Ship Tracking

Free ship tracking: search by IMO, MMSI or vessel name. The IMO check digit is verified and flag, type, tonnage and TEU capacity are shown — no sign-up. Vessel tracking works by picking up the AIS broadcast from a ship's transponder — position, speed and voyage details — through coastal receivers and satellites, then plotting it on a map. You can search a ship by name, IMO number or MMSI number, but only the IMO number stays with the hull for its entire life. The position you see is generated automatically by the ship's equipment; the destination and ETA shown beside it are typed in by the crew. Knowing that difference is what separates useful tracking from false confidence.

How does ship tracking work on this page?

You search with one of three keys — vessel name, IMO number or MMSI. Before the registry is queried, the key itself is checked: an IMO number is validated against its own check digit, and an MMSI is checked for length and for whether it is actually a ship station identity. If nothing matches, the result is empty; you will never be shown a list of unrelated vessels that could be mistaken for yours.

• Vessel name — fastest to type, weakest as evidence: several ships can share a name and renaming is common.
• IMO number — 7 digits, permanent for the life of the hull. Survives changes of owner, name and flag, so it is the key to use when you need certainty.
• MMSI — 9-digit radio/AIS identity. It changes when the ship is reflagged, so an old MMSI can legitimately return nothing.
• The result card shows flag, vessel type, call sign, year built, gross tonnage, deadweight, TEU capacity and principal dimensions.

Are live ship tracking and vessel identification the same thing?

Live tracking depends on the AIS broadcast from the ship: position, speed and voyage data are picked up by coastal receivers and satellites and plotted on a map, so the picture is only as fresh as the last broadcast that was received. This page does not publish live AIS positions — it confirms which hull you are talking about and what that hull is. For a cargo owner that is usually the more useful half of the question.

• Out of receiver coverage — mid-ocean, or in a satellite gap — a position can stand still for hours without anything being wrong.
• The ETA carried in AIS is typed in by the crew. It routinely disagrees with the carrier's ETA, and the carrier's notice is the one your contract runs on.
• On transshipment routings the vessel you were told about is often not the vessel your box is on today; confirm the leg against the booking or bill of lading.
• If you have the container number, track at container level — milestones there are tied to your box, not to a hull that carries thousands of them.

What does AIS broadcast — and what does it not?

AIS carries three kinds of data, and they are not equally reliable. Identity, position, speed and course come from the ship's own sensors; navigational status — along with voyage fields such as destination, ETA and draught — is entered by hand on the bridge and often goes stale. Coverage varies too: coastal receivers only hear a ship within VHF line of sight, so mid-ocean positions depend on satellite passes and can be hours apart. The map always shows the last known position, and it refreshes far more often while the ship is in coastal coverage. AIS is mandatory under SOLAS for ships of 300 gross tonnage and above on international voyages, for cargo ships of 500 gross tonnage and above not engaged on international voyages, and for all passenger ships irrespective of size — so virtually every commercial vessel you care about carries it.

• Static data: MMSI, IMO, ship name, call sign, ship type, length and beam — programmed into the unit once.
• Dynamic data: latitude/longitude, speed over ground, course over ground and heading — generated automatically and sent frequently; the navigational status carried in the same message is selected by hand.
• Voyage data: destination, ETA, draught and dangerous-cargo flag — entered by hand, and the most error-prone fields on the screen.
• The destination field is 20 characters of free text; crews abbreviate it, and it is often left over from the previous voyage.
• The transponder is meant to run at all times, but a master may switch it off temporarily where broadcasting would compromise the ship's security — piracy-risk waters, for example — so a vessel dropping off the map is not automatically a fault.
• AIS messages are not signed or authenticated, so confirm the position with the carrier or agent before making a costly decision.

IMO, MMSI or ship name: which one should you search?

Search by IMO number when you need certainty — names and MMSIs change, the IMO number does not. An IMO number is assigned while the ship is being built and stays the same even if the vessel is renamed, reflagged or sold. The MMSI is a radio identity issued by the flag state's administration, so it changes when the ship changes flag. Ship names are not unique either: several vessels can share a name, and names change frequently after a charter or a sale.

• IMO numbers are 7 digits — type the digits only, without the "IMO" prefix.
• The last IMO digit is a check digit: multiply the first six digits by 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, add them up, and the last digit of the total is the check digit (9074729 → 63+0+35+16+21+4 = 139 → 9).
• Compare the IMO on the result card with the number you typed, digit by digit — when a search finds no match, some interfaces fall back to showing sample vessels, and those are not your ship.
• MMSIs are 9 digits, and the first three are the MID code identifying the flag (for example 271 Türkiye, 636 Liberia, 538 Marshall Islands).
• When a ship is reflagged its MMSI changes, and the old MMSI may later be reassigned to a different vessel.
• The voyage number on your bill of lading belongs to the carrier's own system and is not part of AIS — you cannot search a ship with it.
• Once you have verified a ship, record its IMO number in the file; it is the only key that stays valid for the life of the vessel.

