The Red Sea Detour
Ship traffic through the Suez Canal against traffic rounding the Cape of Good Hope, daily since 2019. The two routes are substitutes, so the chart reads as a mirror: when Houthi attacks made the Red Sea unsafe in late 2023, Suez transits halved and the Cape absorbed the diverted ships — an extra week of sailing per voyage. Neither line has returned to its pre-crisis level, making this one of the most durable reroutings of world trade in decades. The Ever Given grounding of March 2021 appears as a brief spike-and-dip.
What does it show?
When Houthi attacks closed the Red Sea to most shipping in late 2023, the two lines mirrored: Suez transits fell from about 74 a day to a floor near half that, while Cape of Good Hope traffic absorbed the detour. The latest week averages 41 Suez transits a day.
Methodology
Daily ship transits through the Suez Canal and around the Cape of Good Hope from IMF PortWatch, which derives vessel movements from UN Global Platform AIS data. Both series are 7-day trailing averages of all vessel types. The Cape is the main alternative to the Suez route between Asia and Europe, so the two lines move as mirror images when the Red Sea becomes unsafe; the March 2021 Ever Given grounding is also visible.