Turkish Straits Live
Every vessel threading the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, on one live map. The only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean — Russian and Kazakh crude, Ukrainian and Russian grain — funnelling through the heart of Istanbul.
Live vessel positions
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Live transit data at the Turkish Straits — counts, flags, vessel types, and sanctioned-vessel detections versus the IMF PortWatch baseline. Filter by vessel type and period.
How many ships pass through the Turkish Straits each day?
Roughly 100 to 130 vessels transit the Bosphorus on a typical day — around 41,000 a year — plus similar traffic through the Dardanelles. Tankers carrying Russian and Kazakh crude, bulk carriers loaded with Black Sea grain, and general cargo make up most of it. The live map above shows every one with an active AIS signal, updated each minute.
Why the Turkish Straits matter
The Bosphorus and Dardanelles together form the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Everything Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan ship by sea — crude oil, refined products, and a huge share of the world's wheat and sunflower oil — must pass through them. The Bosphorus runs directly through Istanbul, a city of 16 million, with a hairpin bend and currents that make it one of the most demanding passages in commercial shipping. Passage is governed by the 1936 Montreux Convention.
This page exists because that flow deserves a free, public, real-time view — not buried behind a maritime-intelligence subscription. Watch the map. The ships are still moving.
What you're seeing on the map
- Every vessel inside the Turkish Straits bounding box (Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) with an active AIS signal.
- Vessel type — tanker, bulk, container, cargo, sailing — colour-coded.
- Direction and speed — heading arrows and speed colours show northbound vs southbound transit.
- Live refresh every 60 seconds on the public feed.
For voyage history, sanction status, ownership chain, and cargo inference, sign in to the Strait Up Maritime app.
Geography
The Turkish Straits are two narrow channels linked by the Sea of Marmara. The Bosphorus, running through Istanbul, is about 31 km long and narrows to roughly 700 metres — barely wider than a large ship is long. The Dardanelles to the south-west is about 61 km long and 1.2 km at its narrowest. Strong currents, sharp bends, and dense ferry traffic make both among the trickiest commercial passages anywhere.
About the data
Vessel positions come from terrestrial and satellite AIS reception, aggregated across multiple providers and de-duplicated. The public live feed is delayed approximately 60 to 180 seconds from broadcast and covers the public Turkish Straits bounding box only. Commercial users with a paid plan get unredacted access including vessel detail, voyage history, draught classification, sanctions context, and ownership chain.
AIS data is broadcast openly by vessels under the SOLAS V/19 carriage requirement. We aggregate, refresh, and visualise it — we don't operate the broadcasting infrastructure.
Frequently asked questions
How many ships pass through the Turkish Straits each day?
Around 100 to 130 vessels per day through the Bosphorus (about 41,000 a year), plus comparable traffic through the Dardanelles — dominated by tankers and grain-carrying bulk carriers moving between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
What is the Montreux Convention?
The 1936 Montreux Convention gives Turkey control of the Straits and guarantees free passage of civilian merchant ships in peacetime, while regulating warship transits. It is the legal framework governing all movement through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles.
How narrow is the Bosphorus?
The Bosphorus narrows to about 700 metres at its tightest point and bends sharply as it winds through Istanbul. Combined with strong currents and heavy ferry traffic, it is one of the most difficult commercial passages in the world.
How current is the data on this page?
The live map refreshes every 60 seconds from aggregated AIS reception. End-to-end latency from a vessel's actual broadcast to its dot moving on the map is typically 60 to 180 seconds. The hero counter above updates each time you reload the page.
Is this free to use?
Yes. The live map is free and requires no account. If you need vessel detail, voyage history, sanctions context, ownership chain, or draught/cargo inference, those sit behind a paid plan at Strait Up Maritime.
Other chokepoints we cover
The Turkish Straits is one of several maritime chokepoints under continuous observation across Strait Up Maritime. Each has its own live page; the same dataset powers all of them.