It is important to know where places are, as well as being able to identify the oceans, major seas and

other water bodies because ships pass through these as they move from one port to another. This year,
we concentrate on the location of these, but during the three years that you will be studying Maritime
Economics, you will discover other aspects that make each ocean, sea, gulf or bay important in global or
regional shipping.

Some facts about the oceans:

About 72 percent of the earth’s surface is water.

Largest ocean : Pacific Ocean

Deepest place in the ocean : Marianas Trench (11022 metres below sea level). It lies in the Pacific Ocean
to the east of the Philippine Islands. (Compare this to the highest mountain – Mount Everest 8848
metres above sea level.)

The oceans and seas are sources of food, they play a large role in the climate of regions, and the
obviously provide a medium for transport.

Continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Australasia

Important Lines of Latitude Arctic Circle; Tropic of Cancer, Equator; Tropic of Capricorn, Antarctic Circle

Important Lines of Longitude : Greenwich Meridian (0o), International Date Line (Note that both of
these lines of longitude are important in time calculations.)

Oceans: Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean

Ocean Currents

Numbers refer to the currents shown on the map.

Warm Currents flowing from the tropical regions

1. Mozambique Current
2. Agulhas Current,

3. Brazilian Current

4. Gulf Stream

5. North Atlantic Drift

6. South Equatorial Current

Cold Currents flowing from the polar regions

7. Canaries Current

8. Benguela Current

9. West Wind Drift

10. West Australian Current

11. Labrador Current

(Note : We have only included currents in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean.)

Seas:
1. Mediterranean Sea

2. Black Sea

3. Adriatic Sea

4. North Sea

5. Baltic Sea

6. Red Sea

7. Arabian Sea

8. South China Sea

9. East China Sea

10. Japan Sea

11. Tasman Sea

12. Bering Sea

13. Caribbean Sea

14. Gulf of Guinea

15. Gulf of Aden

16. Arabian (Persian) Gulf

17. Bay of Bengal

18. Bay of Biscay

19. Gulf of Mexico (US Gulf)

20. Hudson Bay

Straits

21. English Channel and Straits of Dover

22. Straits of Gibraltar

23. Turkish Straits (Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara and Bosphorus)

25. Straits of Hormuz

26. Straits of Malacca

27. Sunda Straits

28. Lombok Straits

29. Bass Straits

30. Torres Straits

31. Mozambique Channel

32. Magellan Straits.

Capes

A. Cape Horn

B. Cape Agulhas

Canals

1. Suez Canal (links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,and is part of the major shjpping route
between Asia and Europe.)
2. Panama Canal (links the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean – and therefore the entire Atlantic Ocean
coastline to the Pacific Ocean and Asia.)

3. Kiel Canal (links the Baltic Sea with the North Sea and allows ships to avoid having to go round the
northern point of Denmark.)

4. St Lawrence Seaway, connecting the Great Lakes to the sea.

Major Navigable Rivers:

5. Mississippi River (USA – navigable from New Orleans to Baton Rouge for ocean-going ships, and to the
Missouri and Ohio Rivers for barges.)

6. Amazon River (Brazil – navigable by ocean-going ships to Iquitos in Peru)

7. Rhine River (Borders on several countries, but is an important for navigation by barges from
Europoort at its mouth to Basel in Switzerland. It is linked to many other canals and waterways in
Europe.)

8. Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo – navigable for small ocean-going ships for 72 M to
Matadi.)

9. Yangtze (Chiang Jiang) River (China – navigable from Shanghai for 200 M to Nanjing for ships up to
about 2000 dwt, and for 1290 M to Chongqing for 3000-dwt ships.)

10. Xi River (China – navigable for large ocean-going ships from Hong Kong for about 50 M to
Guangzhou, and tehrefafter for almost its entire length for river craft.)

Some Important ports

AL Algeciras (Spain)
AU Auckland (New Zealand)

BA Buenos Aires (Argentina)

CT Cape Town (South Africa)

D Durban (South Africa)

F Fremantle (Australia)

G Genoa (Italy)

H Hong Kong (China)

K Kolkata (India)

KU Kuwait (Kuwait)

L Lisbon (Portugal)

LA Lagos (Nigeria)

LO London (UK)
M Mumbai (India)

MO Montreal (Canada)

NO New Orleans (USA)

NY New York (USA)

O Oslo (Norway)

OD Odessa (Ukraine)

PE Port Elizabeth (South Africa)

R Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

RB Richards Bay (South Africa)

RT Rotterdam (Netherlands)

S Singapore (Singapore_

SB Saldanha Bay (South Africa)

SF San Francisco (USA)

SP St Petersburg (Russia)

SY Sydney (Australia)

T Trieste (Italy)

V Valparaiso (Chile)

VA Vancouver (Canada)

WB Walvis Bay (Namibia)

Y Yokohama (Japan)

Europe

Water Bodies

1. English Channel and Straits of Dover

2. Turkish Straits (Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, Bosphorus)

3. Straits of Gibraltar
4. Suez Canal

5. Red Sea

6. Arabian (Persian) Gulf

7. North Atlantic Ocean

8. North Sea

9. Baltic Sea

10. Adriatic Sea

11. Black Sea

12. Mediterranean Sea

Ports

AL Algeciras (Spain)

F Felixstowe (UK)

G Genoa (Italy)
H Hamburg (Germany)

L Lisbon (Portugal)

O Oslo (Norway)

OD Odessa (Ukraine)

RT Rotterdam (Netherlands)

SP St Petersburg (Russia)

T Trieste (Italy

A ship steams from St Petersburg to San Francisco on the west coast of North America via Panama
Canal, and from there, via the shortest route to Singapore.

1.1 Name all the seas, oceans, etc, through which she will pass during the entire voyage.

1.2 On this voyage, how many times does the ship cross the Greenwich Meridian?

1.3 How many times does the ship cross the Equator?

1.4 How many times does the ship cross the Tropic of Cancer?

1.5 Does she pass Cape Town during her voyage from St Petersburg to Singapore via San Francisco?
2 Name the following :

2.1 The Straits to the north west of Singapore

2.2 The ocean or sea a ship would cross on a passage from

2.2.1. the east coast of South America to Australia.

2.2.2. the west coast of South America to Australia

2.3 The ocean or sea a ship would cross on a passage from Durban to India

2.4 The canal through which a ship would pass on a passage from New York to San Francisco.

2.5 The strait a ship would cross on a passage from France to England

2.6 The line on the Loadline to which a ship can be loaded when steaming from Lagos (LA) to Rio de
Janeiro (R)

3 A ship leaves Odessa (OD – Ukraine) for Vancouver (VA – Canada). Give the names of all water
masses through which she will pass on that voyage.

MAP_05_TEST_YOURSELF_EUROPE
4 Study the map of Europe.

4.1 In your answer book, write down the numbers 1 to 14 and next to each, provide the name of the
correct water body.

4.2 In your answer book, write down the letters A to I and next to each, provide the name of the port.

4.3. Provide the names of the seas, bays, straits and any other water bodies through which a ship will
pass when steaming from St Petersburg (SP) to Port I.

4.4. Provide the names of the seas, bays, straits, and any other water bodies through which a ship will
pass when steaming from Suez Canal to Port C.