Bab-el-Mandeb: ship transits and queues
No commercial ship was counted crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb in the 24 hours to Oct 6, 2026, 10:48 UTC: 0 towards the Red Sea (north) and 0 towards the Gulf of Aden (south). 0 were counted in the last 7 days and 0 in the last 30. 0 ships are moving through the passage now and 0 are waiting at its anchorages.
There is not enough history for a baseline yet: counting started on September 24, 2026, and a baseline needs 14 days.
Ships waiting now: 0, against a 14-day median of 0.
Voydar's AIS coverage of the Bab-el-Mandeb is thin today, so these counts are far below the real traffic. They show what our receivers see, not the canal's or strait's own figures.
- Transits, 24 h
- 0
- Transits, 7 days
- 0
- Transits, 30 days
- 0
- In the passage now
- 0
- Waiting at anchor
- 0
Derived estimateMethod seadar.waterway_transits v1, confidence 0.3, computed Oct 6, 2026, 10:48 UTC. Inputs: —.
Ships in the passage now
Commercial ships moving at 1 knot or more inside the passage, with an AIS position from the last hour.
None right now.
Ships waiting at anchor
Commercial ships under 1 knot at the anchorages either side, with an AIS position from the last 3 hours.
None right now.
Transits counted in the last 24 hours
Each row is one ship seen on both sides of the gate line. The time is its first position on the far side.
No transit counted in the last 24 hours.
Ports at either end
Bab-el-Mandeb: daily transits from satellite AIS (IMF PortWatch)
Estimates published by the International Monetary Fund's PortWatch, built from satellite and terrestrial AIS. They cover waters our own receivers do not reach yet. These are the IMF's figures, not Voydar's counts.
The IMF estimates 190 ship transits in the 7 days and 781 in the 30 days to Sep 27, 2026. That is 26% less than the same 30 days a year earlier (1,051).
- Container
- 150
- Tanker
- 232
- Dry bulk
- 251
- General cargo
- 103
- Ro-ro
- 45
Estimated cargo carried through it in those 30 days: 27.7 million tonnes.
09-14 25 | 09-15 24 | 09-16 19 | 09-17 27 | 09-18 27 | 09-19 25 | 09-20 26 | 09-21 27 | 09-22 22 | 09-23 25 | 09-24 31 | 09-25 29 | 09-26 29 | 09-27 27 |
Sources: Kpler; UN Global Platform; IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org). IMF estimates, updated weekly; the latest days are revised. portwatch.imf.org. Counts cover container ships, tankers, dry bulk, general cargo and ro-ro vessels (30-day totals above).
Forecast
Model forecast for Bab-el-Mandeb over the next 72 hours, every 6 hours: wind, gusts, waves and visibility. Times in UTC.
| Time (UTC) | Wind (kn) | From | Gusts (kn) | Waves (m) | Period (s) | Visibility (km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 138° | 22 | 0.8 | 5 | 24 | |
| 14 | 128° | 20 | 0.7 | 5 | 24 | |
| 12 | 135° | 17 | 0.7 | 4 | 24 | |
| 12 | 133° | 17 | 0.8 | 4 | 24 | |
| 17 | 139° | 25 | 0.9 | 4 | 24 | |
| 14 | 120° | 20 | 0.8 | 5 | 24 | |
| 15 | 118° | 21 | 1 | 5 | 24 | |
| 20 | 118° | 28 | 1.4 | 5 | 24 | |
| 20 | 124° | 31 | 1.5 | 6 | 24 | |
| 17 | 124° | 24 | 1.1 | 5 | 24 | |
| 17 | 115° | 25 | 1.3 | 5 | 24 |
Forecast: ECMWF IFS 0.25° + ECMWF WAM, run of Oct 6, 2026, 00:00 UTC. Visibility: NOAA GFS 0.25° + GFS-Wave (WAVEWATCH III), run of Oct 6, 2026, 06:00 UTC. Waves are taken from the wave model's nearest sea point, 16 km away.
Source: ECMWF open data (IFS 0.25° forecasts, ECMWF WAM waves). This service is based on data and products of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Source: www.ecmwf.int. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Licence: CC-BY-4.0 + ECMWF Terms of Use.
Source: NOAA GFS 0.25° and GFS-Wave (WAVEWATCH III) forecasts. Forecast: NOAA NCEP GFS / GFS-Wave (WAVEWATCH III). Licence: US Government work (public domain); NOAA Open Data Dissemination.
A model forecast, not an observation. Not for navigation.
How the transits are counted
Voydar draws a gate line across the Bab-el-Mandeb and a 20 km band either side of it. A position counts as being on a side only outside that band, so ferries and harbour craft that work near the line are never counted. A transit is a commercial ship (a valid IMO number; tugs, pilots, law enforcement, pleasure and sailing craft excluded) seen on one side and then on the other within 24 hours. Positions come from AIS feeds Voydar may show (AISstream, BarentsWatch, Digitraffic). Every count is a lower bound: our receivers do not see every ship. Information only, not for navigation. Methodology
Other canals and straits
Data as of Oct 6, 2026, 10:53 UTC.