Searoutes can compute maritime routes using different sources of information depending on the use case.

The route types used across Searoutes APIs are:

• Historical routes
• Shortest routes
• Proforma routes
• Schedule routes

These route types allow Searoutes to support both historical shipment analysis and future planning scenarios.

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Overview of route types

Each route type provides a different level of accuracy depending on whether the goal is to analyze past operations, planned services, or optimized distances.

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Historical routes

Historical routes represent actual vessel journeys reconstructed from AIS data.

AIS signals emitted by vessels are processed to rebuild the trajectory between ports and identify port calls, vessel movements, and travel distances. These routes reflect how a shipment was actually transported, including the vessel(s) used and the real sailing path.

They are typically used for:

• emissions reporting for past shipments
• route reconstruction and analysis
• incident or deviation investigation

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Shortest routes

Shortest routes represent the shortest feasible maritime path between two locations.

They are computed using Searoutes proprietary routing algorithms and take into account maritime navigation constraints such as traffic separation schemes, port entry channels, canal crossings, restricted navigation areas. The result is a realistic navigable path rather than a simple straight line between ports.

Shortest routes are commonly used when:

• estimating distances between ports
• visualizing a theoretical route
• computing fallback routes when no historical or carrier data is available

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Proforma routes

Proforma routes use planned carrier service rotations to build routes between ports.

They are reconstructed from several elements describing how carrier networks operate, including:

• the sequence of ports served by each service
• the shortest feasible maritime path between two ports of call
• the carriers sharing the service, including the operating carrier and partners through alliances or vessel sharing agreements (VSAs)
• the vessels assigned to each service

This allows Searoutes to reconstruct routes that reflect how carriers typically operate between two ports.

Proforma routes are mainly used for:

• carrier benchmarking and procurement analysis
• emissions comparison between carrier services
• fuel and emissions estimation for a given carrier on a specific port pair

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Schedule routes

Schedule routes are derived from published vessel upcoming departures.

They represent routes that will be operated by a specific vessel on a specific departure, including the sequence of port calls and expected transit times.

These routes are typically used for:

• operational planning
• benchmarking carrier transit times and emissions

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Note

In the case of proforma and schedule routes, when reconstructing the maritime path between two ports of call, Searoutes applies routing constraints based on realistic vessel speeds and transit times. This allows the routing engine to determine whether the route is more consistent with a transit via the Suez Canal or via the Cape of Good Hope, depending on the service characteristics.

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Choosing the right route type

Different applications rely on different route types. For example:

• emissions reporting for past shipments typically uses historical routes
• optimized distance estimation often relies on shortest routes
• carrier benchmarking and planning use proforma or schedule routes