shipping route

shipping route, any of the lines of travel followed by merchant sea vessels. Many of the most important modern shipping routes are near-coastal or transoceanic, though several major rivers, including the Amazon and the Nile, are large enough for the navigation of shipping vessels and are economically important. Beginning in the late 1800s, the construction of major canals and waterways, including the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Volga-Baltic Waterway, has permitted shipping vessels to traverse areas that were previously impassable and has dramatically decreased transport times and costs. See also shipping.

History

Early routes usually kept within sight of coastal landmarks, but, as navigators learned to determine latitude from the heavenly bodies, they ventured onto the high seas more freely. When exact positions could be fixed, the effects of prevailing winds and currents began to be taken into consideration in determining routes, which was crucial to the success of long sailing voyages.

The first systematic study of ship routes was undertaken in the 19th century with the aid of shipmasters’ logbooks by Lieut. Matthew Fontaine Maury of the U.S. Navy. Maury’s Pilot Charts, containing recommended routes, earned him the title of “Pathfinder of the Seas.” Within a few years, as steam propulsion was introduced and wind ceased to be a navigational consideration, modern shipping routes were gradually adopted. They are based simply on the fact that a segment of a great circle on Earth’s surface is the shortest distance between two ports. Deviations are made only to avoid land or ice masses and unfavourable meteorological conditions. The hydrographic offices of the world have published volumes of sailing directions with advice on routes.

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As early as 1855 Maury recognized the danger of collision in the North Atlantic because of the fog, high volume of oceangoing traffic, and annual incursions of icebergs. In his Sailing Directions (1855), he included “Steamer Lanes Across the Atlantic,” with recommended separate lanes for eastbound and westbound steamers. In 1898, at the instigation of the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office, the five principal transatlantic steamship companies of the day concluded the voluntary North Atlantic Track agreement to adopt regular steamer lanes; these lanes remained unchanged until 1924.

The first International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea was convened at London in 1913 as a result of the sinking of the British steamer Titanic. At the convention, companies were obliged to give public notice of the routes their vessels would follow, and owners were urged to follow routes adopted by the principal companies. The convention also established an international ice patrol to warn ships of dangerous ice and recommend safe tracks. Since the patrol’s inception, no lives have been lost or vessels sunk on the U.S.-European lanes because of icebergs.

Major shipping routes

While ships have more directional freedom than trains or automobiles, direct and efficient shipping routes are widely used to reduce costs and transit time. The busy “core routes” facilitate the transportation of goods from continent to continent and are generally located near countries with high import and export demands. One of the busiest of these is the English Channel, which connects the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and sees more than 500 ships daily. Another major passage, the Strait of Malacca, offers the shortest route between the Pacific and Indian oceans and serves major Asian trade hubs such as China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore. The three straits that link the North Sea and the Baltic Sea provide transit to and from the countries of the Baltic region, including Russia, Scandinavia, Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states. Both the Panama Canal, which reduces transit time between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and the Suez Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Indian oceans via the Red Sea, are core shipping routes that save billions of dollars in transit costs annually. Key transoceanic routes connect various ports in the Americas and the Caribbean with the English Channel or the Mediterranean, connect Asia with North America across the Pacific, or go around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. Given the risk of piracy, few routes approached the Somali coast in the early 21st century.

Shipping lanes

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, many shipping routes contain shipping lanes, which are usually more formally defined and often marked by navigational aids such as buoys or lighthouses. Shipping lanes are used to safely navigate to and from ports or in areas where navigational hazards or the depth of the water may limit vessels. Such lanes are thus common in narrow straits, in archipelagos, and in shallow seas or bays and often have higher traffic than other areas along a route. The Strait of Dover in the English Channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world. In some places, shipping lanes are meant to minimize the environmental impact of shipping traffic. Off the California coast, for example, oil tankers must follow shipping lanes that are farther from the coast to reduce the likelihood that a potential oil spill would reach the shore.

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