[ Scandinavien/European waters ]
[ Important European routes ]  [ Ice service ]
[ Weather routing for the whole globe ]
[ Our dominating ocean areas ] [ Forecast maps ]
[ How to order ] [ Ice service on Internet ] [ How to contact us ]

Scandinavian/European waters

You can order a forecast for any harbour, area or a route in the area from the Baltic Sea and the North Sea down to the Mediterranean. No other institute or company can provide you with better quality/details concerning weather and sea conditions in these areas.

The forecasts are very useful for ferries, towings, vessels and small boats. When we know your time schedule and route, we can provide you with detailed forecasts of the following weather and sea parameters:

Important European routes

Examples of important European routes where we regularly produce wind and wave information for customers:

1. In the Baltic Sea out to Skagerrak.

2. From the Baltic Sea out to the North Sea/the English Channel or vice versa, e.g. via Skaw or via the Kiel Canal.

3. For routes via the North Sea to UK west-coast/Ireland (or vice versa), e.g. via Pentland or via the English Channel.

4. Northern Europe to Gibraltar (or vice versa), as well as for the whole Mediterranean.

Ice service

Ice situation in the northern part of The Gulf of Bothnia seen from a NOAA-satellite, resolution 1x1 km

The Swedish Ice Service at SMHI monitor daily the ice situation in the whole Baltic area during the ice season, normally 15th November-25th of May. Our information is based on reports from icebreakers, pilots, vessels, satellite information plus information from all other countries. We can provide you with the following service for any harbour, fairway or sea area in the Baltic area out to Skagerrak:

Ice charts	Produces daily during the whole ice season.	Example Ice Chart
Ice reports	Describes the ice situation in plain language.	Example Ice report
Fairway information	Describes the ice situation in coded form for all fairways and areas.
Ice forecasts	Contains both ice and weather forecasts 1-10 days ahead. On special request we can provide you with statistical outlooks up to 1 month and more datailed forecasts.

• Post, Fax or e-mail
• and from this season we can provide Ice charts and Ice reports on Internet.

Weather routing service for any ocean passage/area of the globe

When using our weather routing service you get the best available information about the expected general weather development 7-10 days ahead plus more detailed information of winds, waves and swell up to 5 days ahead for any voyage or area. We always recommend the most optimal route from our experience, but the best result will be achieved if we have a two-way dialogue with the master.

For areas affected by tropical cyclones or icebergs we will also provide you with information/forecast about this.

Individual monitoring - every day

The first route forecast/recommendation covers 7-10 days ahead of the voyage. En route the vessel gets a new updated forecast every day, if necessary with new recommendations. If the vessel doesn’t make any special weather observations, we need a daily position with winds, waves and swell and mean speed, plus if something special has occurred since the previous daily position.

Post voyage observation and analysis

On the conclusion of the voyage, all relevant data received from the vessel, will be compiled and plotted and sent to your office/vessel. This Post Voyage Observation Plot contains daily observation of winds waves and swell plus mean speed and sailed distance each day.

On special request, a more detailed analysis of the weather and sea description can be made. In this Post Voyage Analysis we also analyse if the most optimal route was chosen compared with possible alternative routes, as well as the vessels´ performance. The Post Voyage Analysis is not including in the prices of the routing service.

Our dominating ocean areas

The dominating ocean areas we today cover are:

1. The passages of the North Atlantic

2. The passages of the North Pacific

3. Other routes e.g.:

• South Africa-Australia/Indonesia

• Panama-New Zealand

• from the westcoast to the eastcoast of South America or vice versa (via Cape Horn or the Magellanes Strait).

Ordering a weather routing

When ordering a weather routing we need:

• Harbour or area of departure, destination, ETD and if possible ETA.
• Speed (mean and max), type of vessel, loaded or ballast, deck load.
• Intended and possible alternative routes.
• Communication facilities.

We update our Ice chart and Ice report daily during the ice season and they are available on Internet around 12 UTC every day. Follow this steps:

1. Order our Internet Ice service for the whole season by contacting us. Then you get an ID and password to get access to our products.
2. We provide our products in PDF-format and to read them you need to have an Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Go to Adobes homesite and catch the Acrobat Reader according their instructions by clicking on the following button:

3. Get our products: Icechart and icebulletin

If you have problems with loading the Acrobat Reader or viewing our products, please send us a mail.

To order our Ice service, chose a contact at the end of this page or fill in and send the following form:

Yes, I´m very interested in your Ice service on Internet:

Last edited: 1998-10-13

How to contact us

	E-mail	weatherrouting@smhi.se
	Fax	+46 11 17 41 03 or +46 11 17 23 68
	Phone	+46 11 17 01 02 or +46 11 495 85 35
	Telex	64470 smhi s
	Contact	Svante Andersson, manager
	E-mail	Svante.Andersson@smhi.se
	Phone	+46 11 495 80 00
	Contact	Lennart Cederberg, operation manager
	E-mail	Lennart.Cederberg@smhi.se
	Phone	+46 11 495 80 00
	Contact	Torbjörn Grafström, deputy operating manager
	E-mail	Torbjorn.Grafstrom@smhi.se
	Phone	+46 11 495 80 00

(We are available at our office every day between 07.30 and 16.30 local time, but we have an emergency back-up at home.)

© SMHI, 1998