PNNL

Abstract

This study examines maritime routes along the Atlantic coast of the US, utilizing Automated Identification System (AIS) data for the years 2010 through 2012. The delineation of vessel routes conducted in this study was motivated by development planned for offshore wind energy areas (WEAs) along the Atlantic coast of the US and the need to evaluate the effect of these development areas on commercial shipping. To this end, available AIS data were processed to generate commercial vessel tracks for individual vessels, though cargo vessels are the focus in this study. To reduce the computational costs of routing analyses, the individual vessel tracks were sampled at transects placed along the Atlantic coast. The transect samples were analyzed and partitioned by voyages between Atlantic ports to facilitate computation of vessel routes between ports. The route boundary analysis utilized a definition from UK guidance in which routes boundaries encompassed 95% of the vessel traffic between ports. In addition to delineating route boundaries, we found multi-modal transverse distributions of vessels for well-traveled routes, which indicated preference for lanes of travel within the delineated routes.