International Sea Routes for Navigation:

This is a list of international Routes: 

• 1: South Atlantic Oceanic Route 
• 2: North Atlantic Oceanic Route
• 3: Routes of the Mediterranean Sea
• 4: Cape of Good Hope route
• 5: North Pacific Oceanic Route
• 6: South Pacific Oceanic Route

Nowadays, with the vast expanse of vessel routes on oceans and seas, it has been possible to find multiple sea routes for navigation, this way, the international trade between the Continents becomes easier. International trade is focused on some fixed routes more than others.

In this article, we will cover the major international sea routes and why the existence of those routes is important for the international marine industry.

Find out the major sea routes around the world

These six routes are the major sea routes and the busiest shipping lanes for cargo vessels:

1. South Atlantic Oceanic Route:

This Route gathers North America and Europe with South America. All the industrial products from both North America and Europe will be transported to South America through this waterway.

Usually, the products shipped by this route are electric products, medicines, army and defense equipment, parts of airplanes, and machines.

2. North Atlantic Oceanic Route:

The North Atlantic Oceanic route has more importance than any other route since it joins many parts of the world together such as Southampton, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Rotterdam, Breman, Lisbon, Quebec, Montreal, New York, Charleston,  New Orleans, Galveston, and New Havana.

The cargo is usually loaded with food products and industrial and manufactured products.

3. Routes of the Mediterranean Sea:

The Mediterranean Sea routes continent the maximum number of countries in the world. We can classify it into three sub-routes: the western Mediterranean route which starts from West Africa through Morocco to Spain; the central route from West Africa via Tunisia and Libya to Italy; and lastly the eastern Mediterranean route from Asia, the Middle East via Turkey to Greece.

The movement in the Mediterranean routes has increased over the years due to the demand. Since shipping vessels transport industrial products to eastern countries and raw materials to the western countries.

4. Cape of Good Hope route

The cape route is Also known as the sea route to India, It connects Eastern Asia and Europe to southern parts of Africa. Since the creation of the Suez Canal, This oceanic route become partly obsolete. Nowadays, only large-sized vessels are loaded with it, and cheap goods sail through this oceanic route.

5. North Pacific Oceanic Route:

These waterways connect East Asia and North America with each other, specifical countries like China. Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The route counts as the main sea lane for the vessel traffic.

6. South Pacific Oceanic Route:

The South Pacific Oceanic Route joins Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Western Europe. In addition, it facilitates reaching Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Through this oceanic route, it is well known that countries like Australia exports many products such as wool, butter, cheese, skins, rubber, etc., and import other industrial products.

Draw routes for vessels:

Is it common nowadays, with all the technologies, that developers and users design specific routes for vessels? With API services it is possible not only to track the vessels around the oceans but also to draw the navigational routes. You can start mainly by getting details about the departing and the destination port, the speed, the heading…

Datalastic helps users collect all those data by providing real-time frequent navigational data, for any type of vessel including the shipping vessels that are loaded with containers through our API services. All you need is to get the IMO or the MMSI number of the vessels that ship the products and track it in real-time to follow the vessel movement.

Why these international sea routes formed? 

Over the centuries, The sea routes were important components from the 15th to 19th centuries. they were established in order to connect the west and the east and facilitate international trade. Back then, specific goods such as salt and spices were in high demand and is scarce which made people travel through seas and oceans to get those products.

The importance of sea routes in the world

Sea routes play an indispensable role in the maritime industry from an economic point of view:

1. it has a really important part in the transportation of domestic and international trade between countries.
2. Transportation of products from one to another country through the seas serves to increase the country’s trade.

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