Anyone who is on their way to Gothenburg knows the problem: The loft from Læsø or Anholt to the Swedish coast is teeming with tankers, freighters and fishermen. As if on a string of pearls, they walk south and north along the Tango route. Not at all easy to find a gap to cross the main shipping route without getting too close to the big pots.
The high traffic volume around Skagen and on Route T is clear from the AIS signals. With the new route S, more freighters should run under land in the future
In fact, the Tango route is so heavily frequented by the shipping traffic in and out of the Baltic Sea that it is often tricky even among the freighters. Therefore, by resolution of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), an alternative route closer to the coast has been worked out. The new route Sierr begins at the level of the Kummel Bank north of Læsø and leads east of the shallows Fladen and LillMiddelgrund to the north entrance of the Öresund at Kullen. In the area of the Kummel-Bank, where the Tango and Sierrtrennen routes meet, a caution area will be set up, ie a particularly high number of ship movements on different courses can be expected here.
The existing traffic separation area in Öresund will be expanded to the north. A crossing is still possible in between
Along the new shipping lane, at the level of the Shoals Fladen, LillMiddelgrund and at the northern entrance to the Øresund, new traffic separation areas are being set up, which are mandatory for vehicles over 20 meters in length and, as usual, should not be crossed. If the crossing cannot be avoided, a course running at right angles to the direction of traffic must be maintained and all ships in the traffic separation area must be granted right of way.
The new traffic separation areas "Skagen West" and "Skagen East". The caution area in between may be crossed
In addition to the Sierr route, a caution area and two new traffic separation areas, Skagen West and Skagen East, along with a coastal traffic zone, will be set up north of Skagen.
For sailors who want to cross the Kattegat, the new traffic management means that two commercial shipping routes have to be crossed at the same time, and one should be prepared for an increased volume of traffic off the Swedish coast. So far, there have been almost exclusively yachts and fishermen. However, it remains to be seen how much the traffic flows will actually shift. The Sierrist route is only interesting for ships that pass the Öresund, and larger freighters with a draft of more than 10 meters will continue to use the Tango route.
The new traffic routing was decided a few years ago and will come into force on July 1, 2020. Details on the shipping route will be announced in the "News for Seafarers". The announcement of the Sjöfartsverket can be found here.