With 90% of cargo transportation and the majority of international moves dependent upon sea freight, e-Portal reveals the top ten shipping lanes in the world.
Marine Insight reported that the list is made up of both natural and man-made shipping routes that are critical to maritime trade infrastructure, primarily due to their strategic location. The top 10 busiest shipping lanes in the world are as follows:
1. English Channel
Measuring nearly 350 miles (560 km) in length and a width of 150 miles (240 km) at its broadest, the English Channel sees over 500 vessel transits a day. Of the 171 ports and harbors along its coast, the most important are Portsmouth, Southampton, Le Havre, Cherbourg, and Brest. In addition, 16 million people and five million trucks cross the English Channel annually.
2. Malacca Strait
Lying between Indonesia’s Sumatra Island and the Malay Peninsula, this shipping lane connects the Andaman Sea with the Strait of Singapore and the South China Sea. Although it is only 310 miles (500 km) long, it is the principal shipping route connecting Asian economies like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Thailand. With over 40 ports along the Malacca Strait, approximately 94,000 ships pass through this shipping lane each year.
3. Hormuz Strait
Situated between Iran and Oman, the Hormuz Strait is not only one of the busiest shipping lanes but a maritime chokepoint. With more than 20,000 annual ship transits in a normal year, it is
strategically important in world trade and geopolitics. To decrease the chances of a collision, vessels transiting the Hormuz Strait use a Traffic Separation Scheme in which inbound ships utilize one lane, and outbound ones use another lane, with each lane being two miles wide.
4. Suez Canal
Connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, the Suez Canal in Egypt also divides Africa and Asia. Originally 100 miles (164 km) long with a depth of only 8 meters, after continued work it is 119 miles (193 km) long, and 24 meters deep. In normal circustances, around 56 ships transit the Suez Canal every day.
5. Panama Canal
Built between 1904 and 1914, the Panama Canal is 51 miles (82 km) long, linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal locks allow vessels to lift up to the freshwater Gatun Lake, requiring 200,000,000 liters of freshwater for each vessel that passes through. Due to persistent drought conditions, daily crossings have been limited to 32.
6. Danish Strait
Connecting the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, the Danish Strait is a series of channels that form a critical route for Russian seaborne oil exports.
7. Bosphorus Strait
Connecting the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, 55,000 ships pass through the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey every year.
8. Saint Lawrence Seaway
From Canada’s Lake Ontario, it flows 1,900 miles to New York and serves ports like Ontario, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, and Ohio. The Saint Lawrence Seaway handles 40 to 50 million tons of cargo each year.
9. Strait of Gibraltar
Linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, approximately 300 ships cross the Gibraltar Strait every day, making it is one of the world’s busiest waterways.
10. Taiwan Strait
This 111 mile (180 km) wide strait separates Taiwan and the Asian Continent and forms a major shipping route for container vessels, with around 88% of the world’s largest ships passing through.