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MarineTraffic is the easiest starting point for most people who want to watch ships, ports and tanker routes. Its free map shows positions received by terrestrial AIS stations, while paid tiers add alerts, history, satellite tracking, ETAs, exports and larger watchlists. Choose VesselFinder when transparent personal or API pricing, tanker proximity events and a clearly defined satellite plan matter. Choose Kpler when the question is not merely “where is the ship?” but also “what cargo is it likely carrying, who controls it, where did it load or discharge, and does the voyage create compliance risk?”
The decisive issue is coverage. Terrestrial AIS works best near shore; satellite AIS extends tracking into open water. No service turns AIS into proof of a cargo transfer or sanctions violation, and vendor-reported latency or receiver counts are not independent accuracy tests. For an important workflow, compare a sample of the routes and vessels you actually follow before subscribing.
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What vessel-tracking software can and cannot tell you
Automatic Identification System (AIS) broadcasts a vessel’s identity and navigation data. Depending on the feed and product, you may see coordinates, course, speed, heading, draught, destination, navigation status, estimated time of arrival (ETA), vessel particulars and port calls. A map can therefore show where a tanker was reported, where it is heading and when it appears to enter or leave a port.
AIS is an observed signal, not a complete cargo manifest. A displayed arrival does not prove that a vessel loaded or discharged oil, and a proximity alert does not by itself prove a ship-to-ship transfer. Ships can stop transmitting, lose coverage, report incorrect identity or destination data, or appear in a different place because of signal and processing delays. Use port records, cargo intelligence and compliance data when a conclusion has financial, legal or safety consequences.
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Terrestrial versus satellite AIS
- Terrestrial AIS: Shore-based receivers collect signals within their radio range. Coverage is strongest along coasts, in ports and on busy approaches. MarineTraffic gives all users free access to positions recorded by its terrestrial receiving network.
- Satellite AIS: Satellites collect transmissions far from land and fill many ocean gaps. It is the practical requirement for following an offshore tanker between coastal reporting areas, but it can cost more and may have different update characteristics than terrestrial data.
- Roaming and blended feeds: Enterprise services can combine terrestrial, satellite and roaming sources so the interface switches between them as a vessel moves.
“Real time” should be read as near-real-time data, not a continuous live video feed. Update frequency varies with receiver availability, satellite collection, message traffic, processing and the ship’s own transmissions.
Best tools at a glance
| Tool | Best fit | Coverage and data | History and workflow | Commercial notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MarineTraffic | General tracking, port activity, watchlists and enterprise fleet or risk work | Free terrestrial positions; paid satellite options; enterprise terrestrial, satellite and roaming AIS | Consumer tiers offer short look-backs; enterprise pages describe five years of historical positions and events, alerts, exports and custom areas | Free account; Mobile Pro US$4.99/month, Basic US$10/month and Essential US$100/month displayed on the consumer plan page; Enterprise is sales-assisted |
| VesselFinder | Individuals and small teams needing tanker proximity events, explicit satellite coverage or an API | Basic terrestrial; Satellite combines terrestrial and satellite AIS for global and open-ocean coverage | Basic shows three-day history; Satellite lists 90-day history, up to 2,000 ships in My Fleet, port calls, terminal or berth arrivals and proximity events | Satellite displayed at US$139/month or US$1,399/year; API is separate and credit-based |
| Kpler | Commodity, cargo, chartering, sanctions, ownership and large-fleet intelligence | Kpler reports more than 13,000 AIS receivers, about 25 seconds between messages on average and about five seconds average data latency on its corporate AIS page | More than five years of historical vessel movements; live voyage, port-call, route, fleet, ownership, cargo and compliance layers | Professional platform, demo and sales route; public pages do not state a standard self-serve price |
MarineTraffic: the most approachable all-purpose choice
MarineTraffic is the strongest default for a reader who wants a readable map, a watchlist, port activity and a path from free coastal tracking to paid satellite coverage. Its free account lets you watch up to five vessels and view positions received from terrestrial AIS stations. That is enough for checking a ship near a coast or port, but not for dependable ocean-wide monitoring.
