The modern terms short-sea shipping (sometimes unhyphenated), marine highway and motorways of the sea, as well as the more historical terms coastal trade, coastal shipping, coasting trade and coastwise trade, all encompass the movement of cargo and passengers mainly by sea along a coast, without crossing an ocean.
Short-sea shipping (or a translation thereof) is the term used by the European Commission and commonly throughout the European Union. Many English-speaking countries have used the British terms coasting trade and coastwise trade.
