globaltraffic.earth

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

In 2024, an estimated $2.6 billion of Jamaica’s trade passed through the Panama Canal, 36.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $209 million of exports and $2.4 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, the United States and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$2.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
36.6%
Exports
$209million
Imports
$2.4billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Jamaica’s estimated trade through the Panama Canal rose 9% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Jamaica 2.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$720 million20%
1996$877 million20.1%
1997$966 million21.8%
1998$1 billion22.8%
1999$902 million22.2%
2000$859 million20.7%
2001$953 million22%
2002$1 billion22.7%
2003$1.1 billion23.6%
2004$1.3 billion24.4%
2005$1.4 billion22.2%
2006$1.8 billion24.3%
2007$1.9 billion20.7%
2008$2 billion18.7%
2009$1.2 billion20.5%
2010$1.3 billion20.9%
2011$1.6 billion20.2%
2012$1.6 billion21.2%
2013$1.6 billion21.4%
2014$1.6 billion23.5%
2015$1.5 billion26.3%
2016$1.7 billion29.7%
2017$2 billion28.5%
2018$2.3 billion29%
2019$2.4 billion30.1%
2020$1.7 billion29.2%
2021$2 billion28%
2022$2.6 billion29.2%
2023$2.7 billion28.4%
2024$2.6 billion36.6%

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. Jamaica–China$1.1 billion · 41.4%
  2. Jamaica–United States$647 million · 25.2%
  3. Jamaica–Japan$336 million · 13.1%
  4. Jamaica–Thailand$90 million · 3.5%
  5. Jamaica–South Korea$78 million · 3%
  6. Jamaica–Costa Rica$73 million · 2.8%
  7. Jamaica–Canada$58 million · 2.2%
  8. Jamaica–Australia$40 million · 1.6%
  9. Jamaica–New Zealand$38 million · 1.5%
  10. Jamaica–Colombia$28 million · 1.1%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$329 million · 12.8%
  2. Refined petroleum$207 million · 8%
  3. Trucks$80 million · 3.1%
  4. New tires$44 million · 1.7%
  5. Cargo and cruise ships$42 million · 1.6%
  6. Natural gas and LPG$39 million · 1.5%
  7. Plastic packaging$36 million · 1.4%
  8. Preserved fruit and nuts$33 million · 1.3%
  9. Buses$33 million · 1.3%
  10. Furniture$33 million · 1.3%

Reference ports

Kingston (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.

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