Consumer plans and what they add
| Plan | Published price | Useful additions |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Coastal terrestrial positions and watching up to five vessels |
| Mobile Pro | US$4.99/month | Displayed consumer upgrade; the plan page does not establish the same history, satellite or export limits as higher tiers |
| Basic | US$10/month | Change notifications, port activity, a three-day look-back and report or spreadsheet access |
| Essential | US$100/month | Open-ocean satellite tracking, up to 50 vessels, seven-day history, ETAs, live wind, exports and custom areas; the published description allows satellite tracking for one vessel |
Prices and limits are displayed plan values and can change. Check the current account page before paying, especially if you need more than one vessel tracked by satellite.
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MarineTraffic’s enterprise offering combines terrestrial, satellite and roaming AIS with ownership and operator data, port congestion, five years of historical port calls, unlimited vessel tracking and alerts, exports and custom areas. It also describes sanctions screening across more than 40 commodities, ownership and management risk profiling, AIS-spoofing and dark ship-to-ship-transfer detection, and historical port-call analysis. Those features are aimed at teams investigating fleets, counterparties, trade routes or compliance exposure rather than casual map use.
When MarineTraffic is the right pick
- You want to start free and add features gradually.
- Your work centers on ports, ETAs, congestion and a modest watchlist.
- You need consumer-facing alerts and spreadsheet or report exports.
- You may later require enterprise history, sanctions screening or risk analysis.
VesselFinder: clear satellite and API choices
VesselFinder is attractive when you want a defined personal satellite subscription, a large watchlist or an API that is priced separately from the map product. Its basic experience is terrestrial-focused. The Satellite plan combines terrestrial and satellite AIS and is designed for offshore and global tracking.
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Satellite subscription
The displayed Satellite price is US$139 for one month or US$1,399 for one year. The plan lists 90 days of past tracks, up to 2,000 ships in My Fleet, port calls, terminal and berth arrivals, map filters by gross tonnage (GT), deadweight tonnage (DWT), flag and vessel type, and tanker-involved proximity events. A proximity event can help identify ships that came close enough to investigate, but it is not evidence that cargo changed hands.
VesselFinder describes Premium as terrestrial-only, while Satellite is the option intended for offshore and global coverage. API access and historical-data services are separate commercial products, so a map subscription should not be assumed to include programmatic access.
API data and credits
The API exposes AIS coordinates, course, speed, draught, destination, reported and predicted ETA, voyage-departure data, vessel master data and port-call information. It uses one credit for a terrestrial AIS record and ten credits for a satellite record. Listed credit packs are:
| Credits | Displayed price | Validity |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | EUR330 | 12 months |
| 20,000 | EUR625 | 12 months |
| 50,000 | EUR1,470 | 12 months |
Because satellite records consume ten times as many credits as terrestrial records, estimate your polling volume before selecting a pack. A script that repeatedly requests offshore positions can exhaust credits much faster than a coastal-only workflow.
When VesselFinder is the right pick
- You need up to 2,000 watched ships rather than a small personal list.
- Tanker-involved proximity events are central to your investigation.
- You want explicit monthly and annual satellite prices.
- You are building software and need coordinates, voyage fields or port calls through a separate API.
Kpler: for cargo, ownership and trade context
Kpler is aimed at professional users who need to connect vessel movement with commodities and counterparties. Its vessel-intelligence product describes live position, speed, course, heading, ETA, navigation status, voyage origin and destination, route forecasts, historical positions, port-call history and fleets of up to 5,000 vessels.
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Published AIS scale
Kpler’s corporate AIS page reports more than 13,000 AIS receivers, an average message frequency of about 25 seconds, average data latency of about five seconds and more than five years of historical vessel movements. These are vendor-reported product figures, not an independent head-to-head accuracy benchmark. Actual visibility still depends on the vessel transmitting, receiver and satellite availability, geography and processing.
