What vesseltracker.com does

vesseltracker.com GmbH is a Hamburg-based maritime intelligence platform founded in 2006 that provides global real-time and historical visibility into commercial vessel movements. The company operates a hybrid AIS (Automatic Identification System) infrastructure combining a proprietary network of terrestrial antennas with satellite-detected AIS feeds, processing approximately 500 million AIS messages per day to track over 170,000 vessels worldwide. Its ShipDB asset contains 600+ fields of structured data per vessel across characteristics, ownership, management, classification, engine, equipment, and build information, while a separate global port database covers 5,108 ports. The platform serves four customer segments — global traders and commodity analysts, vessel owners/managers/brokers, ports/terminals/agents, and a long tail of hobbyist ship spotters — through tiered subscription plans (Free, Coastal, Fleet, Satellite), a professional Cockpit UI, and enterprise Data Services delivered via LENS Direct (API, FTP, MS Excel plug-in, Amazon S3).

The business model is predominantly subscription-based recurring revenue, anchored by the tiered Online Accounts product and supplemented by enterprise Data Services for customized analytics and reporting. Distribution is hybrid: a self-serve website funnel targets SMBs and individuals, a direct sales team serves enterprise clients, and an AIS receiver partnership program recruits distributed antenna operators who receive free Coastal accounts in exchange for expanding network coverage. The community platform, which hosts 1M+ vessel and port images contributed by ship spotters, doubles as a user-engagement and content-generation asset.

vesseltracker.com has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wood Mackenzie since 2016, giving it access to a large natural resources intelligence client base and embedded cross-sell opportunities into energy and commodity trading desks. The company reports over 250,000 users globally and lists Christopher Grieve and Martin Leuschner as Managing Directors. Product cadence through 2023–2025 has emphasized incremental enhancements to Cockpit (Port Reports, nautical charts, descriptive pop-ups), analytics expansion into inland barge flows and AIS disruption tracking, and continuity of satellite AIS partnerships — indicating steady product investment rather than rapid scaling.

Name

vesseltracker.com

Legal name

vesseltracker.com GmbH

Website

https://vesseltracker.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Maritime Intelligence / Vessel Tracking Software

NAICS

Navigational Services to Shipping (488330), Support Activities for Water Transportation (4883)

SIC

Water Transportation (4400), Arrangement Of Transportation Of Freight & Cargo (4731)

akta.pro primary industry

Ocean Container Visibility (Vessel, Container, Demurrage/Detention) (TLAEADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marine Navigation Systems (ECDIS, Radar, GNSS, AIS) (IMAJAJAE), Maritime EDI / API Connectivity & Messaging Networks (TLAHAOAE), Marine Sensors, Instrumentation & IoT (Condition Monitoring) (IMAJAJAI)

Keywords

• Maritime intelligence
• Vessel tracking software
• AIS data services
• Ship database analytics
• Maritime data analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Subscription-based Online Accounts: Tiered subscription model with four main plans (Free, Coastal, Fleet, Satellite) targeting different customer segments from hobbyists to global traders and analysts. Paid tiers provide access to enhanced features, historical data, and professional tools. The Free tier serves as a lead-generation channel for upgrading to paid plans.
2. Professional Data Services: Customized real-time and historical data delivery, reports, and analytics services for enterprise clients requiring bespoke maritime data solutions for internal applications and reporting systems.
3. Cockpit Professional Platform: Ad-free professional vessel tracking solution offered as a premium product with advanced features for tracking vessels and monitoring global shipping patterns.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

vesseltracker.com provides real-time and historical AIS-based vessel tracking and maritime intelligence through a proprietary network combining terrestrial AIS antennas with satellite AIS detection. Its ShipDB holds 600+ data fields per vessel across 170,000+ ships, and the company delivers customized maritime data via tiered online subscriptions (Free, Coastal, Fleet, Satellite) and enterprise data services, including LENS Direct (API, FTP, Amazon S3, MS Excel plug-in).

