shipping lane

English

Noun

shipping lane (plural shipping lanes)

1. A route across an ocean, sea, or other body of water which is regularly used by commercial maritime vessels.
   • 1931 June 8, “Science: No Icebergs”, in Time:

     Something has happened to North Atlantic icebergs this season. Up to last week only two small "growlers" had floated into the shipping lanes.

   • 1987 July 30, Bernard E. Trainor, “Showdown in Gulf”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 February 2013:

     Ships line up on the buoys to insure they do not stray from the shipping lane.

   • 2008 December 17, David Clarke, “Chinese ship rescued from pirates in Gulf of Aden”, in Reuters, retrieved 18 February 2013:

     A multilateral force rescued a Chinese ship from Somali pirates on Wednesday, in a sign foreign navies patrolling the shipping lane linking Europe to Asia are adopting tougher new tactics.

References

• “shipping lane”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.