In the

water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

, the navigation season (or shipping season) is a period of the year during which a

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

is open for

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

. The opening and closing dates of the season are determined annually by the

administration to accommodate the weather, water flow and ice conditions as well as the transportation demands. The term is also frequently used to designate number of days per year with easy navigation.

Terminology

In a general sense, in different contexts the term has slightly different meanings, multiple expressions are used: * ''summer navigation season''; * ''winter navigation season'' with some waterways closed; * ''ice-free navigations season'' / ''independent navigation period'' when the ships can get through without the assistance from an icebreaker. A ''traditional'' navigation season naturally varies from оne year to another, a ''fixed'' navigation season alternative sets firm dates for opening and closing (that can be changed based on conditions, but only to shorten the period), an ''extended'' navigation season utilizes technical means to continue navigation under adverse conditions (e.g., ice). A navigation window is created by a short controlled release of water from an upstream reservoir to temporarily create a higher river stage for the purpose of navigation.

History

Antiquity

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, the navigation period on the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

lasted while the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...

star cluster was visible (May to November). Some interpretations of the

Story of Wenamun The Story of Wenamun (alternately known as the Report of Wenamun, The Misadventures of Wenamun, Voyage of Unamūn, or nformallyas just Wenamun) is a literary text written in hieratic in the Late Egyptian language. It is only known from one incomp ...

( Ancient Egypt, circa 1000 BC) and texts from

Ugarit ) , image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg , image_size=300 , alt = , caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit , map_type = Near East#Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 300 , relief=yes , location = Latakia Governorate, Syria , region = F ...

(2nd millennium BC) suggest the existence of navigation seasons even earlier.

Europe

Navigation periods in Europe have a long history. Maritime law of

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

already in the 13th century stated that the ships must remain in the winter ports after

St. Martin's Day Saint Martin's Day or Martinmas, sometimes historically called Old Halloween or Old Hallowmas Eve, is the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours and is celebrated in the liturgical year on 11 November. In the Middle Ages and early modern period, it ...

(November 11). By the 15th century more detailed laws allowed sailing on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

from Cathedra Petri (February 22) to St. Martin's Day. The season in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

was even shorter, from one Feast of the Cross ( Invention of the Cross on May 3) to another ( Exaltation of the Cross on September 14).

USA

Multiple Rivers and Harbors Acts left the administration of navigation on the major US waterways, including the commencement and closing of the navigation season, to the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

(USACE).

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{water-transport-stub Nautical terminology Navigation