shipping lane

plural shipping lanes

1. A route across an ocean, sea, or other body of water which is regularly used by commercial maritime vessels.

   Ships line up on the buoys to insure they do not stray from the shipping lane.

   1987 July 30, Bernard E. Trainor, “Showdown in Gulf”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 Feb 2013

   2 more examples

   Something has happened to North Atlantic icebergs this season. Up to last week only two small "growlers" had floated into the shipping lanes.

   1931 June 8, “Science: No Icebergs”, in Time

   A multilateral force rescued a Chinese ship from Somali pirates on Wednesday, in a sign foreign navies patrolling the shipping lane linking Europe to Asia are adopting tougher new tactics.

   2008 December 17, David Clarke, “Chinese ship rescued from pirates in Gulf of Aden”, in Reuters, retrieved 18 Feb 2013