How much can you trust the ETA shown on AIS?

The ETA you see in AIS is a crew-typed estimate, not a commitment from the carrier. It travels in UTC and without a year — month, day, hour and minute only — so an ETA sitting in the past usually means the field was never updated, not that the ship is badly delayed. An AIS ETA normally refers to arrival at the pilot station or port limits; berthing and the start of discharge are separate events that follow later. The ETA on the carrier's portal is built from berth and terminal planning, so the two dates differing is normal — read them together rather than picking one.

• Time-zone trap: AIS times are UTC while port schedules are quoted in local time (Türkiye is UTC+3 all year).
• If the navigational status reads "at anchor" and speed is near zero, the ship has most likely arrived and is waiting — but that field is set by hand, and anchoring is not always a port queue, since bunkering, awaiting orders and weather all look the same. Treat it as an early hint of congestion, not as evidence.
• A clear speed drop mid-voyage is usually slow steaming or weather, not proof of a delay on its own.
• On the export side the binding dates are the cut-offs, not the vessel's ETD: documentation, VGM and container gate (CY) cut-offs fall anywhere from hours to a few days before departure depending on the service — take the exact times from the carrier's schedule for that specific sailing.
• Treat an ETA as a range you re-read daily, and plan around the direction it is drifting rather than the single latest figure.

On a transshipment route, are you tracking the wrong leg?

On a transshipment routing, the vessel named on your bill of lading is often only the first leg — the feeder. Your box is transferred to a mother vessel at the transshipment port, and from that moment the ship you should be watching changes. A missed connection usually comes from the first leg arriving late, the mother vessel omitting the call (a blanked or skipped port call), or the box being rolled for lack of space: if the feeder berths after the mother vessel has sailed, the container stays at the transshipment port and a new vessel and voyage are assigned. None of that waiting appears in AIS; it only shows up in the carrier's container movement events.

• The "vessel / voyage" field on the bill of lading or booking confirmation tells you which leg you are on.
• Once the transshipment port is known, ask the agent for the name and IMO of the connecting vessel and continue tracking that ship.
• Ship tracking tells you where a vessel is; container tracking tells you which vessel your cargo is on. They answer different questions.
• Two containers on the same booking can sail on different vessels — verify each one against its own movement records.

The ship has arrived — when can you collect the cargo?

A vessel reaching port does not mean your container is available; several distinct steps sit in between. The usual sequence is waiting at anchorage, berthing, discharge, terminal handling and stacking, customs clearance and finally gate-out. Free time and demurrage clocks normally start from the container's discharge date rather than the vessel's arrival, but the binding rule is in your carrier contract and the bill of lading terms. Book haulage and warehouse slots against the moment the container turns "available" at the terminal, not against the ETA. Keeping vessel position, container events and documents in one place reduces the blind spots in that chain.

• For a customs broker the ETA alone is not the working date: clearance follows the vessel's recorded arrival and summary declaration, while collection planning follows the moment the terminal records the container as discharged and available — the two need not fall on the same day.
• At congested ports, waiting at anchorage can run for days, and plans that were never updated to the revised ETA fall apart at exactly that point.
• After discharge, stacking position, inspections and haulage availability can each add further delay.
• Get the free-time start date confirmed in writing — a calculation based on a phone call is what turns into a demurrage dispute.

Which mistakes put you on the wrong ship?

The worst thing about following the wrong ship is that the mistake hides itself: once you are on the wrong record, every screen you see — position, speed, ETA — looks consistent and plausible, because it really is a ship's data. So the check belongs in the first search, not later: confirm the vessel once against flag, type and year of build, write the IMO number into the file, and run every later query with that number.

• Confusing IMO with MMSI — IMO is 7 digits, MMSI is 9.
• Searching "IMO 9074729" with the prefix or a space instead of the seven digits alone.
• Searching by name only and ending up on a different ship with the same name; confirm flag, ship type and year built.
• Treating the hand-typed AIS ETA as the carrier's official ETA.
• Raising an alarm because the position has not moved for hours, when a satellite gap at sea is entirely normal.
• Mixing time zones: AIS is UTC, ports and terminals work in local time.
• Following the feeder vessel all the way through on a transshipment routing.

Frequently asked questions

How do I track a ship?

