Marinetraffic – all ship traffic worldwide in real time

Due to European laws, we are no longer allowed to offer map services for the representation of ship positions. We are sorry that we can no longer provide this service.
Marinetraffic is a service that displays all ship traffic worldwide in real time . For example, cruiseships or container ships, and course, speed, destination and many get more information. Marinetraffic uses an AIS network and processes the ship signals retrieved to display them in the form of a map. AIS stands for Automatic Identification System Automatic Identification System and uses state-of-the-art technologies to accurately locate and track ships or boats. With the help of Marinetraffic you can search for ships and track their position or get detailed information.

Marinetraffic use cases

What can Marinetraffic be used for? Now the use cases are very diverse. Some just use the service curiosity to see how many ships are on the move worldwide; or to check if everything is fine on the cruise of relatives; whether the cruise is on schedule to see if a ship enters the harbor on time to track whether the delivery of goods from China arrives on time and and and. There are certainly a variety of other applications.

Marinetraffic Features

Maritime traffic is the service with the greatest possible range of functions when it comes to tracking or analyzing vessel traffic. In addition to the global display of different types of ships , each boat can be accessed by mouse click with detailed information such as name, country of origin, draft, speed, course, status, exact position and much more , In addition, you can view all available images or image galleries for each ship. Users can upload more pictures of ships themselves here. The data is transmitted via the AIS. Here is a list of the transferred ship and travel data:
  • Static vessel data such as name, call sign and ship type
  • IMO number (consists of the abbreviation “IMO” and a seven-digit numerical sequence, eg “IMO 5245434”, similar to the chassis number of a passenger car)
  • ENI number (European Number of Identification)
  • MMSI number (Maritime Mobile Service Identity = nine-digit, future ten-digit, worldwide valid number of the mobile maritime service for unique identification)
  • Dynamic vessel data for navigation status
  • exact dimensions of the vessel (measured from the GPS antenna)
  • Ship position (LAT, LON) + time of last measurement of position
  • course and speed
  • course change rate
  • Loading status + cargo class of cargo
  • draft + maximum altitude above water

Marinetraffic Radarmap

On the map you can immediately see how many ships are currently recorded at Marinetraffic and how many of them are in the just indicated region. The map is updated regularly, but can also be reloaded manually. At the bottom left, the size ratio is displayed according to the grade selected zoom factor. Click on the magnifying glass icon to open a search where ships can be located by name or ship number. In addition, certain ports or areas can also be accessed. The filter function allows to filter the displayed ships according to the type of ship, eg to display only cruise ships. If that’s not enough, you can also switch the map mode to a standard map, a simplified map view or a satellite map. You can also see the wind direction, as well as the location of ports, lighthouses or special stations.

Marinetraffic Schiffsarten unterscheiden

MarinetrafficThe many different types of ships are differentiated at Marinetraffic on the basis of the color on the map. These include e.g. Merchant ships, passenger ships, fishing boats or pleasure boats. In addition, a distinction is made as to whether a ship is currently on the move or has stopped or created. The latter are represented by a circle. The type of ship can also be seen in the details of a ship, where many more information can be displayed. Click on a ship on the map to open the detail window. The dimensions of a ship are considered in the representation on the map only for freighters. The filter can be used to selectively select and display individual types of vessels. Below is a list of all colors for each type of ship.
Ship type on the way stopped
merchantman Cargo Ship Cargo Ship
Tanker Tanker Tanker
Passenger Transportation Passenger Ship Passenger Ship
speedboat Speedboat Speedboat
Tractors Tug Tug
fishing boat Fishing Boat Fishing Boat
pleasure boat Recreational Boat Leisure Boat
unspecified ship unspecified ship unspecified ship
Navigation HelpNavigation HelpNavigation Help

Integrate marine traffic or use it mobile

Marinetraffic is offered free of charge and can be integrated on any website thanks to platform independence. The service is also available as a mobile app for iOS and Android. The links to the mobile versions can be found in the bottom right corner of the map.

Marinetraffic Alternatives

Maritime traffic is the most widely used, but not the only service for locating and tracking ships or boats. There are a few more services. One of the most used is Vesselfinder. The scope of functions is somewhat limited, but the presentation is very clear and intuitive. The other services are unfortunately not so easy to integrate into a website, as they are not completely platform independent.
» Vesselfinder
5/5 - (1 vote)

Leave a Reply