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Kpler adds cargo and trade intelligence, ownership and management records, sanctions and compliance screening, and satellite tracking for oil-inventory and liquefied-natural-gas monitoring. That makes it useful for questions such as:
- Which vessels are associated with a particular owner, operator or fleet?
- What trade flow is consistent with a voyage’s origin, destination and port calls?
- Does a route or counterparty require sanctions or compliance review?
- How have vessels moved over a period longer than a consumer tracker’s short look-back?
Public Kpler pages direct prospective users to a professional platform, demonstration or sales process rather than publishing a standard self-serve subscription price. For an individual who only wants to see a tanker icon on a map, this is likely more capability than necessary.
How to monitor an oil tanker step by step
- Identify the vessel precisely. Search by IMO number when available. Names can change, while an IMO number is intended to remain associated with the hull. Confirm the displayed flag, type, dimensions and call sign before adding the ship.
- Decide whether coastal AIS is enough. If the ship stays near a coast or port, a free terrestrial view may suffice. If it crosses an ocean, select a plan that explicitly includes satellite AIS.
- Add the vessel to a watchlist. Set the watchlist size around the number of ships you genuinely monitor. A plan that allows many names but only one satellite-tracked vessel may not fit a fleet workflow.
- Configure alerts conservatively. Start with position changes, port arrival or departure and destination changes. Add proximity or area alerts only where they answer a defined question; otherwise, high-volume notifications obscure meaningful events.
- Record the baseline. Note the current position, timestamp, course, speed, draught, destination and ETA. Save an export or API response when your workflow requires an auditable snapshot.
- Check the route history. Use the available look-back to identify departure, intermediate stops, anchorage time and arrival. A three-day or seven-day history may be insufficient for a long voyage; VesselFinder Satellite lists 90 days, while enterprise products can provide several years.
- Investigate port calls. Compare arrival and departure times with terminal or berth information where available. A port call establishes that the vessel reported an event at that place and time, not what quantity or grade of cargo changed.
- Corroborate consequential findings. For suspected ship-to-ship transfers, sanctions exposure or cargo attribution, combine AIS with ownership, cargo, port, registry and compliance layers rather than treating a single map event as proof.
Can you track a ship in the middle of the ocean?
Yes, but only if the service receives satellite AIS or another offshore data feed and the vessel is transmitting. A free terrestrial-only map normally loses the ship once it leaves receiver range. Satellite coverage can show a position offshore, but gaps remain possible because of transmission behavior, satellite collection schedules, congestion, interference, deliberate shutdowns or incorrect data.
MarineTraffic Essential advertises open-ocean satellite tracking, with one vessel allowed via satellite in the published description. VesselFinder Satellite explicitly combines terrestrial and satellite AIS. Kpler describes broad terrestrial and satellite coverage for professional users. Before subscribing, test the specific ocean basin and vessel class you care about; a provider’s overall coverage statement does not guarantee identical performance on every route.
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Which tool shows where a tanker loaded or discharged?
All three can help reconstruct a voyage through positions and port calls, but the strongest answer depends on the product layer. MarineTraffic provides port activity and, in enterprise offerings, five years of historical port calls and historical port-call analysis. VesselFinder Satellite lists port calls plus terminal and berth arrivals. Kpler adds cargo and trade intelligence to movement, port and ownership data.
Do not equate an AIS-derived port call with a confirmed loading or discharge. A tanker can anchor, bunker, conduct inspections, wait for a berth or experience a data artifact without transferring cargo. A defensible cargo conclusion should align the vessel’s reported draught and route with terminal events and an appropriate cargo or trade dataset.
How to compare plans before paying
- Offshore coverage: Is satellite AIS included, and how many vessels can use it simultaneously?
- History: Is the look-back three days, seven days, 90 days or multiple years?
- Watchlist size: Count both named vessels and the number receiving satellite updates.
