- Turkish shipping passage closure aids firefighting efforts
- Closure to last until at least midnight, is second in a week
- Bottlenecks add pressure to Russian oil exports amid refinery attacks
Turkish authorities suspended shipping traffic through the Dardanelles Strait for the second time in a week Aug. 11 as forest fires have continued to ravage the south of the passage.
The narrow shipping passage in northwestern Turkey connects the Mediterranean into the Black Sea and supports at least 100 vessel transits per day, based on IMF port watch data. It acts as a vital transit route for oil from the Caspian Sea and Russia to reach the global market, as well as grains, fertilizers and minerals.
By 3 pm local time, the country’s Directorate General of Coastal Safety had halted all shipping through the waterway to respond to fires near the city of Canakkale. Restrictions will stay in place until at least midnight, it said on Turkish TV. The directorate is yet to issue its plans for August 12.
Traffic through the Bosporus Strait continues to operate as normal, allowing ships to sail from the Black Sea through the Sea of Marmara to reach the Dardanelles.
It is the second time the maritime authority has shut down traffic through the passage to respond to fires in the last week. On Aug. 8, the strait was closed for eight hours in the afternoon to allow firefighting aircraft to dump water on the forest fires. Operations had resumed as normal Aug. 9 and 10.
Turkish authorities have been battling a string of severe wildfires through the summer, made worse this week by strong winds that have fanned the flames, officials said. A Facebook statement from Turkey’s Ministry of Internal Affairs for Canakkale Aug. 11 said that 10 planes and nine helicopters were deployed to try to control the fires. Over 2,000 citizens were evacuated by sea and road.
Platts assessed delay times to transit the Turkish straits, comprising both the Bosporus and Dardanelles, at 1.5 days on Aug. 11. In the winter months, wait times can jump to double-digit figures due to weather restrictions linked to thick fog and high winds.
As firefighting efforts continue, extended shipping bottlenecks through the waterway could compound challenges for Russia’s oil exports, which are already struggling under the pressure of persistent Ukrainian drone attacks and new sanctions clampdowns.
According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, just 18,000 b/d of refined oil products were shipped from Black Sea ports in the first week of August, while no Russian exports have taken place since the week starting July 21.
In contrast, attacks on Russian oil refineries have seen steady crude volumes pushed to the export market. Russia exported some 2.6 million b/d of crude and fuel oil in the first week of August, up from a full-year average of 2.2 million b/d in 2024.
Roughly 25% of traffic through the Bosporus Strait is comprises of tankers, including from Russian ports like and Novorosiisk and Kavkaz, according to IMF port watch data. The 40% majority is accounted for by general cargo shipments.
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Source: S&P Global
