Welcome to my Solent Shipping Website which has been going in various forms since 2006. Here you find up to the minute Solent Shipping News and you will be able to see live ship positions in the Solent area on a map - not only this, you can see ships passing Ryde on a webcam and listen to radio communications too. Please take time to discover all the pages on this site to see what information is available. There are also pages on how to use some of the site facilities. To find out all the pages on the site, click on MAIN MENU on the navigation bar above and go from there. There is nothing so relaxing as watching the ships go by in the Solent which has most variety of ship types anywhere in the UK from small yachts to the largest cruise ships. It is unique in have major a commercial port, oil terminal, naval base and ferry port all within a few miles of each other. This site is a useful aid to watching the ships and provides the fastest updating ship positions anywhere on the web. Listed here is just some of the information that you can see on this site:
Please bear in mind this is purely a hobby site for shipping enthusiasts and I have no commercial connections or funding. Unlike many other sites I keep this site free of annoying adverts. Although I try very hard, I cannot guarantee the availability of the services on this site.
AIS is the acronym for the automatic identification system. It is a system where ships automatically broadcast their position, course and speed, together with other information about their name, call sign, dimensions, ship type, destination and ETA, on a pair of radio channels in the Maritime VHF band. The system is part of the Safety of Life at Sea system and is intended to assist in reducing collisions between ships. With suitable equipment, all the participating ships obtain a real-time radar-like display of the ships operating in their area. Better than radar, the AIS system provides name and call sign details of the target ships on the display which greatly facilitates voice communication between them. With suitable equipment, you can monitor these transmissions at home and keep track of shipping movements within VHF range.
It is a requirement for ships: 1) over 300 gross tonnage and upwards engaged on international voyages 2) cargo ships of over 500 gross tonnage and upwards not engaged on international voyages 3) all passenger ships Some VTS stations, coastguard stations and other commercial vessels such as pilot boats are also fitted with the system. What channels does AIS use? AIS uses two frequencies in the Marine VHF band: 161.975 and 162.025 MHz. (international marine channels 87 and 88). All ships use both frequencies and successive message transmissions are radiated on alternate channels. Professional AIS equipment monitors both channels simultaneously. This doubles the channel capacity and also combats interference. Monitoring a single channel with means that you only hear half of the transmissions. Since the transmissions are often made at intervals of only a few seconds, this does not significantly the effectiveness of a system using only one channel. Messages are transmitted at 9600 bits per second using GMSK modulation. Each message is typically only 30ms (1/30 second) long – scarcely more than a click.
vessel arrivals and departures and southampton cruise ships arrivals and departures and cruise ship schedule for the current year. Real-time ship locations and port arrivals departures. list of ships in the port of southampton. you can see ships in the solent plotted on a map in real time on a google map with interactive icons. both commercial, sailing vessels, and leisure craft are included. different areas can be selected including the solent, isle of wight, nab anchorage, st helens anchorage, saltmead anchorage, spithead, southampton and portsmouth. when ais is transmitted, naval vessels will also be shown. you can see a ship tracking map with an overlay of buoys in the solent area with live ais ship positions. the different types that can be seen in the solent and isle of wight area and from around the isle of wight coast and passing cowes and passing ryde are cruise ships, dredgers, cargo ships of all types geared and ungeared, bulk carriers (bulkers) cross solent ferries, cross channel ferries, tankers, coasters, shemical tankers and liquified gas carriers (LPG). tankers call at the esso/exxon mobil at fawley. this is the fawley marine terminal (FMT). handles all kinds of tankers including large crude oil tankers (VLCC), shuttle tankers from the north sea and oilfields in russia, chemical tankers, liquified petroleum gas tankers (LPG), and chemical tankers which load chemical products from the exxon mobil chemical works on southampton water. bunker tankers load at fawley to refuel the ships in southampton, portsmouth and ships in the solent anchorages. ais data such as speed, direction, imo number, lemgth, breadth (beam) and draft draught is shown in a popup window. ship positions in portmouth naval dockyard controlled by portmouth qhm (queens harbour master) including naval vessels and commercial, reefers and continental cross channel ferries. positions of brittany ferries arriving and departing portsmouth. qhm list of portsmouth arrivals and departures. tracking positions of hovertravel hovercraft arriving and departing southsea and ryde isle of wight hovercraft terminals. listen to live marine radio in the solent and isle of wight area. live streaming vhf marine radio and frequency list of maritime frequencies, ship radio channels. where can i watch and photograph ships in southampton portsmouth and the isle of wight. where can i see the solent shipping webcam and solent weathercam located at ryde on the isle of wight. webcams on the isle of wight. watching the ships go by you can get good views of ships at calshot and when they pass cowes and at the end of hythe pier. ship pictures of ships in the solent. you can see a list of dsc transmissions. live list of dsc calls in the solent. test dsc calls to solent coastguard. dsc is digital selective calling. solent shipping forum and message board. leave your comments about things going on in the shipping world and topcical news about shipping in the solent area. forum about shipping matters on the isle of wight and waters around the solent and spithead. where can i find information about shipping on the south coast, solent, southampton, portsmouth and other nearby ports. See the positions on the red funnel ferries plotted on a map. Where are the red funnel ferries? Where are the wightlink ferries? Where are the wight ryder ferries? Where are the fastcat ferries? Southampton to cowes ferry position tracking fishbourne to portsmouth wightlink car ferry positions. Wight ryder ferry tracker. Where are the redjets now. Red jet live positions on a map.
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