- Alerts: Check whether position changes, port events, area entry and proximity events are included.
- Exports and API rights: A report download, spreadsheet export and API are different capabilities.
- Context layers: If you need ownership, sanctions or cargo intelligence, a position-only tracker may be insufficient.
- Cost model: Compare recurring subscriptions with credit consumption, especially when satellite records use more credits.
- Data retention: Confirm whether historical access continues after cancellation and whether exports are permitted for your use.
Common failure modes and fixes
The tanker disappears offshore
Most often, the account is showing terrestrial AIS only. Switch to a plan with satellite coverage and verify that the vessel is transmitting. If a satellite-enabled view still has a gap, record the last timestamp rather than drawing a straight-line path through missing data.
The map shows a strange jump
Check the timestamp, source type and vessel identity. A stale report, incorrect position, identity mismatch or receiver handoff can create an apparent jump. Compare consecutive reports and consult port-call history before treating it as a route change.
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Alerts arrive too frequently
Reduce the watchlist, widen meaningful movement thresholds or limit alerts to ports and defined areas. A notification for every routine position update is rarely useful for a human operator.
A “proximity” event is mistaken for a transfer
Use it as a lead, not a conclusion. Review duration, speed, heading, anchorage behavior, draught and any available port, cargo or compliance evidence. AIS alone does not establish that oil moved between vessels.
The history window is too short
Upgrade only after checking the exact period needed. MarineTraffic Basic lists three days, Essential seven days, VesselFinder Satellite 90 days and Kpler more than five years of historical vessel movements. Export important records while they are available if your work requires an audit trail.
Recommended choice by reader goal
| Your main question | Most suitable starting point | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Where is a tanker near a coast or port? | MarineTraffic free tier | Terrestrial positions and a watchlist of up to five vessels |
| Can I follow an ocean crossing? | MarineTraffic Essential or VesselFinder Satellite | Both publish satellite-enabled options; VesselFinder lists 90 days of history and MarineTraffic lists open-ocean tracking |
| Which ships came close to a tanker? | VesselFinder Satellite | Its published feature set includes tanker-involved proximity events |
| How do I pull AIS and port-call data into software? | VesselFinder API | Separate API exposes coordinates, navigation fields, voyage data, vessel details and port calls with published credit packs |
| What cargo, owner or sanctions risk is associated with a voyage? | Kpler | Combines AIS with cargo, trade, ownership and compliance intelligence |
| How can a business monitor fleets and port risk? | MarineTraffic Enterprise or Kpler | Both describe enterprise-scale history and risk or fleet layers; choose based on whether port operations or commodity intelligence is primary |
Bottom line for tanker monitoring
Start with MarineTraffic if you need a practical public tracker, port activity, alerts and a gradual upgrade path. Pick VesselFinder when its 90-day satellite history, 2,000-ship watchlist, proximity events or transparent API credits match your workflow. Move to Kpler when positions are only the first layer and you also need cargo flows, ownership, sanctions screening or fleet analytics.
Whichever service you choose, decide coverage and history before price. Use satellite AIS for offshore routes, preserve timestamps and exports for important observations, and treat every AIS-derived conclusion as evidence to corroborate rather than proof of loading, discharge or illicit activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need satellite AIS to track an oil tanker offshore?
Usually. Terrestrial AIS is strongest near coasts and ports; satellite AIS is needed for dependable visibility across open ocean, although transmission and coverage gaps can still occur.
What is the difference between MarineTraffic and VesselFinder?
MarineTraffic emphasizes broad tracking, port activity, alerts and an enterprise risk layer. VesselFinder offers a clearly defined Satellite plan with 90 days of history, up to 2,000 ships in My Fleet, tanker proximity events and a separate credit-based API.
Can AIS prove that a tanker loaded or discharged oil?
No. AIS positions and port calls can help reconstruct a voyage, but they do not prove cargo transfer. Confirm consequential conclusions with terminal, cargo, ownership and compliance information.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
