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How much of the United Kingdom’s trade passes through the Strait of Dover?

In 2024, an estimated $70.6 billion of the United Kingdom’s trade passed through the Strait of Dover, 10.4% of its seaborne trade. That is $22.4 billion of exports and $48.1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Summary

Estimated value
$70.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
10.4%
Exports
$22.4billion
Imports
$48.1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The United Kingdom’s estimated trade through the Strait of Dover fell 4% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • United Kingdom 70.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$41.3 billion13.2%
1996$44.8 billion13.3%
1997$46.1 billion13.1%
1998$45.6 billion13.1%
1999$45.3 billion12.9%
2000$45.2 billion12.7%
2001$45.3 billion12.6%
2002$47.7 billion12.6%
2003$54.6 billion12.8%
2004$64 billion12.9%
2005$68.9 billion12.9%
2006$77.1 billion13%
2007$87.8 billion13.1%
2008$94.3 billion13.3%
2009$63.7 billion12.6%
2010$75.8 billion12.7%
2011$90.8 billion12.9%
2012$83.4 billion12.5%
2013$85.7 billion12.5%
2014$85.6 billion12.2%
2015$72.5 billion11.7%
2016$67.9 billion11.6%
2017$73.7 billion11.7%
2018$78.8 billion11.7%
2019$73.9 billion11.6%
2020$61.4 billion11.6%
2021$72.4 billion11.6%
2022$82.4 billion10.7%
2023$73.3 billion10.5%
2024$70.6 billion10.4%

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. United Kingdom–France$16.2 billion · 23%
  2. United Kingdom–Germany$11.3 billion · 16%
  3. United Kingdom–Netherlands$6.9 billion · 9.7%
  4. United Kingdom–Norway$4.8 billion · 6.8%
  5. United Kingdom–Belgium$4.5 billion · 6.4%
  6. United Kingdom–China$3.8 billion · 5.4%
  7. United Kingdom–Poland$3.2 billion · 4.5%
  8. United Kingdom–Sweden$1.8 billion · 2.5%
  9. United Kingdom–Czechia$1.6 billion · 2.3%
  10. United Kingdom–United States$1.4 billion · 2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$8 billion · 11.3%
  2. Crude petroleum$4.5 billion · 6.4%
  3. Refined petroleum$3.2 billion · 4.5%
  4. Natural gas and LPG$2.9 billion · 4.1%
  5. Auto parts$2 billion · 2.8%
  6. Trucks$1.6 billion · 2.3%
  7. Electricity$1 billion · 1.5%
  8. Spirits$884 million · 1.3%
  9. Medicines in measured doses or retail packs$816 million · 1.2%
  10. Wine$798 million · 1.1%

Reference ports

Felixstowe (33%) and Southampton (67%)

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.

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