Abstract: VTS(Vessel traffic services) operators in practical work usually assist ships to avoid grounding by virtue of subjective feeling and experience and the worldwide research on it mainly focuses on the grounding probability. This paper proposed a novel method of using genetic algorithm to search a new route and discussed its feasibility and validity. The fitness function conforms to the following requirements: short route length, less summed turning course, no grounding danger and being in the navigation channel. The results show that it costs less and it can accelerate the convergence of the population significantly to one solution. Only changing turning points number, the solutions are very approximate and meet the requirement of this design. The approach is effective and feasible.