Ship tracking is a way to find ships out at sea through AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver networks. The purpose of this is usually to track a ship’s condition and position for safety measures. Ship tracking can also maintain a general idea of a ship or vessel’s course in which they are traveling in. Sometimes ship tracking helps estimate the time of arrival for cruise ships. Departure and arrival times can change at any moment due to weather conditions, so ship tracking is used to stay updated. It is required that AIS is set aboard any international voyaging ships with gross tonnage of 300 or more tons, including any passenger ships regardless of its size. GT or gross tonnage is the ship’s volume for better understanding. The AIS system allows other nearby ships and AIS Base stations to exchange data and identify. This prevents any unauthorized ships from entered prohibited areas creating the safety for its passengers and others.
Ship tracking is used by a satellite that detects vessels with AIS fitted aboard. Similar to air traffic, by tracking ships it can prevent many vessel collisions and save lives. This requirement does not apply to smaller boats and is an entirely voluntary system that involves mounting a tracking satellite device to transmit the vessels conditions, such as its speed and movement along with many other features about the ship. All information from the vessels can be transmitted over great distances allowing better safety precautions and rescues. With this device applied to ships and boats it can be used to send distress signals and allow rescue operations to be handled in a timely manner. Ship tracking allows discoveries of new ships brought out to the sea as a way to keep note and provide an easier way to handle marine traffic.