Tuesday 10 April 2012

Navigating in Øresund - one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world

The northern side of Øresund in an engraving from 1594

Øresund (also called the Sound), which connects Kattegat and the North Sea with Baltic Sea, has always been one of the world´s busiest shipping lanes. The number of ships annually passing through Øresund is now approximately 40.000.

This  Øresund chart was done by the famous Swedish cartographer  Gustav  af  Klint in the  early 19 th  century

Several large ports - Copenhagen, Malmö, Helsingborg and Landskrona - are located in Øresund. In addition to the ships on regular passenger and cargo routes, a large number of other ship types - e.g. cruise ships, oil tankers and chemical tankers - are passing through the Sound on their way to or from ports in the Baltic. In addition, a great number fishing vessels and leasure boats use Øresund.

Map of  Øresund
(wikipedia)

The Danish and Swedish maritime authorities in 2006 published a study, "Navigational safety in the Sound between Denmark and Sweden (Øresund)" in which they stated:

Thus, it is seen that the traffic in Øresund consists of a mixture of different ship
types and does thus require good skills and awareness from the navigator on the
ships when passing Øresund.

There are specific limitations and requirements for navigation in Øresund:

There are large differences in e.g. width of the navigation channels at various places,
in water depth etc. Ships coming into Øresund from north may have a draught of up
to 11.5 m when visiting the port of København and 13,5 m when visiting the port of
Malmö. However, further south - through Drogden and Flintrännan –the water depth
is 8 m and 8.4 m, respectively.

It is easy to understand the consequenses if there would be a major accident in the busy Øresund waters. Among the 139 accidents during the time period 1997 - 2005, covered in the report, the human factor and fatigue were responsible for almost one third of the cases.


Container ship Mito Strait prepared to take a Swedish pilot on board in Øresund

The small number of accidents is to a large part due to the pilotage offered both by Swedish and Danish pilots. The Danish-Swedish maritime safety report, mentioned above, describes the pilotage regulations in Øresund:

Requirements for use of pilot for specific ship cargos or ship sizes

Compulsory pilotage shall apply to the following merchant ships when navigating
interior and exterior Danish territorial waters, ref. [36] and includes the following:
• Oil tankers with cargo.
• Chemical tankers carrying cargoes of dangerous liquid chemicals included in
IMO’s chemicals code (International Maritime Organization’s “Code for the
Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in
Bulk”).
• Gas tankers.
• Ships carrying radioactive cargoes.
Compulsary pilotage for Swedish territorial waters is described in ref. [37] and is in
general similar to the descriptions applying for Danish waters above.

A Swedish pilot boat approaching Helsingborg
On the way to meet a ship entering the Sound
The pilot boats in Helsingborg

This is a distinguished Swedish pilot from the early 1920s: 


3 comments:

  1. Your opening words reminded me of Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy' (1621).

    I hear new news every day, and those ordinary rumours of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, &c., daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain, monomachies, shipwrecks, piracies, and sea-fights, peace, leagues, stratagems, and fresh alarms. A vast confusion of vows, wishes, actions, edicts, petitions, lawsuits, pleas, laws, proclamations, complaints, grievances, are daily brought to our ears. New books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories, whole catalogues of volumes of all sorts, new paradoxes, opinions, schisms, heresies, controversies in philosophy, religion, &c. Now come tidings of weddings, maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies, tilts and tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays: then again, as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies, enormous villanies in all kinds, funerals, burials, deaths of Princes, new discoveries, expeditions; now comical then tragical matters. To-day we hear of new Lords and officers created, to-morrow of some great men deposed, and then again of fresh honours conferred; one is let loose, another imprisoned; one purchaseth, another breaketh: he thrives, his neighbour turns bankrupt; now plenty, then again dearth and famine; one runs, another rides, wrangles, laughs, weeps &c. Thus I daily hear, and such like, both private and publick news. Amdist the gallantry and misery of the world: jollity, pride, perplexities and cares, simplicity and villany; subtlety, knavery, candour and integrity, mutually mixed and offering themselves, I rub on in a strictly private life.

    Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (p.19)


    Fine writer.

    Best wishes

    JP

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. excellent work by Burton . . . Thank you for the gist

      Delete
  2. Thank you for letting me know about what Burton wrote. I shall by the book!

    ReplyDelete