Chokepoint · Spain and Morocco
Strait of Gibraltar
OpenUpdated September 29, 2026
The Strait of Gibraltar is the passage between Spain and Morocco that joins the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. It is about 14 km wide at its narrowest and 58 km long. It is the only natural sea entrance to the Mediterranean. The Rock of Gibraltar, a British territory, stands at its eastern end.
- Width at the narrowest
- 14 km
- 7.8 nautical miles
- Length
- 58 km
- 300 to 900 m deep
- Ships in 2025
- 80,238
- in the traffic lanes, Spain's count
- Ships a day
- 132
- 146 a day in 2023
- Shores
Spain
Morocco
Gibraltar (UK)
Where is the Strait of Gibraltar?
The Strait of Gibraltar lies between the southern tip of Spain and northern Morocco, joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. At its narrowest, between Punta de Oliveros in Spain and Punta Cires in Morocco, it is about 14 km wide. It is 58 km long and 300 to 900 meters deep. The Rock of Gibraltar, a British territory, stands at its eastern end. Ceuta, a Spanish city on the African coast, is claimed by Morocco.
SPAIN
MOROCCO
Gibraltar (UK)
Tarifa
Algeciras
Tangier
Ceuta (Spain)
Atlantic Ocean
Mediterranean Sea
14 km
SPAIN
MOROCCO
Gibraltar (UK)
Tarifa
Algeciras
Tangier
Ceuta (Spain)
Atlantic Ocean
14 km
How busy is the Strait of Gibraltar?
Spain's maritime rescue service counted 80,238 ships through the strait's traffic lanes in 2025. Counting ferries, fishing boats and yachts, NASA says about 300 vessels cross the strait every day. In the four weeks to September 20, about 132 ships a day passed through, against 146 in 2023. Tanger Med, on the Moroccan side, is the largest container port in the Mediterranean. It handled 11.1 million containers (TEU) in 2025.
Ships through the strait each day
Weekly average, January 2023 to September 2026
Who controls the Strait of Gibraltar?
Spain and Morocco. The strait is narrower than their two 12-nautical-mile territorial seas combined, so there are no international waters in it. Ships and aircraft have the right of transit passage under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. That right may not be suspended. Spain and Morocco run the traffic scheme together, with eastbound ships using the southern lane on the Moroccan side and westbound ships using the northern lane.
Across the strait at its narrowest
About 14 km, 7.8 nautical miles
Why does Britain hold Gibraltar?
An Anglo-Dutch fleet captured Gibraltar from Spain in August 1704. Spain gave it to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and has asked for it back ever since. In a 2002 referendum, 98.97% of Gibraltar's voters rejected sharing sovereignty with Spain. Gibraltar is 6.8 km² and had 37,936 people in 2022. On July 15, 2026, a UK and EU treaty removed the border fence and checks between Gibraltar and Spain, leaving sovereignty untouched.
Who has held the Rock
Spain
Britain
Why do Russian warships sail through the Strait of Gibraltar?
Since Turkey closed the Bosphorus to Russian warships in February 2022, Russia cannot send ships from its Black Sea Fleet to the Mediterranean. They sail from the Baltic and the north through the Strait of Gibraltar instead. A Gibraltar ship-spotter counted 299 Russian vessels through the strait in 2025, 43 of them warships. In January and March 2026, French forces boarded two tankers of Russia's 'shadow fleet' in the western Mediterranean. British patrol boats had tracked the tankers through the strait.
The strait over the years
- 711Tariq ibn Ziyad lands at the Rock with about 7,000 men. Its Arabic name, Jabal Tariq, became Gibraltar.
- 1704An Anglo-Dutch fleet under Admiral George Rooke captures Gibraltar in August.
- 1779–83Spain and France besiege the Rock for three years and seven months and fail.
- 1942General Eisenhower directs the Allied landings in North Africa from a tunnel inside the Rock.
- 1969Franco's Spain closes the land border with Gibraltar in June. It fully reopens only in February 1985.
- 2026A UK and EU treaty removes the border fence and checks on July 15, leaving sovereignty untouched.
