How much of Libya’s trade passes through the Cape of Good Hope?

Estimated value of its trade with each partner that crosses the chokepoint; the percentage is the share of all its trade through the chokepoint, not of the pair’s trade.

1. Libya–China$3.9 billion · 62.3%
2. Libya–Thailand$720 million · 11.4%
3. Libya–India$667 million · 10.5%
4. Libya–South Korea$391 million · 6.2%
5. Libya–Malaysia$135 million · 2.1%
6. Libya–Australia$101 million · 1.6%
7. Libya–New Zealand$84 million · 1.3%
8. Libya–Indonesia$80 million · 1.3%
9. Libya–Bahrain$68 million · 1.1%
10. Libya–Singapore$54 million · 0.86%

The products with the highest estimated value in 2024, with their share of the total through the chokepoint.

1. Crude petroleum$1.8 billion · 28.3%
2. Cars$383 million · 6.1%
3. Cane and beet sugar$251 million · 4%
4. New tires$160 million · 2.5%
5. Prepared fish and caviar$141 million · 2.2%
6. Earthmoving and drilling machines$140 million · 2.2%
7. Auto parts$135 million · 2.1%
8. Air conditioners$123 million · 1.9%
9. Lamps and light fittings$97 million · 1.5%
10. Bulldozers and excavators$83 million · 1.3%

Tripoli (100%)

Each port with the weight it receives from the country’s trade, based on where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest.

• See Cape of Good Hope
• Libya trade

Other chokepoints it uses

• Strait of Gibraltar · 43%
• Strait of Dover · 17%
• Strait of Malacca and Singapore · 13%
• Turkish Straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles) · 7%

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• World Bank, Global Shipping Traffic Density · CC BY 4.0 (route network derived by this site)
• World Port Index (NGA) · Public domain (US Government work)
• Natural Earth · Public domain
• Kummu et al., gridded GDP · CC BY 4.0 (split between ports done by this site)

Methodology

We estimate the value crossing each chokepoint from BACI trade that travels by sea according to our mode heuristic, split between each country’s ports by where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest, and routed over our own sea network. It is an estimate, not a count of ships. It covers 99.9% of seaborne trade. The approach follows Verschuur, Lumma and Hall (Nature Communications, 2025). Data up to 2024.