Cape of Good Hope Tanker Transits (7-Day Average)

## What this measures

The number of tankers (crude oil, products, chemicals and gas carriers) that passed through the Cape of Good Hope per day, averaged over the trailing 7 days.

## Why it matters

The long way round Africa. Traffic here rises when ships avoid the Red Sea and Suez.

## How to read it

Tankers carry crude oil, refined products, chemicals and liquefied gas. Read beside the all-vessel count to see whether energy traffic moves differently from the rest.

## What it does not say

PortWatch depends on ships broadcasting AIS. Ships that switch it off, or whose signals are jammed or spoofed, are missed, which matters most in conflict areas. Counts are revised as more AIS data arrives, and the IMF may change its method. It counts ships, not where they came from or where they are going.

## Source

IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org), daily chokepoint transit calls, read from the IMF's public PortWatch data service. PortWatch counts a transit when a ship crosses the chokepoint boundary, using Automatic Identification System (AIS) positions; a ship is counted again only after 48 hours. Method: Arslanalp, Koepke and Verschuur, "Tracking Trade from Space", IMF Working Paper WP/21/225. Source: International Monetary Fund, PortWatch. The data is available free of charge from the IMF. Palanor computes the 7-day averages; the IMF publishes daily figures. Read daily by /api/cron/portwatch-sync; PortWatch updates weekly, so the newest days arrive about a week late.