Types of Notification

Creating Notifications will help you be aware of all the changes regarding your vessel. In this article, you will learn all types of notification that you can use in order to be on top of all the updates on your vessel and her voyage. 

Here are all the types of notifications available for you:

Standard Periodic Reports

This type of notification informs you on the exact positions of the vessels of your choice, or the vessels that your fleet(s) is(are) consisted of, in specific moments on a daily basis.

There are four available notifications of this type:

Midnight position: Get notified regarding the midnight position (00:00 UTC) of your selected assets, as recorded on MarineTraffic, the moment this info becomes available via AIS.

Noon position: Get notified regarding the position of your selected assets at noon (12:00 UTC), the moment this info becomes available via AIS.

This means that each day, you will receive two notifications per vessel for as long as you have both notifications active. The notification will contain the position (latitude, longitude) of the subject vessel at a certain time (UTC).

Inmarsat-C position received and Inmarsat-C Terminal Health check notification types available only for the vessel owners and through the subscription to the Fleet Management solution.

Port Related Events

Notifications of this type inform you on current or (possible) upcoming port calls. You can set the focal point to be certain vessels you are interested in, certain ports or a combination of both (apart from the "ETA" notification which is vessel/fleet-based only).

Such notifications are the following ones:

Arrival: Get notified whenever,

  • any vessel arrives at a selected port that interests you or
  • a vessel of your choice arrives at any port or
  • a certain vessel arrives at a certain port (combine vessel and port)

Departure: Same logic with the above-described notification, only for departures! Again, you can define the notifications to be vessel-based, port-based or both. 

ETA: This notification takes into account the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) as transmitted by the vessel's AIS system, as well as some other factors (expected route of the vessel, current speed), to calculate the ETA of any vessel to her destination port (as reported via AIS).

It is vessel or fleet-based. You can set this notification to inform you certain hours before the MarineTraffic-calculated ETA and keep notifying you every certain interval of minutes.

For example, you could set the notification to inform you 2 hours before the (calculated) ETA and keep informing you every 30 minutes. Based on the asset (specific vessel or fleet) of your choice, you will get the respective information when the subject vessel or any of the vessels that constitute the subject fleet approaches her destination port.

Note I: With the ETA notification, you may leave blank the second variable's field (Repeat every). This way, you will only get one notification with no repeats.

Docked: This notification will notify you when the selected vessel has docked at any given Port, Terminal or Berthing Area. 

Undocked: As opposed to the above, this will notify you when your selected vessel undocks at any given Port, Terminal or Berthing Area. 

Arrival Delay Risk: available only when combined Vessel and Ports options. 

 

Area Related Events

Activate Notifications of this type to get updates about vessels sailing in or out of certain areas of maritime interest (standard geographical areas, ECA Zones) or your own Custom Areas

Entered Area of Interest: Be notified the moment a vessel enters an area of interest. You can select standard, commonly-used areas or define your own Custom Areas. Whenever a vessel you monitor enters an area of your choice and gets picked-up by any of our AIS receivers, a corresponding notification will be generated. Thus, you will always be timely informed about the latest vessel movements!  

Left Area of Interest: Similar to the Entered Area notification with the exception that the notifications will be generated when the vessel leaves an area of interest. You can use both types in conjunction so that you will be aware regarding the actual timestamps the events (Enter/Exit) took place and enrich your reports with actionable information!

Custom Area -Crossed: Once again this type of notification can be applied to any area (standard or custom) and will keep you informed about the time a vessel you monitor has crossed an area of interest.  
Note I: the Crossed Area Notification can be very useful if you have created linear Custom Areas as you will get informed the moment a vessel crosses the line you have defined. 

ETA to Area: Select how many hours before you want to be notified about the Estimated Time of Arrival of the vessel to the Area of Interest. 

Crossed Strait/Passage: Activate this notification type to be informed when a vessel you monitor crosses any of the commonly-used straits or sea-passages of the world (view a list of the Straits/Passages used by the Notifications System). 

Vessel Movement Status Updates

This type of notification informs you the moment any of the vessels of your interest changes movement status. You are able to choose from the following:

Speed below minimum:Using this notification, you can get notified when a vessel's speed drops below the minimum speed threshold that you have defined. You will also receive a follow-up notification when the vessel's speed returns above the defined limit. This notification can be applied to any vessel/fleet/specific ship type/ship size or to any port/area (standard or custom) or to any combination of the above.

Speed above maximum: Enable this notification to be informed in near real-time when a vessel's speed exceeds the speed threshold that you have defined. Keep in mind, that a follow-up notification will also get generated when the vessel's speed drops again below the defined speed limit. This notification can be applied to any vessel/fleet/specific shiptype/shipsize or to any port/area (standard or custom) or to any combination of the above.

Stopped: Get notified when a vessel, that was previously moving, reports speed lower than 1 knot. This notification will remain inactive while the subject vessel is in a port or an anchorage.

Underway: Get notified when a vessel, that was previously stopped, reports speed higher than 3.5 knots. This notification will remain inactive while the subject vessel is in a port or an anchorage

Changed Course: Get notified when a vessel changes her course by certain degrees. Degrees is a parameterised variable which you can define according to your wish. For example, if you set the degrees to 60°, you will be informed in case the respective vessel changes her course by 60 degrees or more. Accepted values for the degrees variable are 30° to 180°.

Drifting: This notification updates you when our system detects that your selected vessel is drifting based on her transmitted speed and heading. 

