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As part of the global maritime safety system, many commercial ships are now required to broadcast their positions using AIS. A ship transmits “ dynamic” information at regular intervals of between 2 and 12 seconds depending on the vessel’s speed or 3 minutes if at anchor. The “dynamic” information includes information such;-
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MMSI number
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Navigational status, e.g. at anchor or underway
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Ground Speed, from 0 to 102 knots in steps of 0.1 knots
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Rate of turn, 0 to 720 degrees per minute
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Position ( GPS latitude and longitude)
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Heading and Course Over Ground
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Then every six minutes “ static” information is transmitted;-
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MMSI number
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Callsign
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Ship’s Name
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Type of ship, e.g. Tanker, Passenger, etc
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Width, Length, Draught
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Antenna location
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Estimated time of arrival (ETA)
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Voyage related information such as draught, cargo, destination, ETA and route plan is generally manually entered and updated by the bridge team.
If you go onto the next page you will see a map showing updated positions of ships carrying AIS.
This is just for fun but also it is very interesting as it gives you an indication as to how busy ports are and also for example you can see the number of ships using the English Channel at any one time.
If you go onto the next page you will see a map showing updated positions of ships carrying AIS.
This is just for fun but also it is very interesting as it gives you an indication as to how busy ports are and also for example you can see the number of ships using the English Channel at any one time.
