This paper provides a new adaptive weather routing model, based on the Dijkstra shortest path algorithm, aiming to select the optimal route that maximizes the ship performances in a seaway. The model is based on a set of ship motion-limiting criteria and on the weather forecast maps, providing the sea state conditions the ship is expected to encounter along the scheduled route. The new adaptive weather routing model is applied to optimize the scheduled route in the Northern Atlantic Ocean of the S175 containership, assumed as a reference vessel, based on the weather forecast data provided by the Global WAve Model (GWAM). In the analysis, both wave and combined wind/swell wave conditions are embodied to investigate the incidence on the optimum route assessment. Furthermore, the effect of the vessel speed on the optimum route detection is also investigated. Current results clearly show that it is possible to achieve appreciable improvements, up to 50% of the ship seakeeping performances, without excessively increasing the route length and the voyage duration.

Sea waves constitute a natural phenomenon with a great impact on human activities, and their monitoring is essential for meteorology, coastal safety, navigation, and renewable energy from the sea. Therefore, the main measurement techniques for their monitoring are here reviewed, including buoys, satellite observation, coastal radars, shipboard observation, and microseism analysis. For each technique, the measurement principle is briefly recalled, the degree of development is outlined, and trends are prospected. The complementarity of such techniques is also highlighted, and the need for further integration in local and global networks is stressed.