Anchor Dragging: Be informed when asset of your interest has slowly moved by the defined distance after being stationary. 

Manoeuvering: Be informed when the vessel of your interest performs an operation during which a vessel enters or exits coastal waters of a country, crosses several ships on the way, and proceeds towards or departs from a berth or jetty of a port.

Vessel AIS-Data Updates

Every vessel that carries an AIS transponder is transmitting information. Parts of this information are automatically sent while other parts are manually set by the crew.These type of notifications will immediately inform you regarding any updates on the transmitted information made by the vessel's crew:

AIS Name Changed: Get notified in case the name of the subject vessel changes to another by the vessel's crew.

AIS Flag Changed: Get notified in case the vessel's flag has changed. There is no dedicated info on the vessel's flag on AIS transmissions. However, a change to a vessel's MMSI number (as reported via AIS) is a very strong indication that the subject vessel has changed flags.

AIS Destination Changed: Get notified when the destination input on AIS changes to another by the vessel's crew. 

AIS Draught Changed: Get notified when the subject vessel's draught changes by at least certain centimeters. Centimeters is a parameterized variable which you can define according to your wish. For example, if you set the draught change to 50cm you will receive a notification when the selected vessel reports draught that is different by at least 50cm compared to her previous one. The minimum accepted value is 10cm.

AIS ETA Changed: Receive notifications whenever the subject vessel's ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) changes by certain minutes. In this case, the user-defined variable is "minutes". For example, if you set the minutes to 60, you will receive a notification in case the vessel's crew that you are interested in, changes her ETA by 60 minutes or more. The minimum accepted value is 30 minutes.

AIS Status Changed: Every vessel transmits her navigational status via AIS. With this notification, you will be immediately informed about any such changes.

MarineTraffic AIS Network-Related Events

All incoming AIS information is taken into account in order to provide MarineTraffic users with the latest updates regarding vessel positions on the Live Map. However, a vessel can be out of range for various reasons - she sails on waters with insufficient terrestrial AIS coverage or mid-ocean where coastal AIS coverage is inadequate, for example.

The MarineTraffic System-related Events notifications let you know about such AIS-coverage occurrences the moment they happen. There are two available notifications of this type:

In Terrestrial Range: You get notified when your selected vessel re-appears within the range of MarineTraffic after having been out of range for more than 2 hours.

Out of Terrestrial Range: You get notified when MarineTraffic has no recorded data regarding your selected vessel's positions for more than 60 minutes. 

The information you will be getting will let you know about the precise time (UTC) that such AIS-coverage events took place.

In Global AIS Range: You will be notified when the vessel re-appears within the range of the Global AIS Network after being out-of-range for more than 3 hours. 

Out of Global AIS Range: Be informed if there are no positions received for more than 3 hours. 

Vessel-to-Vessel Proximity Events

This type of Notifications alerts you when any of your selected vessel is sailing close to other vessels (or vice versa). 

Tug Operation: This notification is triggered when the system detects that a tug has been attached or is close to your vessel of choice for a specific amount of time. 

Pilot Event: Be notified as soon as a pilot boat approaches your selected vessel for a short period of time. 

Bunkering: This notification provides updates when your selected vessel has started and ended bunkering. This is also triggered when a bunkering barge is besides your vessel of choice. 

Vessel to Vessel Proximity: Get notified whenever other vessels are sailing close to a vessel you are monitoring. The distance is calculated by taking into account the actual dimensions of the vessels involved. Thus, when the distance between the two vessels is less than the length of the longer one multiplied by 3 and, in any case, not more than 1000m, these vessels are considered to be sailing in close proximity.

Ship-to-ship Transfer: Get notified as soon as a Ship-to-ship transfer occurs and ends. This is detected when two commercial vessels stay side by side outside the port. 
Note I: You will receive this notification only if the distance between the two vessels remains within the above-mentioned limit for at least 4 minutes. This way, you will not be receiving multiple notifications for the same event.

This notification is inactive while the subject vessel is in a port or an anchorage.

Risk of Collision: Be notified when the vessel is close to another vessel which creates risk of collision. Both vessels must be moving at speed greater than 5 knots. 

Special Events

Notifications of this type can help you be informed timely when the vessels you are monitoring are involved in any of the following events:

Sailing in High Winds: Get notified when a vessel you monitor enters a windy area based on the available data about Wind Conditions. Wind speed is denoted in knots and is a parameterized variable. Thus, depending on your selection, you will be receiving notifications when a vessel enters an area where the wind speed is reported to be above the value that you have defined.

Note I: The Wind Data relies on weather forecasts that may be up to 24 hours old.

Vessel changed Time Zone: Activate this notification to be informed during long voyages where vessels change Time Zone. Each time the subject vessel will be moving to a new Time Zone, an automated Notification will be generated.

AIS non-detectable or Switched-OFF: Be aware when your selected vessel is not recording new positions even though she is sailing under an area covered by our Terrestrial AIS Network. This might mean that the transponder is OFF or the AIS transmission is weak. 

Frost Notification: Be informed when your selected vessel is in an area where the predicted air temperature is beyond a specified minimum value. 

You can set the temperature as your minimum in degrees celsius and the minimum number of hours. 

New Photo Uploaded: Get instantly notified when a photo, that is uploaded to the MarineTraffic Photo Gallery, depicts an asset (a vessel) in which you are interested. The information on the notification will let you access the new content in no time!