Short-sea shipping
Movement of cargo and passengers by sea along a cost, without crossing an ocean
The modern terms short-sea shipping (sometimes unhyphenated), marine highway and motorways of the sea, as well as the more historical terms coastal trade, coastal shipping, coasting trade and coastwise trade, all encompass the movement of cargo and passengers mainly by sea along a coast, without crossing an ocean.
Short-sea shipping (or a translation thereof) is the term used by the European Commission and commonly throughout the European Union. Many English-speaking countries have used the British terms coasting trade and coastwise trade.
The United States maintained these term from its colonial era, including for domestic slave trade that shipped slaves by water from the Upper South to major markets, especially New Orleans. The US began regulating general coasting trade as early as 1793, with "An act for enrolling and licensing ships and vessels to be employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, and for regulating the same", which passed Congress on February 18 of that year. Over the years, it has been codified as Title 46 of the United States Code, Chapter 551 (46 USC Ch. 551), "Coastwise Trade".
Some short-sea ship vessels are small enough to travel inland on inland waterways. Short-sea shipping includes the movements of wet and dry bulk cargoes, containers and passengers around the coast (say from Lisbon to Rotterdam or from New Orleans to Philadelphia). Typical ship sizes range from 1,000 DWT (tonnes deadweight – i.e., the amount of cargo they carry) to 15,000 DWT with drafts ranging from around 3 to 6 m (10 to 20 ft).
The public source identifies “Short-sea shipping” as movement of cargo and passengers by sea along a cost, without crossing an ocean. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Short-sea, shipping and Movement.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Short-sea shipping”, the useful work is to connect “movement of cargo and passengers by sea along a cost, without crossing an ocean” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2578046. The Library of Congress control number is sh85027496. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1793.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Short-sea shipping”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Short-sea shipping primary sources, Short-sea shipping archive and Short-sea research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Short-sea shipping” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.