By Brendan Martin
Head of Maritime Data
In maritime intelligence, satellite AIS often gets positioned as the ultimate tracking solution. While its global reach is invaluable, its true strength lies in complementing terrestrial and shipborne AIS, rather than replacing them. By integrating all three, we create a seamless, consistent, and highly accurate maritime intelligence network.
Filling the Gaps: The Role of Satellite AIS
Satellite AIS shines in areas where terrestrial and shipborne AIS fall short. Open oceans, remote shipping lanes, and sparsely travelled regions rely on satellite AIS to maintain visibility of vessel movements. This continuous coverage ensures that even vessels operating beyond the reach of coastal receivers or shipborne relays remain trackable.
Consistency Through a Combined Approach
While satellite AIS offers unmatched global reach, its data alone is less frequent and more susceptible to congestion in high-traffic areas. Terrestrial and shipborne AIS provide higher update rates and greater precision in busy regions, ensuring smoother operations for traders, regulators, and security analysts.
Satellite AIS as a Powerful Backup
The COACT data quality framework is our commitment to delivering high quality data through a foundation of Consistency, Origin, Accuracy, Completeness, and Timeliness. This emphasizes that the best results come from combining all AIS types. Satellite AIS serves as an essential fallback when terrestrial and shipborne signals are unavailable, maintaining visibility and mitigating blind spots.
The Future of Maritime Tracking
As more vessels transmit AIS data via satellite links, reliability and frequency will continue to improve. However, the best intelligence will always come from a blended approach—leveraging the strengths of terrestrial, shipborne, and satellite AIS together.
Satellite AIS isn’t the sole solution, but it plays a key role in delivering complete maritime intelligence. By integrating multiple data sources, Lloyd’s List Intelligence ensures unparalleled accuracy, consistency, and confidence in vessel tracking.
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