Approximately ten percent of all imports to Germany arrive by sea via the Red Sea – encompassing the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al-Mandab. This represents a trade volume of 136 billion euros in 2023, according to a study published Wednesday by the Ifo Institute.
“Critical raw materials or important preliminary products for industry arrive in Germany by sea via the Red Sea” stated Lisandra Flach, trade expert at the Ifo Institute. “This sea route is therefore of particular geo-economic importance for Germany.
A comparable proportion of German imports arrive via the Strait of Malacca (8.7 percent of imports) and the Taiwan Strait (7.1 percent). In contrast, the importance of the Strait of Hormuz and the Panama Canal for German foreign trade is relatively low. Only 0.5 percent of all German imports arrived via the Panama Canal in 2023 and just 0.4 percent via the Strait of Hormuz.
“Global trade is concentrated on a few sea routes with strategic choke points, such as the Suez Canal or the Strait of Bab al-Mandab. Blockades or disruptions to these routes, as recently seen with the attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have significant economic consequences for Germany” explained Katharina Erhardt of the University of Düsseldorf, a co-author of the study.
The study was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.