Maritime Overview
The Arabian Sea is located in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square km) and forming part of the principal sea route between Europe and India.
General Information:
Geography: The Arabian Sea has two important branches — the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, connecting with the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb; and the Gulf of Oman to the northwest, connecting with the Persian Gulf. There are also the gulfs of Khambhat and Kutch on the Indian Coast.
The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, Iran, India and the Maldives.
Transport: The Arabian Sea, with its strategic location vis-à-vis the Red Sea (including the Suez Canal) and the Persian Gulf, contains some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes; and the chief routes originate in those two extensions.
Persian Gulf shipping largely consists of large tankers that transit the Arabian Sea en route to destinations in East Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The Suez Canal–Red Sea route is used mainly by general-cargo vessels on their way to ports in South, Southeast, and East Asia. There are a number of ports serving the countries bordering the sea. Among the largest are Muhammad Bin Qasim and Karachi in Pakistan and Mumbai, Marmagao, Kandla, and Kochi in India.
Resources: Petroleum and natural-gas deposits have been discovered in the Arabian Sea on the continental shelf off the coast of India to the west and northwest of Mumbai (Bombay) and have been intensively exploited.
Other information: The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Oman that is completely depleted of oxygen, as a result of which it does not support marine life. It is the world’s largest-known dead zone with an area larger than that of Scotland.
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