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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Navigation & the Bridge

CPA

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

abbreviationCommon term

In maritime & shipping, CPA means: Closest Point of Approach: the shortest distance at which another ship or object will pass if both keep their present course and speed. TCPA is the time left until that point.

In Turkish: en yakın yaklaşma noktası, en yakın geçiş mesafesi, CPA

How it is used

Calculated by radar (ARPA) and ECDIS and used in every collision-risk assessment. Masters' standing orders usually set a minimum CPA, for example one mile in coastal waters and two miles in open sea.

Example sentences

  1. The container ship has a CPA of 0.3 miles and a TCPA of 12 minutes, so I am altering course to starboard.

  2. Call me if any target has a CPA of less than two miles.

Common collocations

  • CPA and TCPA
  • minimum CPA
  • CPA limit
  • pass with a safe CPA
  • radarEquipment that sends out radio waves and shows their echoes on a screen, so that officers can see the coast, other ships and buoys and measure their range and bearing, even at night or in fog.
  • COLREGsThe International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972: the rules of the road at sea, covering lookout, safe speed, which ship gives way, lights, shapes and sound signals.
  • 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.
  • AISAutomatic Identification System: a system that automatically broadcasts a ship's identity, position, course, speed and other data by VHF so that other ships and shore stations can see it.

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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