Over 90% of traded goods travel by sea. This dashboard maps the world's shipping arteries — from mega-ports processing 50M+ containers to narrow chokepoints where geopolitics meets geography.
The arteries of global commerce — container, bulk, and tanker routes connecting the world's busiest ports through critical chokepoints.
Container throughput in millions of TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units), 2024 data.
Narrow passages where geography funnels global trade — and where disruption reverberates worldwide.
The highest-volume shipping corridors connecting major economic regions.
| # | Trade Lane | Origin Region | Destination Region | Volume | Type |
|---|
The world's 109,000+ commercial vessels by category — the backbone of maritime trade.
The container shipping industry is dominated by a handful of mega-carriers controlling the majority of global capacity.
Key trends shaping the $17B+ cargo shipping market.
Millions of TEU, 2024 — Asia dominates the rankings
Share of global container fleet capacity, 2024
Billion tonnes per year, 2018–2024
Number of vessels by category in the global merchant fleet
Estimated TEU flows on major trade lanes (millions), 2024
Annual vessel transits through key maritime chokepoints
Six of the world's top 10 container ports are in mainland China, collectively handling ~204.5M TEU — roughly 68% of the top 10's combined volume. Shanghai alone surpassed 50M TEU in 2024, a world first. [1][2]
Geopolitical tensions caused Suez Canal transits to plummet 65–76% by mid-2024. Ships rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope (arrivals surged 89%), adding 10–14 days per voyage and driving freight rates up 149%. [6][10]
With 43.5M TEU moving annually, intra-Asia trade constitutes ~25% of all seaborne container traffic — larger than trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe lanes combined. The region's manufacturing integration drives this dominance. [7][8]