Tool

Live vessel tracking across Western Europe.

Explore live AIS vessel positions across Western Europe, with colour-coded ship types, speed, course, dimensions, navigation status, and recent tracks alongside UKCS offshore data.

Open the vessel tracker All tools

What it shows

Live and recently signal-lost AIS positions across 35–66°N and 15°W–15°E, covering the UKCS and surrounding Western European waters.
Sharp vector symbols coloured by broad vessel category, scaled where reported dimensions are available; stationary vessels are drawn as dots to reduce clutter.
Name, MMSI, IMO number, call sign, dimensions, navigational status, speed, course, and report age where those fields have been received.
Up to about an hour of recent trail for the selected vessel, plus an optional density view that is switched off by default.

Coverage area

North Sea and UK Continental ShelfOffshore energy, cargo, tanker, fishing, passenger, and support traffic around the UK and North Sea. English ChannelDense cross-Channel traffic and approaches to major UK and continental ports. Ireland and Atlantic approachesTraffic west of Britain and Ireland within the Western Europe feed boundary. Bay of Biscay and Iberian AtlanticVessels between northern Europe, Iberia, and Atlantic routes. Western MediterraneanThe northern part of the Western Mediterranean within the current coverage box.

Vessel types and particulars

AIS position reports do not always carry a vessel name, type, dimensions, call sign, or IMO number. Those particulars arrive in separate static messages and may be transmitted much less often than positions.

The tracker remembers the most complete particulars received for each MMSI and uses them to enrich later position reports. As the service observes more static messages, some vessels initially shown as “Other / unknown” can acquire a more specific category, name, and dimensions. Some transmitters may never provide every field.

Recent vessel trails

Select a vessel to see up to around an hour of its recent movement. Trails are drawn alongside offshore fields, wind farms, pipelines, cables, seabed data, and other atlas layers, making vessel activity easier to understand in its wider geographic context.

Position history is retained securely so longer-term vessel movements can support future research and retrospective analysis.

Source and coverage

Live vessel positions are provided by AISStream.io, a free real-time AIS data service built for maritime projects and applications. UKCS Data Atlas processes a regional Western Europe feed to present vessel movements alongside offshore infrastructure, energy, environmental, and seabed data.

AIS availability varies with vessel transmitters and receiver coverage, while static details such as name, type, and dimensions can arrive less frequently than position reports. The tracker remembers the most complete particulars received, so the information shown for a vessel can improve over time.

For situational context only—not for navigation, collision avoidance, emergency response, or operational decision-making. Always use official navigational systems and authoritative maritime services.