Devlopment of a Ship weather-routing algorithm for specific application in North Indian Ocean Region

Abstract

This paper presents development of a ship weather routing algorithm for determining minimum-time route. The optimization is based on a form of Dijkstra’s algorithm. The developed algorithm is investigated using various realistic wave data for the North Indian Ocean region obtained from the 3rd generation WAM model. Illustrative minimum-time sea routes on the Arabian sea and the Bay of Bengal have been determined and presented. All relevant practical and realistic constraints such as presence of land boundaries, consideration of non-navigable water, effects of wind and current, voluntary speed reduction etc. can be incorporated within the framework of the algorithm.