International water transport

A sea lane, sea road or shipping lane is a regularly used navigable route for large water vessels (ships) on wide waterways such as oceans and large lakes, and is preferably safe, direct and economic. During the Age of Sail, they were determined by the distribution of land masses but also by the prevailing winds, whose discovery was crucial for the success of long maritime voyages. Sea lanes are very important for seaborne trade.

Operation Prosperity Guardian is a United States-led military operation by a multinational coalition formed in December 2023 to respond to Houthi-led attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

The International Ice Patrol is an organization with the purpose of monitoring the presence of icebergs in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and reporting their movements for safety purposes. It is operated by United States Coast Guard but is funded by the 13 nations interested in trans-Atlantic navigation. As of 2011 the governments contributing to the International Ice Patrol include Belgium, Canada (see Canadian Ice Service), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO; French: Organisation maritime internationale; Spanish: Organización Marítima Internacional) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating maritime transport. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference held in Geneva in 1948 and the IMO came into existence ten years later, meeting for the first time on 17 March 1958. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the IMO, in 2024, has 176 Member States and three Associate Members.

The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems (aquifers), and wetlands.

Operation Aspides, also known as EUNAVFOR Aspides is the European Union (EU)'s own military operation in response to the Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. In contrast to the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, EU officials have underlined the "purely defensive" nature of Eunavfor Aspides. The purpose of the operation is to provide escort to merchant vessels in the area, defend against attacks and increase the maritime surveillance in the region. The name of the operation comes from the Greek word for shields.