Chokepoint Ledger

Published figures, graded: ships

Published figures, graded: oil volumes

Published figures, graded: ships

Radar · the seven days to 24 Oct 2026 · A Measured

Large hulls: radar returns of 3 or more pixels (each about 40 m square) in open water in the terminal's waters at the moment of a Sentinel-1 pass, loading, waiting or passing; anything in one spot for most of six weeks is left out. A count of hulls, not of barrels, and radar does not say whose a hull is. A pass swamped by radio interference is not measured and is never counted; Primorsk's and Ust-Luga's passes from 1 December to 30 April are counted and shown but never set against a normal, as sea ice can read as hulls. Each terminal is set against its own normal: 2025, the last full year before the war, leaving out the twelve-day war of 13–24 June, and each year before it that the archive holds enough of.

• Kharg Island21 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (3 full passes), against 20 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 17–26); yearly medians of 11–23 a pass in 2016–2024.Iran's main crude export terminal
• Ras Tanura and Ju'aymah52.5 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (2 full passes; 3 partial ones left out), against 80 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 72–86); yearly medians of 52–77 a pass in 2017–2024.Saudi Arabia's main Gulf export terminals
• Basra oil terminals69 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (2 full passes; 3 partial ones left out), against 73 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 67–79); yearly medians of 48.5–65 a pass in 2015–2024.Iraq's offshore export terminals
• Ras Laffan62 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (1 full pass; 2 partial ones left out), against 78 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 69–87); yearly medians of 36–66 a pass in 2017–2024.Qatar's LNG and condensate export port
• Fujairah anchorageno full radar pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (4 partial ones left out); the last, on 16 Oct 2026, counted 318 large hulls, against 186 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 173–192); yearly medians of 140–187 a pass in 2015–2024.the region's largest tanker anchorage and bunkering hub
• Yanbuno full radar pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (1 partial one left out); the last, on 16 Oct 2026, counted 7 large hulls, against 6 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 3–9); yearly medians of 3–6 a pass in 2015–2023.Saudi Arabia's Red Sea export terminals, the Hormuz bypass
• Ceyhan23 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (3 full passes; 1 partial one left out), against 12 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 9–17); yearly medians of 9.5–15 a pass in 2015–2024.the BTC and Kirkuk–Ceyhan terminals on the Mediterranean
• Sidi Kerir29 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (1 full pass; 1 partial one left out), and 2025's judged full passes cover only 5 of its months, too few for a normal.SUMED's Mediterranean terminal west of Alexandria: its sea buoys and the water off them
• Novorossiysk4 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (5 full passes), against 22 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 17–26); yearly medians of 17–27 a pass in 2015–2024.Russia's largest Black Sea oil port (CPC, Sheskharis)
• Tuapse0 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (3 full passes; 1 partial one left out), and 2025's judged full passes cover only 5 of its months, too few for a normal.Rosneft's refinery port on the Black Sea: the roads off the harbour
• Taman and Port Kavkaz4.5 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (2 full passes; 3 partial ones left out), against 14 a pass in 2025 (half its passes 11–18); yearly medians of 19–60 a pass in 2015–2024.Russia's Kerch Strait oil ports: Taman's oil berths, Port Kavkaz with its roads and its transshipment roads (anchorage 451 and Tamansky); the open anchorage grounds to the south are left to the Kerch Strait count
• Primorsk15.5 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (4 full passes; 1 partial one left out), and 2025 holds too few full passes outside the ice season (0) for a normal.Russia's largest Baltic crude port, the end of the BPS-1 pipeline: the Bjorkesund strait it lies on, where tankers wait and ships pass for Vysotsk and Vyborg, and the Gulf off its southern entrance; sea ice most winters can read as hulls
• Ust-Luga29 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (4 full passes; 1 partial one left out), and 2025's judged full passes outside the ice season cover only 4 of its months, too few for a normal.Luga Bay: Ust-Luga's crude and products berths, Novatek's condensate complex and the coal, container and ferry berths beside them; sea ice most winters can read as hulls
• Jose terminal14 large hulls a pass in the seven days to 24 Oct (1 full pass; 1 partial one left out), and 2025's judged full passes cover only 5 of its months, too few for a normal.Venezuela's main crude terminal, José Antonio Anzoátegui: its buoys and the water off its jetty

Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2015–2026 (RTC by Catalyst, CC BY 4.0, via Microsoft Planetary Computer; and processed through the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem).