Support & FAQ

We aggregate live AIS broadcasts from a global mix of terrestrial receiver networks (AISStream.io and our own paid feeds). Every ship over a certain size legally broadcasts its identity and position by radio; we collect those broadcasts and surface them on the map.

Most ShipRadar coverage is terrestrial — receivers on the coast pick up vessels within ~40 nautical miles of land. Mid-Pacific, mid-Atlantic, and the Arctic require satellite AIS, which is a separate (and significantly more expensive) data source. We're working on adding satellite augmentation for the Pro tier.

Color encodes vessel category (cargo, tanker, passenger, fishing, etc.). Opacity encodes freshness: full-opacity icons broadcast in the last 30 minutes; semi-transparent icons are stale (between 30 minutes and 24 hours since last seen); ghosted icons (~12% opacity) are last-known positions from up to a week ago.

Live AIS messages typically reach the map within 1–5 seconds of broadcast. The "last update" indicator on each vessel detail panel shows the exact age. Container shipment status is cached for 12 hours per shipment to keep aggregator-API costs sane.

One credit tracks one unique container. Re-tracking the same container number within 30 days does not consume an additional credit — only the first lookup counts. Credits expire 12 months after purchase.

About 95% of global ocean freight by container volume — Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, COSCO, ZIM, HMM, Yang Ming, PIL, Wan Hai, OOCL, and ~80 smaller lines. Bookings with NVOCCs that ultimately ship through one of those carriers also resolve.

First, double-check the format. Container numbers are 4 letters + 7 digits (e.g., MSCU1234567); BLs vary by carrier. If the carrier hasn't yet released the shipment to the tracking feed, lookups will return empty until they do — typically within a few hours of booking. We don't consume a credit on empty results.

Open your account and click "Manage subscription". Cancellation is immediate at the end of your current billing period — you keep Pro features until the renewal date.

For unused container credits within 14 days of purchase, yes — email support@shipradar.io with your account email. Subscription refunds are pro-rated for unused time at our discretion.

Only for transactional messages — verification, password reset, billing receipts. We never sell or rent email addresses. Newsletter sign-ups are explicitly opt-in if/when we add one.

API access is a Pro-tier feature. After you upgrade, visit your API keys page and click "New key". Keys are shown once at creation — store the full secret somewhere safe; afterwards we only display the first 8 characters.

Our public REST surface covers vessel detail, vessel track history, vessel search, port detail, and worldwide snapshot. See the API docs for the full reference.

Anonymous traffic shares a generous bucket. Pro keys have per-key limits documented in the API reference and surfaced via x-ratelimit-* response headers. Need higher limits? Email us — we tune individual keys for legitimate high-volume use cases.

Email support@shipradar.io with the MMSI / IMO / container number and what you observed. We don't generate AIS or carrier data — most "wrong" positions are upstream issues we can flag back to the source — but please do report it; persistent issues sometimes have local fixes.

AIS broadcasts are unencrypted public radio, intended for safety and collision avoidance. Receiving and re-broadcasting them is standard practice across the industry. We comply with the data- use terms of any feed we license, and respect vessel-anonymisation requests from operators (e.g. military or warship traffic) where applicable.

Email support@shipradar.io. Include your account email and what you were trying to do — screenshots help. We aim to reply within one business day.