globaltraffic.earth

How much of Costa Rica’s trade passes through the Panama Canal?

In 2024, an estimated $16.4 billion of Costa Rica’s trade passed through the Panama Canal, 57.7% of its seaborne trade. That is $7.5 billion of exports and $9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United States, Guatemala and the Netherlands.

Summary

Estimated value
$16.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
57.7%
Exports
$7.5billion
Imports
$9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Costa Rica’s estimated trade through the Panama Canal rose 36% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Costa Rica 16.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$4.4 billion73.8%
1996$4.8 billion72.5%
1997$5.5 billion70.9%
1998$6 billion69.1%
1999$5.6 billion69.8%
2000$5.6 billion69.6%
2001$5.7 billion68.9%
2002$6.5 billion70.1%
2003$6.5 billion69.2%
2004$7.4 billion69.8%
2005$8.1 billion70%
2006$9.2 billion68.2%
2007$11 billion68.2%
2008$12.7 billion67.5%
2009$8 billion67.3%
2010$10.6 billion65.5%
2011$12 billion63.6%
2012$12.5 billion62.2%
2013$12.7 billion62.1%
2014$12.3 billion60.8%
2015$11.4 billion59.8%
2016$11.3 billion59.3%
2017$12.1 billion60.1%
2018$12.5 billion59.9%
2019$12.1 billion61.3%
2020$11 billion60.5%
2021$13.5 billion58.6%
2022$15.3 billion59.5%
2023$16.4 billion60%
2024$16.4 billion57.7%

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. Costa Rica–United States$6.3 billion · 38.3%
  2. Costa Rica–Guatemala$1.6 billion · 9.4%
  3. Costa Rica–Netherlands$852 million · 5.2%
  4. Costa Rica–Spain$704 million · 4.3%
  5. Costa Rica–Honduras$703 million · 4.3%
  6. Costa Rica–Brazil$659 million · 4%
  7. Costa Rica–Germany$593 million · 3.6%
  8. Costa Rica–Italy$486 million · 3%
  9. Costa Rica–Belgium$436 million · 2.7%
  10. Costa Rica–United Kingdom$412 million · 2.5%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$1.5 billion · 9.2%
  2. Avocados, mangoes, pineapples and dates$1.5 billion · 9.2%
  3. Bananas$1.4 billion · 8.6%
  4. Other food preparations$584 million · 3.6%
  5. Cars$389 million · 2.4%
  6. Other plastic articles$346 million · 2.1%
  7. Coffee$338 million · 2.1%
  8. Fruit and vegetable juices$227 million · 1.4%
  9. Medical and dental instruments$210 million · 1.3%
  10. Corn$202 million · 1.2%

If it closes

  • Costa Rica–United States: +9,118 nautical miles, ≈ 27 days more at 14 knots, via the Cape Horn

Estimated sailing detour, without costs, waiting or port capacity.

Reference ports

Golfito (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