Searoute MCP server

searoute-ts

Shortest sea route between any two points on Earth. A TypeScript / JavaScript

library for maritime route planning, port-to-port distance, ETA estimation, and

shipping-lane visualisation — powered by the 2025 Eurostat maritime network.

npm install searoute-ts

import { seaRoute } from 'searoute-ts';

const route = seaRoute([121.5, 31.0], [4.4, 51.9]);
// Shanghai → Rotterdam → GeoJSON LineString, ~10,664 nm via Suez Canal

🗺️ Try the interactive demo — click two points on a map and see the route, with all options live. (source)

Works from plain JavaScript too — the package ships compiled .js plus

.d.ts declarations. The -ts in the name is for searchability, not a

language requirement.

Why searoute-ts

Malacca, Gibraltar, Dover, Kiel, Corinth, Bering, Magellan, NW/NE Passage labels.

• 🚢 Realistic shipping routes, not great-circle lines through Eurasia.
• 🗺️ Returns GeoJSON — drop straight into Leaflet, Mapbox, deck.gl, MapLibre.
• 🌊 2025 Eurostat marnet with explicit Suez, Panama, Bab-el-Mandeb,

disruption with one option.

• 🚫 Canal & strait restrictions — force Cape of Good Hope during a Red Sea

(7 m), Corinth (7.3 m) when the vessel exceeds the canal limit.

• 📦 Vessel-draft gating — auto-block Panama (15.2 m), Suez (20.1 m), Kiel

plus up to N realistic alternatives.

• 🛤️ K-shortest alternatives — seaRouteAlternatives returns the baseline

Node 18+, zero peer deps.

• 🧭 Multi-leg waypoints — seaRouteMulti for port rotations and itineraries.
• ⏱️ ETA from speed — speedKnots → durationHours.
• 🛠️ Modern toolchain — TypeScript 5, ESM + CJS dual build, types included,

Quick examples

Basic — shortest route

import { seaRoute } from 'searoute-ts';

const route = seaRoute([-74.04, 40.69], [-0.13, 51.5]); // NYC → London
// route.properties.length  // ≈ 3 362 nm
// route.properties.units   // 'nauticalmiles'

With ETA and units

seaRoute(shanghai, rotterdam, {
  units: 'kilometers',
  speedKnots: 22,
});
// → 19 753 km, properties.durationHours ≈ 485 h (≈ 20 days)

Red Sea / Suez disruption — force Cape of Good Hope

seaRoute(shanghai, rotterdam, {
  restrictions: ['suez', 'babelmandeb'],
});
// → routes via Cape of Good Hope, ~25 800 km

Vessel-aware — Ultra Large Container Ship

seaRoute(shanghai, newYork, {
  vesselDraftMeters: 16,  // exceeds Panama's 15.2 m TFW
});
// → Panama auto-blocked, route goes via Suez

Port codes (UN/LOCODE)

import 'searoute-ts/ports'; // enables UN/LOCODE strings on the core API
import { seaRoute } from 'searoute-ts';

seaRoute('CNSHA', 'NLRTM'); // Shanghai → Rotterdam
seaRoute('CNSHA', [4.4, 51.9]); // mixing a code and coordinates is fine too

The ~1 600-port dataset lives behind the searoute-ts/ports subpath so the core stays lean — importing it registers the resolver. You can also resolve codes yourself:

import { lookupPort, resolvePort } from 'searoute-ts/ports';

lookupPort('SGSIN'); // → { code, name: 'Singapore', country, coordinates: [lon, lat] }
resolvePort('SGSIN'); // → [103.85, 1.28]

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.