Suppose you're familiar with oceanography and some of the more treacherous shipping routes of the world. In that case, you'll know about the challenges for the shipping industry that the Strait of Gibraltar poses. This narrow passage that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea has many elements that contribute to the complexity of tides and currents in this area, and this article explores how it all works.

There’s no denying that the ongoing demand for shipping organisations to respond to overcapacity, environment responsibility and profit margins with streamlined services that afford integrated and end-to-end logistics is increasing.

Each year the Sydney-Hobart yacht race seems to get bigger and bigger, this year for the 75th anniversary 163 boats are registered to compete, the largest cohort since 1994. Who will get line honours? Which boats will win the different classifications? And which boat will claim overall victory? In all classifications the winner will be determined by a combination of skilled sailing, and a bit of luck.

How tricky currents play a part in the closing stages of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race

The last few miles of a Sydney to Hobart race has often determined the ultimate winner. Capricious, shifty wind and 'bullets' - gusts that come screaming down the steep hillsides lining the course are often to blame. Not to mention the notorious night time 'shut-down' - where the wind disappears entirely.

The role of currents here has been overlooked - most likely because little information has been publicly available. This is set to change thanks to a new hydrodynamic model produced by the Coastal Environmental Modelling Team at CSIRO which Tidetech will be making available for the Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston to Hobart races this year as part of a package of Grib files and analyses.

Tide and current data will be available to users of DNV GL’s Veracity web service after Hobart-Australia-based metocean data specialist Tidetech joined Veracity.
Tidetech will make its metocean data available to Veracity users as data or via an API, enabling shipowners and managers to optimise their fleet operations, save fuel and increase vessel efficiency. Tidetech is the only provider high resolution forecast modelling of coastal tides and currents, including in critical locations such as the Malacca Strait and English Channel where there is a significant influence of tidal currents.

Shipowners are embracing a new generation of weather routing tools as they look to optimise vessel performance in the face of higher fuel costs and looming environmental regulations. Metocean data provider Tidetech reports that owners are increasingly requesting high resolution data for regional trading patterns and coastal waters where tides and currents can have a greater impact on fuel consumption than on an ocean voyage. The renewed take-up of interest in weather routing is

Tidetech Commercial Marine is extending free access to ‘Tidemap’, its new browser-based metocean data viewer, for the duration of the Rio Olympics. Tidetech has provided the high resolution tidal model to a number of the Olympic sailing teams for their training programs and for tactical planning.

Thanks to the integration of Tidetech in Adrena Navigation Software, it is easy to access to a worldwide coverage of tidal streams and ocean currents data in GRIB format. 

In April 2015 Tidetech and the Made Smart Group (MSG) agreed to a long term re-supplier agreement. MSG provides software that focuses on information technology for the maritime industry. Their customers are maritime professionals such as fleet managers, offshore industry including dredging, salvage, towage, cable managers, and more.

It’s been three years since we released the Singapore and Malacca Straits 800m high resolution tidal model. This model benefits vessels using route and speed optimisation systems in this busy stretch of water by taking advantage of accurate tidal speed, direction and height data to create bunkerage savings..