Live Ship Tracking and Maritime Traffic
Tengri is a live ship tracking service built on AIS, the maritime radio system vessels use to broadcast their identity and position. It shows cargo ships, tankers, passenger vessels, fishing fleets and naval traffic in real time, with MMSI and IMO identifiers, speed, course, navigational status and declared destination.
Tengri is currently tracking 21,462 vessels at sea.
What AIS tells you about a vessel
- Vessel name, MMSI and IMO number.
- Vessel class — cargo, tanker, passenger, tug, fishing, naval or pleasure craft.
- Live position, speed over ground and course over ground.
- Heading, which can differ from course when a ship is being set by current or wind.
- Navigational status: under way, at anchor, moored, restricted manoeuvrability, aground.
- Declared destination and flag state.
Why maritime traffic matters beyond shipping
Vessel movement is one of the most information-dense open sources available. Tanker behaviour around sanctioned ports, sudden AIS gaps in a strait, naval concentration near a disputed coastline, or a queue of bulk carriers waiting outside a grain terminal all say something before any of it is reported.
Because Tengri keeps aviation, conflict reporting and weather on the same map, maritime anomalies can be read against the events that might explain them rather than in isolation.
AIS gaps and what they mean
AIS is a safety system, not a surveillance system, and it can be switched off. A vessel that disappears from tracking has either moved out of receiver range, suffered an equipment fault, or deliberately gone dark. Deliberate gaps are common around sanctions enforcement and illegal fishing, which is precisely why the gap itself is a finding worth recording.
Coverage is strongest near coastlines where terrestrial receivers are dense, and thinner in mid-ocean where it depends on satellite reception.
Frequently asked questions
How can I track a ship in real time?
Open the Tengri map, enable the ships layer, and search by vessel name or MMSI number. The globe shows the vessel's live position, speed, course, navigational status and declared destination, updated as new AIS messages arrive.
What is AIS?
AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a maritime radio standard that requires most commercial vessels to continuously broadcast their identity, position, course and speed so nearby ships and coastal authorities can avoid collisions. Because these broadcasts are unencrypted and public, they can be received and mapped.
Why did a ship disappear from the map?
A vessel stops appearing when it moves beyond receiver coverage, its AIS transmitter fails, or the crew switches it off. Mid-ocean coverage relies on satellite reception and is thinner than coastal coverage. Deliberate AIS switch-offs are themselves a common signal in sanctions and illegal fishing analysis.
Can I see naval and military vessels?
Naval vessels appear when they transmit AIS, which many do in peacetime and in congested waters for collision avoidance. Warships routinely disable AIS during operations, so absence from the map should never be read as absence from the area.
Does ship tracking require a subscription?
Vessel tracking is included in the 3-day free trial and afterwards in the Personal plan at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. The free tier keeps the news panel, world map, market pulse and live cameras.
How accurate are vessel positions?
AIS positions are GPS-derived and typically accurate to within a few metres at the moment of transmission. The practical limit is update frequency rather than precision: a vessel in open ocean may report less often than one manoeuvring in a busy port.
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Live counters on this page were read from Tengri's feeds at .