London: With around 5m monthly unique visitors AIS vessel traffic system Marine Traffic is now firmly positioned as a leader in its field.
Argyris Stasinakis, a partner in the firm, says this is down to its comprehensive coverage as well as its commitment to continually add new features.
“In our sector, differentiation is primarily about the level of reliable coverage an AIS platform can offer. Once that has been established, it is then down to the value-added and relevant services that are linked to that coverage,” he explains.
MarineTraffic operates more than1,700 AIS stations located in more than 140 countries across the world.
“We can confidently claim to deliver the most comprehensive AIS global coastal tracking facility available today,” he says, noting how the system regularly tracks more than 60,000 vessels simultaneously.
Through its partner Orbcomm, Marine Traffic also offers a satellite tracking facility for those vessels on ocean passages and out of range of coastal AIS stations. This allows vessels to be monitored in open ocean.
Aside from standard vessel positions, users of AIS platforms are continually seeking additional services. A popular feature of MarineTraffic is the vessel photograph database it has built up. Its users have contributed more than 1.5m vessel pictures which are available in a database and linked to individual vessel positions.
New initiatives this year include the forecasting of port ETAs from departure and position data – this is also available via its application programming interface (API). Another new feature that has attracted much attention is the facility to display traffic density. This allows users to view – online or on-demand – an indication of the individual usage of specified trade lanes.
In terms of coastal position information, Marine Traffic’s service is completely free of charge and will remain so. Beyond that, three main subscription packages are offered priced monthly at EUR15, EUR89 and EUR299. [03/06/14]