Product overview

vesseltracker.com is a maritime intelligence platform offering a unified product architecture centered on real-time AIS vessel tracking. The core platform combines terrestrial and satellite AIS networks to track over 170,000 vessels globally. ShipDB provides the underlying vessel database with 600+ fields of detailed ship information. Vesseltracker Cockpit serves as the professional front-end tracking interface with advanced mapping and analytics features. Data Services and LENS Direct (comprising FTP, API, MS Excel plug-in, and Amazon S3 delivery options) enable customized data access for enterprise clients. The platform offers tiered Online Account subscriptions (Free, Coastal, Fleet, Satellite) serving different market segments from hobbyists to global traders. The Community Platform and AIS Antenna Partnership program expand coverage through user-generated content and distributed receiver networks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cockpit: Ad-free, fast professional vessel tracking solution for tracking specific vessels of interest or global shipping.
• ShipDB

Products and services

• vesseltracker.com Main Platform Online maritime intelligence platform providing real-time and historical AIS vessel tracking for shipping professionals, port operators, traders, and analysts globally.
• ShipDB Comprehensive vessel database with over 600 fields of information on more than 170,000 vessels, including capacity, dimensions, management, ownership, classification, engine, equipment, and build details, delivered in multiple formats through official industry partnerships.
• Vesseltracker Cockpit Ad-free, professional vessel tracking solution offering fast performance with map views (Google satellite, Google Earth, nautical charts) and piracy information overlays for tracking specific vessels or global shipping.
• Data Services / LENS Direct Customized real-time and historical maritime data delivery including AIS data, vessel details, voyage events, ports and terminals, weather/ETA, and maritime reports, delivered via FTP, MS Excel plug-in, API, Amazon S3, and other direct methods (LENS Direct).

Quantifiable outcome

• Track over 170,000 vessels on any given day, from anywhere in the world
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Wood MackenziecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016vesseltracker.com GmbH is a subsidiary of Wood Mackenzie, a trusted source of technical and commercial intelligence for the world's natural resources sectors. Founded in 1923, Wood Mackenzie provides data and insight spanning the entire energy value chain. This acquisition provides vesseltracker with enterprise credibility, cross-selling opportunities to Wood Mackenzie's energy sector client base, and access to broader resources for product development and market expansion.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• MarineTraffic: MarineTraffic is the largest crowdsourced AIS vessel-tracking platform, offering tiered subscriptions comparable to vesseltracker.com's Free/Coastal/Fleet/Satellite model, and a large ship-spotter community. It directly competes for the same hobbyist-to-enterprise customer segments with publicly listed pricing.
• Spire Maritime: Spire Maritime operates a satellite-based AIS data service and is the upstream satellite provider vesseltracker.com relies on for its space-based layer. Spire sells both raw AIS data feeds and analytical maritime products, directly overlapping with vesseltracker's data services.
• FleetMon: FleetMon offers AIS-based vessel tracking with a freemium subscription model and ship-spotter community, directly competing with vesseltracker.com across the same hobbyist-to-professional customer base.
• Kpler: Kpler provides trade-flow and commodity intelligence built on vessel-tracking data, serving the same global traders, analysts, and energy-sector clients that vesseltracker.com's Satellite tier targets. Kpler's analytics layer sits one tier above raw AIS, and it directly competes for commodity-intelligence budgets.
• VesselsValue: VesselsValue combines AIS vessel tracking with proprietary vessel-valuation and sale/purchase analytics. It competes with vesseltracker.com's Fleet tier for vessel owners, managers, brokers, and agents needing ownership, transaction, and fleet analytics.
• Pole Star Global: Pole Star Global provides fleet tracking, sanctions compliance, and dark-activity monitoring built on AIS and complementary data sources, overlapping with vesseltracker.com's enterprise data services for compliance and risk-management use cases.
• exactEarth: exactEarth (now part of Spire) operated a satellite AIS constellation and data services business that is a direct competitor to vesseltracker's satellite AIS offerings, particularly for enterprise customers buying historical and real-time AIS feeds.

Broad incumbents

• Lloyd's List Intelligence: Lloyd's List Intelligence is a long-established maritime intelligence provider offering vessel tracking, ownership data, and compliance tools to shipping and finance customers. It overlaps with vesseltracker.com's ShipDB and data services at the enterprise tier and competes for the same vessel-owners/managers buyer.
• S&P Global Commodity Insights (Platts): S&P Global Platts / Commodity Insights is a broad incumbent in commodity and maritime intelligence serving global traders and analysts — the same segment vesseltracker.com's Satellite tier targets — with deeper analyst-grade content and a much larger commercial footprint.

Others

• Wood Mackenzie: Wood Mackenzie is the parent company of vesseltracker.com and a leading natural resources / energy intelligence provider. While not a direct competitor, the relationship shapes vesseltracker.com's go-to-market via co-branding, cross-sell, and the LENS Direct data distribution channel.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vesseltracker
• Facebookfacebook.com/205005770798
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vesseltracker

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about vesseltracker.com