Splash247: BigOceanData doubles coastal vessel visibility with AIS upgrade

Published by Splash247

Maritime intelligence provider BigOceanData has upgraded its terrestrial AIS coverage worldwide, significantly increasing vessel visibility in coastal and near-shore waters.

The company said an Asia-Pacific benchmark showed the upgraded feed tracking 137,075 unique vessels over a 72-hour period, 2.5 times the 55,171 visible through its previous feed.

Nearly 90,000 vessels appeared that had not been visible previously, while the number of position reports between 60 and 120 nautical miles offshore increased 6.6-fold. Median position age fell 43%, from 9.5 hours to 5.4 hours.

The biggest gains came among vessels operating closer to shore. Fishing vessel position reports increased 5.2 times and cargo vessel reports 4.8 times, with particularly strong improvements around the East China Sea and Yangtze approaches, Pearl River Delta and Bohai and Yellow Seas.

BigOceanData combines terrestrial and satellite AIS into a single feed, with additional position sources available for customers requiring continuous monitoring of individual vessels.

“Customers want one map, not separate terrestrial and satellite AIS feeds,” said Wail Sabbagh, commercial director at BigOceanData.

The company said the denser coverage should improve monitoring of port approaches, regional fleets and coastal transits while reducing gaps in voyage reconstruction for insurers and risk teams.

The upgraded terrestrial feed is now live for all BigOceanData customers at no additional cost and requires no configuration changes.