The Portcast platform allows you to track the ocean shipments that matter to you. You can also track the vessels that carry these shipments during the voyage that the shipment undertakes. But the Portcast platform also includes a feature that allows you to track vessels independently of whether they are carrying a shipment of interest.

How is the vessel tracking data collected and made available?

The vessel tracking data available in the Portcast platform is collected via the Automated Identification System (AIS) protocol. This is a security system that large vessels are required to include, which is transmitted between vessels to ensure security at sea.

It is an open protocol transmitted by radio signal, which can also be picked up by terrestrial stations (typically placed in coastal areas) and by satellites that contain payloads specifically developed to pick up AIS signals.

Portcast works with Terrestrial and Satellite AIS data providers to make this data available on the Portcast platform; the segment of vessels available includes containerships from all the major carriers.

How does the vessel tracking functionality work?

In order to access the vessel tracking functionality on the UI platform, Portcast users need to use the left navigation sidebar, and click “Tracking”, then “Vessel”. This will load the Tracked Vessels table view, which lists all the vessels actively or historically tracked via the platform:

Example of an Org’s tracked vessels, via the Tracked Vessels table view on the Portcast platform.

This table includes multiple columns with different vessel and voyage information:

• Vessel Name / IMO: The name of the vessel as transmitted in the AIS information, along with its International Maritime Organization (IMO) number identifier. This is a unique identifier that containerships, along with other large vessel types, are attributed to individually identify them.
• Target Port:* The port of destination of the vessel / voyage combination, as previously added by the Portcast Web App user, and as reported by the vessel’s AIS system. Includes the port name and UN/Locode.
• Target Port ETA:* The Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) at the destination port for the vessel / voyage combination, as previously added by the Portcast Web App user, and as reported by the vessel’s AIS system.
• Predicted Arrival:* The Predicted Estimated Time of Arrival at the destination port for the vessel / voyage combination, as previously added by the Portcast Web App user. This is a predictive value and typically differs from what is reported in the vessel’s AIS data.
• Predicted / Actual Arrival:* Difference between the predicted arrival and actual arrival for the vessel / voyage combination.
• Status:* The current status of the vessel’s voyage.
• Added On: The date and time at which the vessel was added to the Org’s account.
• Updated On: The date and time at which the last update for the vessel’s information was captured

*If the vessel has been added as “Perpetually Tracking”, these fields will not be empty on the table view (more on this later).