Fairway is a part of a water body (bay, harbor, river) containing the navigable channel (also known as a ''ship channel''), a route suitable for ships of the larger size (with

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

closer to the draft limit).

Fairway depth, width, and height

The underwater cross-section of a ship in the channel is limited by the fairway depth and width (bridges may create restrictions for the height above the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...

). Fairway depth is a distance between the

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

/ riverbed and the water surface. The fairway depth of a river varies with the season, so some standardized depth value is used, usually the one corresponding to the low navigable water level (LNWL) defined as the water level that the river stays above during almost the entire navigation season: statistically, the level shall stay below the LNWL for 20 ice-free days per year, corresponding to 5-6% of the ice-free period on European rivers. The fairway width is defined as a width of the cross-section of the river that corresponds to the fairway depth, the fairway height under the bridges is usually specified with respect to the highest navigable water level (HNWL).

Fairway and navigable channel

The term "fairway" usually means all the navigable waters between the fairway buoys (that indicate the ends of the channel), even the routes only accessible to the lighter-draft vessels. Some authors restrict the definition to the linear approach part of a marine waterway, the approach channel leading into a port. Legal definitions of the navigable channel differ depending on the context. In many cases any part of water body that can be navigated is considered to be navigable waters, although in the US (per Title 33 of the United States Code) the term applies to the waters over which the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

has jurisdiction to regulate the commerce, individual states apply similar criteria. The courts, however, use an expanded definition and include into the scope of Title 33, for example, waters "frequented by small, pleasure-fishing crafts". The center of the navigable channel lies on the

thalweg In geography, hydrography, and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg () is the line or curve of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Normally only the horizontal position of the curve is considered (as viewed on a map); the c ...

, so in the international river law in case of disputed borders the border is assumed to follow the thalweg, as doing otherwise would deny the navigation rights to one side.

Fairway management in Europe

Many major European rivers (e.g., Rhine, Danube, Moselle, Meuse, and Sava) have long-established systems for waterway management. Some countries, primarily in Scandinavia, charge the ships fairway dues, fees intended to support maintenance of the fairways (e. g.,

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

). The following table contains the parameters of some of the European waterways.

Fairway management in the US

Inland waterways in the United States are managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). A mechanism similar to the fairway dues, a Harbor Maintenance Tax on imports is used to finance the maintenance (primarily dredging) of the ports on the coasts and

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

References

Sources

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