globaltraffic.earth

How much of Saudi Arabia’s trade passes through the Strait of Dover?

In 2024, an estimated $34.2 billion of Saudi Arabia’s trade passed through the Strait of Dover, 7.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $18.6 billion of exports and $15.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Summary

Estimated value
$34.2billion
Of its seaborne trade
7.8%
Exports
$18.6billion
Imports
$15.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Saudi Arabia’s estimated trade through the Strait of Dover rose 52% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Saudi Arabia 34.2

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$7.6 billion10.5%
1996$7.3 billion9%
1997$6.7 billion8.4%
1998$6.1 billion9.2%
1999$6.1 billion8.6%
2000$8.1 billion7.8%
2001$7.5 billion7.7%
2002$7.4 billion7.6%
2003$9.4 billion7.6%
2004$11.7 billion7.5%
2005$14.8 billion7%
2006$17.5 billion6.7%
2007$18.1 billion6.3%
2008$21.2 billion5.2%
2009$14 billion5.6%
2010$16.7 billion5.2%
2011$21.4 billion4.7%
2012$24.8 billion5%
2013$24.8 billion5%
2014$23.6 billion5.1%
2015$19.5 billion6.1%
2016$16.8 billion6.2%
2017$17.3 billion5.7%
2018$22.1 billion6%
2019$22.5 billion6.4%
2020$18.1 billion6.7%
2021$20.9 billion5.9%
2022$35.5 billion6.8%
2023$35.4 billion7.9%
2024$34.2 billion7.8%

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. Saudi Arabia–Poland$9.3 billion · 27.2%
  2. Saudi Arabia–Germany$6.6 billion · 19.4%
  3. Saudi Arabia–Netherlands$6.3 billion · 18.4%
  4. Saudi Arabia–Belgium$2.7 billion · 7.8%
  5. Saudi Arabia–Lithuania$2.4 billion · 6.9%
  6. Saudi Arabia–Sweden$1.7 billion · 4.9%
  7. Saudi Arabia–Russia$1.4 billion · 4.1%
  8. Saudi Arabia–Czechia$891 million · 2.6%
  9. Saudi Arabia–Denmark$794 million · 2.3%
  10. Saudi Arabia–Norway$726 million · 2.1%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$13.9 billion · 40.6%
  2. Refined petroleum$2.8 billion · 8.2%
  3. Cars$1.2 billion · 3.4%
  4. Coal tar oils$664 million · 1.9%
  5. Polyethylene$614 million · 1.8%
  6. Warships and other vessels$452 million · 1.3%
  7. Trucks$389 million · 1.1%
  8. Polypropylene$365 million · 1.1%
  9. Cyclic hydrocarbons$316 million · 0.92%
  10. Tractors$307 million · 0.9%

Reference ports

Jeddah (59%) and Ras Tanura (41%)

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