Passage Planning Guide: English Channel 2026-27

Passage Planning Guide: English Channel, Dover Strait and Southern North Sea (2026-2027 Edition) The authoritative 2026-2027 Guide to safe, efficient passage planning in the English Channel, Dover Strait and Southern North Sea This publication has been fully updated and revised with input from serving Deep-Sea Pilots and industry organisations. The Guide supports all stages of passage planning - appraisal, planning, execution and monitoring - covering aids to navigation, traffic separation schemes, reporting requirements and regional traffic patterns. Recommended routes for NE-bound and SW-bound transits are illustrated on annotated, pull-out chartlets for areas including: MAAS/Rotterdam Sunk/Thames Wandelaar/Schelde Elbe/Weser/Jade. New content includes two additional hotspots for the Jade/Weser region following the 2023 'Verity' - 'Polesie' collision, updated container ship guidance aligned with the 2025 IMO circular SN.1/Circ.344, and expanded coverage of ferry and fishing vessel traffic. The Guide provides practical advice for Masters, Officers of the Watch and bridge teams on notification, documentation, ship reporting systems and smallboat crossings, and includes environmental compliance updates covering MARPOL and BWM obligations, guidance on licensedDeep-Sea Pilots under IMO Resolution A.1080(28), and material on offshore renewable energy installations and related navigational issues.