Turkish straits welcome over 40,000 vessels in H1

Türkiye’s straits, Istanbul and Canakkale, received a total of 40,218 vessels in the first half of the year despite an increase in attacks in the Black Sea amid the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the Maritime Affairs General Directorate.

The Turkish straits maintained their strategic importance during the first half of the year as the US-Israel-Iran conflict disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and brought a major transformation to the global trade system.

Some 40,218 ships transited the Istanbul and Canakkale straits in the first six months of the year despite intensifying drone attacks by Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea.

The Istanbul Strait handled 19,277 vessels in the first half, while 20,941 ships passed through the Canakkale Strait.

Some 13,127 of the vessels transiting the two straits were general cargo ships, while 7,777 were bulk carriers and 5,188 were container ships.

Some 604 of the vessels carried animals onboard, while 258 carried vehicles, and 87 cement carriers passed through the straits.

A total of 767.5 million gross metric tons of shipping transited the straits in the first half, of which 301.5 million gross metric tons passed through the Istanbul Strait, while the remaining 466 million gross metric tons transited the Canakkale Strait.

The total number of vessels that used pilotage services across the two straits reached 24,260, the data showed.

In the first half of last year, 40,988 ships transited the Turkish straits, of which 19,381 passed through the Istanbul Strait and 21,607 transited the Canakkale Strait.