Bosporus Strait
Bosporus Strait Shipping Data
The Bosporus Strait is the sole maritime passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, making it a strategic chokepoint for grain, energy, and containerized trade from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. Hundreds of vessels transit daily — tankers loaded with crude and products, bulk carriers hauling wheat and corn, container ships linking Black Sea ports to global markets. FinzData's Global Macro Pulse delivers daily transit counts and capacity by vessel type for the Bosporus since 2019, giving traders, economists, and data scientists a point-in-time view of exactly what the market knew each day.
Why this chokepoint matters
The Bosporus is a natural bottleneck — just 700 meters wide at its narrowest — governed by the Montreux Convention, which regulates warship passage and gives Turkey control over commercial transit. It handles a major share of Black Sea grain exports and a significant volume of Russian and Caspian oil exports. Any disruption — weather, accidents, geopolitical tension — immediately affects global food prices, energy markets, and freight rates. Daily data by vessel type lets you isolate grain flows (dry bulk) from energy flows (tankers) and manufactured goods (containers).
- Dry bulk: track grain and commodity exports from Black Sea breadbaskets
- Tankers: monitor crude and product flows from Russia and the Caspian
- Container ships: gauge manufactured-goods trade from Turkey and the region
- General cargo and ro-ro: capture regional and short-sea shipping
What the data shows
FinzData's chokepoints dataset provides daily transit counts and total deadweight capacity for each vessel category through the Bosporus Strait since 2019. Each row is a point-in-time snapshot — what was known that day — so your backtests and event studies remain free of look-ahead bias. Aggregate to weekly or monthly frequency, compute rolling averages, or compare current activity to historical baselines. The five vessel-type breakdown enables granular analysis of how different trade segments respond to harvest cycles, sanctions, weather, or policy shifts.
- Daily frequency, 2019 to present
- Five vessel-type breakdowns
- Transit counts and capacity (deadweight tonnes)
- Point-in-time snapshots for reproducible research
How to use it
Access the data through your FinzData API key with a simple GET request: GET https://api.finzdata.com/v1/pulse/chokepoints?match=bosporus. The MCP tool get_global_pulse also surfaces this series for AI-assisted workflows — ask Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok with the FinzData connector. Combine with the ports dataset for Black Sea port-level detail, or with Asia tech exports to correlate industrial demand with container throughput. The same key unlocks 16,000+ US stocks, 5,100+ ETFs, 139 futures markets, and 18,000+ macro series for cross-asset modeling.
- REST API with match filter for chokepoint name
- MCP tool
get_global_pulsefor AI assistants - Same key: equities, ETFs, futures, macro
- Point-in-time integrity for backtesting
Ask your AI
With the FinzData connector installed, you can ask your AI assistant questions like:
- Using FinzData, show me daily dry-bulk transits through the Bosporus since 2022 and highlight the grain-export season each year.
- Using FinzData, compare tanker capacity through the Bosporus in 2023 versus 2021 and annotate sanctions milestones.
- Using FinzData, build a weekly time series of all five vessel types for the Bosporus with year-over-year growth rates.
Get the data
FinzData Global Macro Pulse gives you every chokepoints dataset, full history, and point-in-time integrity for a one-time $195. Single themes like Shipping, ports & cargo are $29, or $145 alongside another data purchase. Every API key includes the last 30 days free.
Try the last 30 days free. Add the Shipping, ports & cargo theme for $29 if you only need chokepoints and ports.
Frequently asked questions
What vessel types are covered?
Container ships, dry bulk carriers, tankers, general cargo vessels, and roll-on/roll-off ships — each with daily transit counts and capacity.
How far back does the data go?
Daily data starts in 2019 and continues to the present.
Is the data point-in-time?
Yes. Each row reflects what was known on that date, with no look-ahead bias, so backtests and event studies are reliable.
Can I combine this with other datasets?
Absolutely. The same API key provides ports, air traffic, road traffic, Asia tech exports, 16,000+ US stocks, 5,100+ ETFs, 139 futures markets, and 18,000+ macro series.