Hormuz, the Red Sea and Suez in 2026: what a passage adds
Between the Persian Gulf and Europe lie three chokepoints, and this year each of them limits ships, adds days or adds risk. Here is how our quotes handle them.
A tanker from the Persian Gulf to Europe passes three chokepoints, or takes the long way around Africa: the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal. In the first half of 2025 they carried about 20.9, 4.2 and 4.9 million barrels a day (the Suez figure includes the SUMED pipeline), according to the US Energy Information Administration. In 2026 each of them works differently from the year before.
Strait of Hormuz: open, but few tankers sail
Hormuz is the only sea route out of the Gulf and deep enough for the largest tankers. Since March 2026, IMF PortWatch counts between 0.4 and 5.4 tankers a day through the strait, against 30 to 58 a day in 2025, and a US Maritime Administration advisory warns of attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf, the strait and the Gulf of Oman. Pipelines in Saudi Arabia and the UAE can move about 4.7 million barrels a day around it, a fraction of what the strait carried.
Our quotes add no fee for Hormuz itself. For a voyage through it, our desk offers a Strait of Hormuz passage service: additional war-risk insurance and the coordination of a naval escort. It started at $500,000 per voyage; the current price, and the same in bitcoin, are on our services page.
Bab el-Mandeb: a war-risk area
Houthi attacks on shipping since November 2023 keep the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on the Joint War Committee's list of high-risk areas. Tanker transits fell to about 8 a day in August–October 2026, from 14 to 15 a day in February–June. There is no fee to pass, but insurers charge more, and many owners avoid the route.
Suez: deeper ships, higher tolls
Loaded ships may pass the canal at up to 66 feet (20.1 m) of draught if their beam is no more than 50 m; wider ships follow the Canal Authority's draught-by-beam table. Ships sail in two convoys a day, so a wait of up to a day is normal. Since 15 July 2026, crude tankers pay a temporary surcharge of 37 % laden and 27 % in ballast on top of the normal dues.
Our quotes charge Suez dues sized to the tanker for the laden passage and the ballast return, and add transit time.
The long way round
The alternative is the Cape of Good Hope, which has no limit on ship size and carried 9.1 million barrels a day in the first half of 2025. It is far longer: from Ras Tanura to Rotterdam, 6,537 nautical miles via Suez but 11,320 around the Cape. At 12 knots the extra 4,783 miles add about 16.6 days each way, which a charterer pays for twice, laden and back in ballast.
Whenever a route passes Suez or the Red Sea, our calculator shows both: the shorter route with its dues and its risk, and the route around Africa with its extra days and fuel. The choice stays with the buyer.
Every figure here, with its source and date, is on our chokepoints page. Price a voyage to see the two routes side by side.