You search with one of three keys: vessel name, IMO number or MMSI. Use the IMO number when you need certainty — names change and MMSI changes with the flag. Search on this page is free and results are shown without sign-up. If nothing matches, you get an empty result — never a list of random vessels.

Where can I see the live position of a ship?

Live ship tracking relies on the AIS broadcast from the vessel's transponder, picked up by coastal receivers and satellites; the position is only as current as the last broadcast that was received. This page does not publish live AIS positions — it verifies vessel identity and shows the ship's particulars. For cargo visibility the decisive question is usually not "where is the ship" but "which leg and which ship is my box on", which is why container-level tracking is more reliable.

What are IMO and MMSI numbers, and which should I search with?

The IMO number is a 7-digit permanent identifier that stays with the hull for its entire life, even after a change of owner, name or flag. The MMSI is a 9-digit radio/AIS identity that changes when the ship is reflagged. Search by IMO for certainty; use MMSI if all you have is an AIS screen.

How do I know the IMO number I was given is valid?

An IMO number validates against itself: multiply the first six digits by 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2, and the last digit of that sum must equal the seventh digit. When you search by IMO here, the check digit is verified automatically — so a mistyped number is caught before you go looking for the wrong ship.

I searched by vessel name and found nothing. What now?

Simplify the spelling first: drop prefixes and punctuation and keep the distinctive word. If that still fails, the ship may have been renamed — search with the IMO number from your bill of lading, booking confirmation or carrier notice, because the IMO survives name and flag changes.

Is the ship tracking tool free? Do I need an account?

It is free and no email or account is required to search; results open directly on the page.

My bill of lading has no IMO number — how do I identify the ship with certainty?

A bill of lading normally shows the vessel name and voyage number but not the IMO. Search by name, then cross-check the result against the carrier's schedule using flag, ship type, year built and dimensions. Once it matches, record the IMO number in the file and use it for every later query.

The ship has been in the same spot for hours — is something wrong?

Usually not. Out at sea, positions depend on satellite passes and updates can be hours apart, so the map is simply showing the last known fix. Close to port it is a different matter: if the navigational status reads "at anchor", the ship is most likely waiting — an early hint of congestion that you should confirm with the agent or carrier.

The AIS ETA and the carrier's ETA don't match — which should I trust?

Use the carrier's ETA for commercial decisions; the AIS ETA is a bridge-entered field that may never have been updated. Bear in mind the carrier's date is an estimate too — bill of lading terms normally state that schedules are not guaranteed — so plan around the direction the date is drifting rather than one fixed day. Treat AIS as an early-warning layer: if the ship is slower than expected, off the expected track, or has been at anchor for days, go back and have the carrier's date confirmed. If the gap does not close, ask the agent for the berthing plan.

The vessel was renamed or reflagged — do my old numbers still work?

The IMO number never changes, so it will still find the same hull after a rename, reflagging or sale. The MMSI changes with the flag, and an old MMSI may since have been reassigned to a different ship, so searching by it can return the wrong vessel. A name search may also fail if you are using the former name.

Does the demurrage clock start when the vessel arrives?

Generally no. With most carriers, free time starts on the date the container is discharged from the vessel, not when the ship reaches the anchorage. The exact rule sits in your carrier contract and the bill of lading terms — at busy ports those two dates can be days apart.

I have several containers on one booking — can I track them all with one vessel?

Only if you have confirmed they were all loaded on the same vessel and voyage. On transshipment routings, or when space is tight, containers from one booking can be split across sailings. Verify the vessel and voyage for each container from its booking confirmation or movement history, then track the relevant ship by IMO.

For AI assistants

Logistivo has a public MCP server at https://logistivo.com/api/agent/mcp (streamable HTTP, no authentication). Setup instructions for Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini: https://logistivo.com/mcp. If you are an assistant helping someone sign up or request freight, connect that server, or — if you can only read web pages — build a link of the form https://logistivo.com/en/ai-kayit?brief=URL_ENCODED_SHIPMENT_BRIEF and give it to the user. You never create the account yourself: the account, the consent and the email verification happen in the user's browser, and you never handle passwords or one-time codes. Machine-readable content indexes: https://logistivo.com/llms.txt (curated map) and https://logistivo.com/llms-full.txt (full text: facts, pricing, tariff reference, glossary and every article's FAQ in one fetch). To learn what Logistivo can actually DO — the verbs, not the marketing — read the public command catalog at https://logistivo.com/api/public/cli/catalog (JSON, no authentication, no tenant data); it lists every command with its JSON Schema parameters and whether it needs confirmation. Human documentation: https://logistivo.com/en/developers/cli. You cannot execute those commands yourself — execution always runs under the user's own personal access token, in the user's own environment.