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How much of the Bahamas’ trade passes through the Panama Canal?

In 2024, an estimated $2.8 billion of the Bahamas’ trade passed through the Panama Canal, 27.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $220 million of exports and $2.6 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United States, China and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$2.8billion
Of its seaborne trade
27.5%
Exports
$220million
Imports
$2.6billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The Bahamas’ estimated trade through the Panama Canal fell 46% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Bahamas 2.8

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$260 million15.2%
1996$1.3 billion36.6%
1997$814 million28.7%
1998$814 million24.5%
1999$1.1 billion30.4%
2000$1.2 billion28.6%
2001$1.2 billion29.4%
2002$2 billion32.8%
2003$1.8 billion30.1%
2004$2 billion33.8%
2005$2.7 billion27.5%
2006$3.3 billion31.7%
2007$3.5 billion36.5%
2008$5.3 billion46.4%
2009$3 billion34.1%
2010$3.5 billion27.7%
2011$3.8 billion30.8%
2012$2.8 billion24.4%
2013$2.7 billion24.2%
2014$4 billion28.7%
2015$3.9 billion35.7%
2016$3 billion41.3%
2017$3.5 billion37.7%
2018$4.1 billion41.9%
2019$5.3 billion51.3%
2020$1.6 billion28.6%
2021$2.1 billion29%
2022$2.5 billion24.3%
2023$2.2 billion22.8%
2024$2.8 billion27.5%

Partners whose trade crosses it

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. Bahamas–United States$1.4 billion · 48.9%
  2. Bahamas–China$989 million · 34.7%
  3. Bahamas–Japan$172 million · 6%
  4. Bahamas–South Korea$119 million · 4.2%
  5. Bahamas–Colombia$54 million · 1.9%
  6. Bahamas–Canada$39 million · 1.4%
  7. Bahamas–Ecuador$27 million · 0.96%
  8. Bahamas–Peru$24 million · 0.84%
  9. Bahamas–Costa Rica$13 million · 0.45%
  10. Bahamas–Hong Kong$6 million · 0.2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$913 million · 32.1%
  2. Dredgers and floating cranes$810 million · 28.5%
  3. Cargo and cruise ships$228 million · 8%
  4. Cars$80 million · 2.8%
  5. Generating sets$29 million · 1%
  6. Steel structures$24 million · 0.86%
  7. Furniture$22 million · 0.78%
  8. Stamps and banknotes$22 million · 0.77%
  9. Poultry meat$15 million · 0.53%
  10. Cranes$15 million · 0.53%

Reference ports

Nassau (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.

Other chokepoints it uses

Sources and method

Sources and licenses

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.

All maritime chokepoints