Have you ever wondered how vessels are tracked and monitored to ensure smooth sailing? The answer lies in vessel finder APIs, powerful tools that enable real-time vessel monitoring and navigation. In this article, we will delve into the importance of monitoring vessels with a ship-tracking API and shed light on why its ease of integration into apps and websites is crucial for seamless maritime operations.
Vessel tracking has become a critical aspect of maritime operations, ranging from fleet management to maritime safety and security. With the advent of technology, ship tracking APIs have revolutionized the way vessels are monitored on the high seas. By leveraging satellite technology, automatic identification system (AIS) data, and other sources, vessel finder APIs provide up-to-date information about a vessel’s location, speed, heading, and other relevant data.
Efficient fleet management is another critical aspect of maritime operations. Vessel finder APIs provide valuable insights into a vessel’s performance and operational metrics, such as fuel consumption, voyage history, and maintenance schedules. By leveraging this data, ship owners and operators can optimize vessel routes, schedule maintenance tasks, and improve overall fleet performance. This leads to reduced operational costs, increased efficiency, and enhanced profitability.
Integration of a ship tracking API into apps and websites is crucial for maximizing its benefits. With seamless integration, vessel monitoring becomes easily accessible to a wide range of stakeholders, including shipping companies, port authorities, maritime regulators, and even individual users. Ship tracking APIs can be integrated into various maritime applications, such as fleet management systems, voyage planning tools, and maritime situational awareness platforms, enabling users to monitor vessels on a map interface in real time.
With over a hundred thousand ships sailing the globe, it’s extremely important for any company within the maritime industry to not only keep tabs on their ships but also on the ones owned by the competition. Zyla’s Vessel Traffic Information API, which we soundly recommend, was created for this crucial job.
How Does This API Work?
Vessel Traffic Information API is a very powerful and versatile tool that has three main ways to be operated, each mode results in different types of output, which can in turn be used to satisfy different needs:
- GET VESSEL DATA BY IMO CODE: with this mode, you need a ship’s IMO code as input, and as output you’ll get information on the ship in question, such as its location, and general information about it, as its length, it’s maxed draught, the year it was launched, and more.
- GET CURRENT ROUTE BY IMO CODE: with this function, which also requires an IMO code, you’ll get information like the departure port and destination of a particular ship.
- GET POSITION: this function asks for a particular set of coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude, and as output, you’ll get a list of all the ships that happen to be in that area.
To give an example of how this API works, here’s the output for the second option, if one would want to check on the route followed by the ship Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (pictured above), the first of the Triple E-class of container ships. All you need is the ship’s IMO number, and the output is as follows:
{
"status": 200,
"success": true,
"message": "IMO Code 9619907 is valid",
"data": {
"departure_port": "Okpo Anch., Korea",
"departure_atd": "ATD: Apr 11, 07:32 UTC (4 days ago)",
"callsign": "OWIZ2",
"flag": "Denmark",
"length_beam": "399 / 60 m",
"imo_mmsi": "9619907 / 219018271",
"navigation_status": "At anchor",
"current_draught": "10.5 m",
"course_speed": " ",
"arrival_port": "KROKP<---->CNNPO",
"arrival_atd": "ETA: Apr 15, 05:30",
"latest_port_calls": [
{
"port_name": "Okpo Anch., Korea",
"arrival_utc": "2023-04-06T21:36:00.000000Z",
"departure_utc": "2023-04-11T07:32:00.000000Z",
"time_in_port": "4 days, 9 hours, 56 minutes"
},
{
"port_name": "Okpo Anch., Korea",
"arrival_utc": "2023-03-26T23:11:00.000000Z",
"departure_utc": "2023-04-01T04:53:00.000000Z",
"time_in_port": "5 days, 5 hours, 42 minutes"
},
{
"port_name": "Qingdao, China",
"arrival_utc": "2023-02-14T18:48:00.000000Z",
"departure_utc": "2023-02-15T13:28:00.000000Z",
"time_in_port": "18 hours, 40 minutes"
}
]
}
}
You can try out the full power of Vessel Traffic Information API for free by following these steps:
1- Go to Vessel Traffic Information API and simply click on the button “Try Free For 7-Days” to start using the API.
2- Employ the different API endpoints depending on what you are looking for.
3- Once you meet your needed endpoint, make the API call by pressing the button “run” and see the results on your screen.