Substitution reader
World · Interactive
Select a passage to see what the substitute route changes before freight rates say anything about it.
Day costs are voyage estimates; this tool prices the detour and keeps the freight market outside the comparison.
Bab el-Mandeb
BindingSubstitution readingAlternative
Cape of Good Hope routing
Day cost
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What it costs
Structural, not priced — see note below
The Cape keeps cargo at sea but removes the Suez shortcut, tying ships up for longer and pulling vessels out of scheduled rotations. That burden reaches importers through fewer reliable port calls and reaches carriers through equipment and crew schedules that were built around the Red Sea passage.
Chains routing through it
Europe–Asia container supply chain
Middle East refined-products trade
Series read
UNCTAD Red Sea transit and rerouting data
Lloyd's List Intelligence AIS route data
Comparative day costsIndexed to the largest day cost on the register · illustrative scale, not measured
HormuzNo sea alternative100% of the register's largest day cost
Bab el-MandebCape of Good Hope routing68% of the register's largest day cost
PanamaUS land bridge or Suez Canal routing52% of the register's largest day cost
MalaccaSunda Strait or Lombok Strait routing18% of the register's largest day cost
Taiwan StraitPhilippine Sea routing east of Taiwan12% of the register's largest day cost
Assumptions
Vessel classThe comparison holds the same vessel type and operating profile constant so it measures the passage rather than a different ship.
Bunker priceThe comparison uses one fuel-price reference so a change in marine fuel does not masquerade as a change in the detour.
Port rotationThe vessel keeps the same loading and discharge calls, rather than skipping a port to repair the timetable.
InsuranceWar-risk and other cover remain separate from voyage time because insurance prices access to a passage, not the distance around it.