Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

Water route running from the US-Mexican border at Brownsville, Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts to New York; length 4,800 km/2,983 mi. It is an important shipping route. The main cargoes transported are petroleum products and chemicals.

The depth on the western section is 3.65 m/12 ft; the eastern part is in places as shallow as 1.9 m/6 ft. The waterway is incomplete on the western side of Florida, where shipping has to take to the open sea, but elsewhere the route makes use of the sheltered waters of the bays and lagoons which lie behind the coastal sandbars.