Over 40,000 international vessels transited Turkish straits in H1 2023, highlighting their strategic importance amid global trade disruptions.
According to information compiled from the statistics of the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs, the Turkish straits continue to provide passage for tens of thousands of international ships.
In the first half of the year, due to the Iran-U.S./Israel War, transit through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted, and the global trade system underwent significant transformations, while the Turkish straits maintained their strategic importance.
Despite the intensification of mutual drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea, a total of 40,218 ships passed through Turkey's Istanbul and Çanakkale straits in the first half of the year.
The number of ships that passed through the Istanbul Strait in the first six months of this year was calculated to be 19,277, while the number of ships that passed through the Çanakkale Strait was recorded as 20,941.
In the same period last year, the number of ships that passed through these straits was 40,988. Of these ships, 19,381 passed through Istanbul and 21,607 passed through Çanakkale.
During the same period, a ship carrying 604 live animals, a ship carrying 258 vehicles, and 87 cement ships also transited through the Turkish straits.
In total, 767.5 million gross tons of ships passed through the straits during this period, with the value for those passing through the Istanbul Strait being 301.5 million gross tons and for those passing through the Çanakkale Strait being 466 million gross tons.
During the same period, the number of ships that took pilots was recorded as 24,260 for both straits combined.
Details regarding the number of ships passing through the straits for the first six months of last year and this year are as follows:
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
