Basic Course On Shipping Geography

Short Sea Shipping: The modern terms short sea shipping and marine highway refer to the historical terms coastal trade, coasting trade and coastwise trade, which encompass the movement of cargo and passengers mainly by sea, without directly crossing an ocean. Deep sea shipping, intercontinental shipping or ocean shipping refers to maritime traffic that crosses oceans. While 'short sea shipping' is the European-developed term, 'marine highway' is the American-developed term currently used. Historically, many developed English speaking countries used the British term ‘coasting trade', and its usage remains.

Roughly 40% of all freight moved in Europe is classified as Short Sea Shipping, however, the greater percentage of this cargo moves through Europe’s heartland on rivers and not oceans. The term Short Sea Shipping has evolved to include point to point cargo movements on inland waterways as well as inland to ocean ports for trans-shipment over oceans. In Europe the main hub of short sea shipping is Rotterdam, also the largest European port, with Antwerp as a second. 

The Great Lakes: The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada–United States border, which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes Waterway. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water.  The total surface is 244,106 square km. and has evolved as a major source of trade through this area.

Though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water. The lakes form a chain connecting the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the St. Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Michigan-Huron, southward to Erie, and finally northward to Lake Ontario. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. The Great Lakes region contains not only the five themselves but also many thousands of smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway opened the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels. However the move to wider ocean-going container ships - which do not fit through the locks on these routes - has limited shipping on the lakes. Despite their vast size, large sections of the Great Lakes freeze over in winter, and most shipping stops during that season. There are some icebreakers that operate on the lakes.

The Seaway is generally open for navigation from late March / early April to mid December, which is about 275 days. It can accommodate ships up to 766 feet long and 80 feet wide in the range of 30,000 dwt. It takes 8 to 10 days for a ship to go from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean. On the Welland Canal, the slowest section of the seaway, the average transit time is about 11 hours. For the Montreal-Lake Ontario section, the average transit time is 24 hours up bound and 22 hours down bound. The system carries bulk cargo such as grain, iron ore, coal and petroleum products and general cargo such as containers, steel and machinery. The first category accounts for 90% of the annual tonnage while the second account for the remaining 10%.

Seto Inland Sea: The Seto Inland Sea often shortened to Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honsh?, Shikoku, and Ky?sh?, three of the main islands of Japan. It serves as an international waterway, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Bay and provides a sea transport link to industrial centers in the Kansai region, including Osakaand Kobe. Today the Inland Sea serves its coastal areas mainly for two purposes: first, international or domestic cargo transportation, and second, local transportation between coastal areas and islands on the sea. 

Caspian Sea: The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea.  The sea has a surface area of 371,000 Sq.km^..  It is in an endorheic basin and is bounded to the northwest by Russia, to the west by Azerbaijan, to the south by Iran, to the southeast by Turkmenistan, and to the northeast by Kazakhstan. The ancient inhabitants of its littoral perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness and seeming boundlessness. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2%, about a third the salinity of most seawater. Several scheduled ferry services (including train ferries) operate on the Caspian Sea. The ferries are mostly used for cargo

Black Sea: Black Sea is not strictly an inland sea since it is connected to Mediterranean Sea through Turkish Straits Bosphorous, Dardanellas, Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea.   The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus. These waters separate Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km² and a maximum depth of 7,257 ft. The Black Sea was a busy waterway on the crossroads of the ancient world: the Balkans to the West, the Eurasian steppes to the north, Caucasus and Central Asia to the East, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia to the south, and Greece to the south-west.

Lake Victoria, Africa: Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of 68,800 square kilometres Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, and it is the largest tropical lake in the world. Lake Victoria is the world's third largest freshwater lake by surface area. Lake Victoria receives most of its water from direct precipitation or from thousands of small streams. The largest stream flowing into this lake is the Kagera River, the mouth of which lies on the lake's western shore. There are two rivers that leave the lake, the White Nile, flows out on lake's north shore and the Katonga River flows out on the western shore connecting the lake to Lake George.  Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in Africa and has a maximum depth of 276 ft and an average depth of 130 ft.  The lake has a shoreline of 4,828 kilometers with islands constituting 3.7% of this length and is divided among three countries: Kenya, and Tanzania. Since the 1900s Lake Victoria ferries have been an important means of transport between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. In 1966 train ferry services between Kenya and Tanzania were established.

Lake Titicaca: Lake Titicaca is the largest freshwater lake in South America, located on the border between Peru and Bolivia between the two snowy mountain ranges of East and West Cordillera in the central Andes. The lake is 8,372 km² wide, including both the deep main basin and the shallow sub-basin, and its altitude (3,812 m) is unrivalled among large lakes of this size class in the world. The line between Puno (Peru) at the northwestern end of the lake and Guaqui (Bolivia) on the southwestern shore is an important shipping route for Bolivia, an inland country without seaside territory.