Vessel and AIS tracking data

Vessel tracking data shows where ships are, where they have been and where they are heading, mostly derived from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) that ships broadcast. Commodity traders, freight and logistics teams, insurers, port operators, sanctions compliance teams and analysts use it to monitor fleets, voyages, port congestion and cargo flows.

Typical fields

• IMO and MMSI numbers, vessel name, flag and type
• Position, speed, course and timestamp
• Reported destination and estimated time of arrival
• Port calls with arrival and departure times
• Draught, which hints at load status
• Vessel particulars such as tonnage, owner and manager

Sources and collection

AIS messages are received by terrestrial stations along coasts and by satellites over open water. Providers merge both, clean spoofed or erroneous positions, detect port calls and voyages, and often add registry and ownership data. Satellite reception improves open-sea visibility but updates less often. Ships can switch AIS off, so gaps are themselves a signal for compliance teams.

Delivery and pricing

Vessel data is delivered as streaming APIs, historical archives, port-call datasets or dashboards. Price depends on terrestrial versus satellite coverage, update frequency, vessel types, history depth and API volume.

Before you buy

• Check satellite coverage and position update intervals in the areas you care about.
• Ask how port calls and voyages are detected and validated.
• Check how spoofing and AIS gaps are flagged.
• Confirm the sources of vessel ownership and management data.
• Ask for history depth and whether archives are priced separately.