The greatest volume of shipping across the Atlantic Ocean is

The greatest volume of shipping across the Atlantic Ocean is between Europe and North America. This route, known as the North Atlantic shipping route, is the busiest oceanic trade corridor in the world.

Several factors explain this dominance:

• Economic power - Europe and North America are two of the world's most industrialised and economically developed regions, generating enormous volumes of manufactured goods, raw materials, and consumer products for mutual exchange.
• Historical trade links - centuries of trade, migration, and cultural exchange have established deep commercial relationships between these two continents.
• Port infrastructure - major ports on both sides (New York, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton, Montreal) are among the world's most developed and busiest.
• Complementary economies - the two regions trade a wide variety of goods including machinery, vehicles, petroleum products, chemicals, and agricultural produce.

Shipping volumes between Africa and the Americas, or between North and South America across the Atlantic, are considerably smaller due to lower trade volumes and less developed port infrastructure in comparison.