Credit to: Nightman 1965 / Shutterstock.com Background The Turkish Straits are among the busiest waterways in the world. They have crucial importance for the international shipping industry especially for trades involving the Black Sea, Sea of Azov (Northeast of Crimean Peninsula), Marmara Sea, Aegean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The Bosphorus Strait is about 10 nautical miles in length and just 700 meters wide at the narrowest point. It has strong currents and sharp turns. The Dardanelles Strait is about 38 nautical miles long. The passage is generally straightforward, except for two significant turns, near the City of Canakkale where the Strait is narrowest. Please see diagram below showing the locations of the Straits. Regulatory background The Montreux Convention (1936) established the general principle of freedom of navigation through the Turkish Straits, for all merchant vessels, by day and night. The Turkish authorities had certain powers to control transit vessels, but pilotage and towage were specifically cited as remaining optional. Following a series of serious incidents in the Turkish Straits in 1994, Turkey proposed a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), which was adopted by IMO in 1995 to improve navigational safety. Turkey also introduced regulations for navigation in the Straits. These were updated by a revision in 1998 and 'New Instructions' in 2002 including, amongst other things, the suspension of all traffic in conditions of poor visibility, the implementation of one-way traffic during the transit of certain types of vessels and the restriction of large vessels carrying hazardous cargo to daylight-only transit. On 31 December 2003, Turkey implemented a Vessel Traffic Service within the Turkish Straits to further improve navigational safety. New regulations The authorities have imposed new changes with effect from 1 September 2018 on the rules governing traffic in the Turkish Straits after an incident in April 2018 involving the m/v "Vita Spirit" which