World

Chokepoints, sanctions and hazards: what changed this week, measured, beside ARCANE's reporting.

● Binding 03● Watch 01● Open 06PortWatch data to Oct 18, 2026

The narrows · IMF PortWatch, week Oct 12, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026

Hormuz is carrying 3.7 ships a day. Its normal is 90. The Cape of Good Hope is carrying 80% more than normal.

843ships a day through the ten passages on the register, against a normal of 997: −15%.

Week to Oct 18the week the state is read on

Each mark is five ships a day. The opening is traffic as a share of normal; the ticks mark where the banks would stand at normal.

PortWatch data to Oct 18, 2026. Normal is the same days averaged over 2019–2023. Counts come from ships' AIS transponders; a ship sailing dark is not counted. IMF PortWatch → The world, moving: every passage on the map, each ship a moving dot →

Early Warning · middle-east-africa

Iran raises oil risks with a tanker report in Hormuz

Oil tankers and US bases are exposed if an unconfirmed attack report becomes the basis for retaliation.

Archive · through Oct 22, 2026

God's Eye View

See ARCANE's reporting from above

56 published stories pinned at the places they name on a 3D globe, with the day's earthquakes, data centres and dams. The open-source God's Eye View by Bilawal Sidhu; it loads only when you open it.

Open the globe

Chokepoint registerShips a day from IMF PortWatch, against the same week of 2019–2023

The register as a table, with the week before and 13 months

Passage	State	Ships a day	Week before	Vs normal
Panama	Open	27.7	25.9	−15%
Gibraltar	Open	124.4	133.4	−7%
Bosphorus	Binding	46.6	58	−55%
Suez	Watch	44.3	41.7	−30%
Bab el-Mandeb	Binding	26.4	28.3	−59%
Hormuz	Binding	3.7	4.1	−96%
Malacca	Open	215.1	233	+16%
Taiwan Strait	Open	227.3	229.9	0%
Cape of Good Hope	Open	85.7	84	+80%
Danish straits	Open	41.4	39.3	−18%

PortWatch data to Oct 18, 2026, week Oct 12, 2026 to Oct 18, 2026. Binding at half of normal or less, Watch a fifth to a half below. Counts come from ships' AIS transponders; a ship sailing dark is not counted. IMF PortWatch → Where the Red Sea traffic went →

Sanctions and export controlsSDN list of Oct 21, 2026

19,471 entries on OFAC's SDN list, 1,568 of them ships.

Oct 20, 2026 · OFACNotice of OFAC Sanctions Action
Oct 20, 2026 · OFACNotice of OFAC Sanctions Actions
Oct 20, 2026 · OFACNotice of OFAC Sanctions Action
Oct 16, 2026 · OFACNotice of OFAC Sanctions Action
Oct 15, 2026 · OFACNotice of OFAC Sanctions Actions

Lists, ships by flag and the Entity List →

Emergencies in force42 continued

Declared Aug 26, 2026Declaring a National Emergency To Secure the United States Bulk-Power System
Declared Jan 29, 2026Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Cuba
Due Oct 27, 2026Democratic Republic of the Congo19 years in force · Executive Order 13413
Due Nov 3, 2026Sudan28 years in force · Executive Order 13067
Due Nov 12, 2026Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Certain Companies of the People's Republic of China5 years in force · Executive Order 13959
Due Nov 14, 2026Iran46 years in force · Executive Order 12170