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How much of Canada’s trade passes through the Strait of Gibraltar?

In 2024, an estimated $22.5 billion of Canada’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 6.4% of its seaborne trade. That is $6.9 billion of exports and $15.6 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Italy, Turkey and Austria.

Summary

Estimated value
$22.5billion
Of its seaborne trade
6.4%
Exports
$6.9billion
Imports
$15.6billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Canada’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar fell 34% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Canada 22.5

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$10.3 billion11%
1996$10.7 billion10.7%
1997$12 billion10.8%
1998$10.9 billion10.8%
1999$10.7 billion9.7%
2000$11.4 billion10.9%
2001$10.6 billion11.1%
2002$11.7 billion10.3%
2003$15.3 billion11.6%
2004$18.5 billion11.8%
2005$21.9 billion12%
2006$25.4 billion12.3%
2007$29 billion13.1%
2008$39.4 billion14.5%
2009$28.1 billion15.1%
2010$32.2 billion12.9%
2011$40.3 billion14.5%
2012$41.9 billion15.1%
2013$37.3 billion13.9%
2014$33.1 billion12.7%
2015$27.7 billion11.1%
2016$28.2 billion11.6%
2017$30.7 billion11.9%
2018$35 billion11.7%
2019$33.9 billion12.1%
2020$29.8 billion11.2%
2021$37.7 billion11.4%
2022$44.1 billion11.5%
2023$40.9 billion11.1%
2024$22.5 billion6.4%

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. Canada–Italy$6.6 billion · 29.4%
  2. Canada–Turkey$2.6 billion · 11.6%
  3. Canada–Austria$1.4 billion · 6%
  4. Canada–Spain$1.3 billion · 5.6%
  5. Canada–Algeria$1.1 billion · 4.9%
  6. Canada–France$1 billion · 4.6%
  7. Canada–Saudi Arabia$874 million · 3.9%
  8. Canada–Israel$815 million · 3.6%
  9. Canada–India$771 million · 3.4%
  10. Canada–Slovakia$741 million · 3.3%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$1.4 billion · 6.2%
  2. Crude petroleum$1.1 billion · 4.9%
  3. Wheat$964 million · 4.3%
  4. Dried legumes (beans, lentils, peas)$723 million · 3.2%
  5. Iron ore$655 million · 2.9%
  6. Wine$649 million · 2.9%
  7. Soybeans$495 million · 2.2%
  8. Ferrous scrap$309 million · 1.4%
  9. Olive oil$301 million · 1.3%
  10. Furniture$291 million · 1.3%

Reference ports

Vancouver (61%) and Halifax (39%)

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