International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC)

The International Recommended Transit Corridor is the patrolled shipping lane through the Gulf of Aden, established in 2009 to concentrate merchant traffic into a defended channel against Somali piracy. It runs roughly between Yemen and the Horn of Africa with separate eastbound and westbound lanes, and group-transit and national-convoy schemes time vessels through together so naval escorts can cover them. It remains the standard routing advice for the Gulf of Aden even after the Indian Ocean HRA was lifted.