Sea routes and shipping canals

The oceans are smooth highways that cost nothing to build or maintain, open in all directions. Ships carry huge loads of bulky goods very cheaply over long distances, so most international trade goes by sea.

The main sea routes:

• The Northern Atlantic Sea Route, the 'Big Trunk Route', links the two most industrialised regions of the world, north-eastern USA and north-western Europe. About a quarter of world trade travels along it.
• The Mediterranean-Indian Ocean route, through the Suez Canal, links Europe with Asia, East Africa and Australia, serving more countries and people than any other.
• The Cape of Good Hope route, round the southern tip of Africa, links western Europe and West Africa with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
• The Southern Atlantic route links Europe and North America with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
• The North Pacific route links western North America with Asia; the South Pacific route links western Europe and North America with Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands, via the Panama Canal.

Two man-made canals shorten the world's sea routes dramatically:

• The Suez Canal (opened 1869), in Egypt, links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. It is a sea-level canal, with no locks. It gives Europe a much shorter route to the Indian Ocean and Asia, saving the long voyage round Africa.
• The Panama Canal, about 72 km long, links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. Because the land rises, it uses a system of locks to lift ships up and down. It shortens the sea journey between New York and San Francisco by about 13,000 km.