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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Navigation & the Bridge

Course

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/kɔːrs/nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, course means: The direction in which a ship is intended to travel or is actually travelling, given as an angle from 000° to 359° measured clockwise from north.

In Turkish: rota, seyir rotası

How it is used

Officers set, steer, alter and keep a course. Course over ground (COG) is the actual track shown by GPS, which can differ from the heading because of wind and current. Courses are read digit by digit: 'course zero four five'.

Example sentences

  1. Alter course to starboard to pass astern of the tanker.

  2. Our course over ground is two seven zero, but the current is setting us north.

Common collocations

  • alter course
  • set a course
  • course over ground (COG)
  • steady on course
  • course to steer
  • headingThe direction in which a ship's bow is pointing at a given moment, shown by the compass as an angle from north.
  • helmThe wheel or control used to steer a ship, and by extension the steering of the ship itself. The person who steers is the helmsman.
  • passage planA detailed berth-to-berth plan for a voyage, prepared before departure, showing the route, waypoints, hazards, safe speeds, reporting points and contingency actions.
  • give wayTo keep out of the way of another vessel, as the collision rules require, by altering course, changing speed or both. The vessel that must do this is the give-way vessel.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Navigation & the Bridge

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