The BP Shipping Marine Distance Tables have been completely revised and have been constructed to the exacting standards of both BP Shipping and Worldscale.
They were relaunched by AtoBviaC in 2004 and over 2,750 of the World's most frequently visited ports are included. This number continues to increase as further ports, terminals and berths are added. The current status of the Tables is shown at the bottom of the column to the left of this page. State of the art technology has been used in their construction, delivery and continual updating.
The Distance Tables fully respect all mandatory and recommended traffic separation schemes and as a result the distance between ports A and B is not necessarily the same as from B to A.
Whilst the early releases of the new Tables had a bias towards tanker ports, they now include comprehensive coverage of general and bulk cargo, gas and container ports and are an invaluable source of distance and routing information for the entire shipping industry.
Shortest Route or reduced environmental impact Route?
The prime purpose of the previous version of the Tables was to get the shortest distance between two ports. Whilst this functionality still exists in the new tables it is not the default, the focus has shifted to delivering the shortest reduced environmental impact route. A good example is a voyage from the Gulf to Loop Terminal offshore New Orleans. The shortest route would take the vessel through the Caribbean and up the Bahama Channel between Cuba and the Bahama Banks, the new tables will still route through the Caribbean however it will pass to the West of Cuba to avoid this environmentally sensitive area.
Routes and Distance calculations
All the routes within the new tables have been chosen by experienced Master Mariners, they are not computer generated. The algorithms for actually calculating the distances for Rhumb, Mercator and Great Circles are all industry approved standards.
Port to Port, Berth to Berth or Pilot to Pilot?
The exact position of both the starting and ending point of a voyage is known. Where we have a large port this will be to a central safe position within the port, where it is an offshore terminal then the waiting area for that terminal and where it is a single berth then a position just off the berth. Where a Pilot station is used in the route, the Standard and Professional editions of the software allows the selection of a range of voyage legs permitting Pilot to Pilot distances to be obtained. The precise location of a port can be viewed using the Distance Tables Port Locator web application which displays the position on Google Maps with the ability to overlay satellite imagery of the area.
Updates
The Tables are regularly updated and expanded, periodically adjusting routes and distances to reflect changes in regulations, routing, separation zones, Notice to Mariners and environmental factors. We are currently issuing new releases every two months. In addition, new ports will be added to the tables driven by both user demand and industry requirements.
These updates are available to subscribers over the internet at no additional cost for subscribers to our Online Distance Tables service. Users of our PortToPort software receive a one year subscription to the updates included with the original purchase which can optionally be extended for further year for an annual fee.
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