coverage was materially lower this week (0 position records this week against 112,900 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 | 1,037 | 879 | — |
| Strait of Malacca | 925 | 841 | — |
| Turkish Straits | 738 | 623 | — |
| Danish Straits | 282 | 258 | — |
| Cape of Good Hope | 251 | 239 | — |
| Suez Canal | 241 | 232 | — |
| Strait of Hormuz | 206 | 144 | — |
| Panama Canal | 116 | 99 | — |
| US Gulf | 22 | 20 | — |
| Bab el-Mandeb | 11 | 11 | — |
Sanctioned vessels
| Chokepoint | Transits | Distinct vessels |
|---|---|---|
| Suez Canal | 21 | 21 |
| Strait of Malacca | 15 | 14 |
| Turkish Straits | 13 | 13 |
| English Channel | 9 | 9 |
| Strait of Hormuz | 6 | 4 |
| Danish Straits | 3 | 3 |
| Panama Canal | 1 | 1 |
| Bab el-Mandeb | 1 | 1 |
Direction of travel
Through the English Channel: 520 southbound, 517 northbound.
AIS gaps
77 voyage legs from 77 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 754 loaded, 707 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.