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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Navigation & the Bridge

Heading

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/ˈhedɪŋ/nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, heading means: The direction in which a ship's bow is pointing at a given moment, shown by the compass as an angle from north.

In Turkish: pruva, baş istikameti

How it is used

The helmsman steers to a heading, and the gyro compass, radar and ECDIS display it. Because of wind and current, the heading and the course over ground are often different.

Example sentences

  1. Our heading is zero nine five, but we are making good zero nine zero.

  2. VTS asked the vessel to report her heading and speed.

Common collocations

  • steady on heading
  • gyro heading
  • heading and speed
  • change of heading
  • courseThe 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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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