Shipping routes or shipping canals are narrow passage of water ways in seas and oceans to help facilitate the passage of cargo ships.  They have been particularly designed to accommodate large vessels . They are of tremendous significance for the maritime world. They provide alternate shorter paths to cargo vessels in seas and oceans thus managing traffic and preventing chaos. However some of these canals due to its eminent geographical location advantage face much traffic all throughout the year.

Here are 10 most significant but busiest shipping lanes around the world:

1:- Suez canal:

One of the oldest shipping route was opened more than 200 years for all the countries across the globe. It was decided that the canal would remain open all through out the year irrespective of any conflict thus making it an international shipping route. The canal connected the Mediterranean sea to the red sea and is one of the most busiest shipping routes in the world.

2:- Rhine- Main-Danube Canal:

Source:- Flickr

This canal at the heart of western Europe is also known as the Europa canal linking three important rivers of Europe. The connection between North and Black sea is established via the Atlantic ocean by this canal.  This shipping gateway is of prime importance to Europe.

3:- The Volga-Don canal :

The two important rivers of Russia get interlinked to provide a passage to the oceanic  networks via the  Caspian sea and Azoff sea which is a bay of Black sea. This canal is responsible for trading between Eastern and Western Europe. This is quite an old canal whose construction started in the 16th century originally.

4:- The Houston ship canal:

This was existent and operational since 1830s. Most ships enter the Houston harbor through the gulf of Mexico via this canal. This route was originally occurring naturally but later further extensions were done to accommodate bigger vessels easily. This is an internal busy shipping route within U.S.A.

5:- The Kiel canal:

Source:- Germanyiswunderbar

This route had ensured the bypassing of the Denmark route( peninsula of Jutland) which is quite an unstable route too. It passes through a German province. The older water conduits construction happened in the 1700s while the modern time construction only happened in the 1890s. This is responsible for connecting Baltic sea and North sea.

6 :-The White sea- Baltic sea canal:

This canal is an internal navigation canal within Russia.  This connects the far north White sea to Baltic sea in the south passing through many other canals. The construction dates back to 1930s. This canal is however not much suitable for the passage of large ships and vessels.

 7:- Welland Canal: 

Source:- citt

This canal interlinks two important rivers of Canada, Ontario and Erie rivers. Its construction started in 1924 and ended in 1932.  It id very important since it aids the passage of vessels on the embankments of Niagara water falls and avoids the Niagara water fall passage.

8 :-Manchester ship canal:

Present in the province of Liverpool and extending up till Manchester, this canal connects the two rivers Irwell and Mersey. Since 19th century this canal has been operational. It is crucial for English maritime transportation.

9:-  The Panama canal:

This canal is operational since 1914. It deals with a very heavy traffic everyday from both sides. This canal is the connecting water route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

10:- The Strait of Dover: this is the narrowest part of the English Channel. The Strait is responsible for the separation of Great Britain from the mainland of Europe. This is the shipping route that has allowed the passage of numerous ships over time. As a result for long this has remained one of the busiest world shipping route.