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.