STRATEGIES ON HOW TO IDENTIFY

THE IDENTITY OF A SHIP

A thesis

Presented to the College Faculty of the

Mariners’ Polytechnic Colleges Foundation,Inc.

Baras, Canaman, Camarines Sur

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for

Basic Computer

Zamora, Shuichi Leo

Buena, John Rey N.

 CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

As a future seafarer we must know on how to identify a

ship by using the latest technologies that we might

encounter in the future by being a successful seafarer

someday. So we must encounter on how to identify a ship.

Every seafarer must know on how to use the proper equipment

on how to identify a ship.

According to the internet the satellite-based

Automatic Identification System (AIS) is great for locating

vessels, but it’s not fully reliable for identifying them.

AIS broadcasts coded messages that include information

about a vessel’s identity such as its name, ship type, size

and callsign. The messages also include a nine-

digit Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) that is

supposed to be unique to each vessel.

It’s a good system, but there’s lots of room for error

because each operator has to manually enter their MMSI code

along with all of the other identifying information. In

some cases, the codes are incomplete or arbitrary. We have

seen MMSI’s in which a vessel operator simply keys in

numbers in sequence such as 123456789. We also see MMSI’s

comprised of the first three numbers, which represent the

country of origin, followed by all zeros such as 412000000.

These appear to be intentional attempts to avoid

identification.That’s why we don’t rely on AIS messages

alone for identifying fishing vessels. Arbitrary or

incomplete MMSI codes leave us with little to go on, but

when an AIS broadcast includes a call sign or vessel name,

we can verify its identity by matching them with other

sources. Those generally include vessel registries from

their flagged country or the jurisdiction that may have

issued their fishing licenses vessel registries don’t

usually include MMSI numbers, but they often include other

important identifying details such as a vessel’s size,

gross tonnage, fishing gear, target species, and fishing

authorizations. We have to look through the registry to

find specific pieces of information we can match to the

information in the AIS signal. These identifiers include

the name of the vessel, call sign, flagship country, type

of vessel or International Maritime Organization number—

another number that is unique to each individual vessel.

The more pieces we can match between the AIS data and the

vessel registry, the more confidence we have that we’ve

correctly identified the vessel for a given track.

So far, we have confidently identified several

thousand fishing vessels by matching their broadcasts with

registries identifying the type of boat, the name of the

boat and the call sign. But there are tens of thousands of

vessels that consistently report fishing, meaning that

there are many that we can’t yet fully identify. Without

verification, we cannot yet say with confidence what type

of fishing they’re doing.

We are developing algorithms to automate this process

of matching vessel registry information with corresponding

fields in AIS messages. But there are challenges. Each

jurisdiction maintains its own registry, whether that’s a

specific country, or a group of countries within one

Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO). We are

working to obtain access to as many registries as possible,

although some have been out of date or poorly maintained

for years.

In some cases, even when a registry is up to date, it

may not contain enough information for a confident match.

That’s when our analysts head to the internet to do some

investigative work. A Google search of the vessel name or

the MMSI might bring up other ship monitoring sites that

contain photos or old AIS messages with more information.

Occasionally an article featuring a boat, or a photo posted

by the captain or one of the crew members provides valuable

clues about specific fishing gear or the kind of fish they

catch.That’s not always the case, of course. When there’s

just not enough information to confirm a vessel’s identity,

it goes on our list of unverified fishing vessels. Its

track still shows up on Global Fishing Watch for everyone

to see.Of the thousands of vessels we have yet to confirm,

we know the vast majority are doing the right thing. But

there will always be those who are trying intentionally to

avoid detection and identification because they’re engaged

in illegal activity. By broadcasting false or incomplete

AIS signals, they may shed doubt on their identity and

weaken any evidence that could be used against them.

Verifying a ship’s identity by matching their AIS

broadcasts to outside sources provides an additional

measure of confidence when a bad actor is caught.

Equally important to fisheries management and

conservation, our growing list of confirmed fishing vessels

will help to expand our understanding of how fishers from

different regions use the world’s oceans.

Statement of the problem

This study will determine the experiences and coping

strategies of a seafarer on how to identify the identity of

the ship and how to use the exact equipment to identify the

identity of the ship.

Significance of the study

This study aims to benefit the maritime students and

other sector of the society so that they will know the

strategies on how to identify the identity of a ship.

Assumptions of the study

The researchers assumed that in this study they will

find out the strategies on how to identify the identity of

a ship.
Scope and Delimitation

This study delimits on strategies on how to identify

the identity of a ship and appropriate used of equipments

to identify the identity of the ship.

Definition of terms

1.Algorithms

- a step by step method of solving a problem. It is

commonly used for data processing, calculation and other

related computer and mathematical operations.An algorithm

is also used to manipulate data in various ways, such as

inserting a new data item, searching for a particular item

or sorting an item.(source:

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/3739/algorithm

2.Automatic Identification System (AIS)

- is an automated, autonomous tracking system which is

extensively used in the maritime world for the exchange of

navigational information between AIS-equipped terminals.

Thanks to it, static and dynamic vessel information can be

electronically exchanged between AIS-receiving

stations (onboard, ashore or satellite).( SOURCE:

https://help.marinetraffic.com/hc/en-us/articles/204581828-

What-is-the-Automatic-Identification-System-AIS-)

3.Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI)

- are nine digit numbers used by maritime digital selective

calling (DSC), automatic identification systems (AIS) and

certain other equipment to uniquely identify a ship or a

coast radio

station(SOURCE:https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtmmsi

4.Vessel registry information

- This registration grants the ship physical and legal

protection of that flag/flag state which may be applied to

vital areas such as safety of cargo and life of those on

board the ship.

 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

There have been relatively few studies that have used

AIS data, and especially S-AIS data on a global level.

Using satellites to receive AIS data is still a relatively

new concept. The launch of the first Norwegian AIS

Satellite happened as recently as in 2010. However, there

have been two large, and thorough studies that have

demonstrated some of the potential of S-AIS data, which is

described into detail in the following sections. Other

relevant studies will be cited and discussed later in the

thesis, where it is appropriate.

Assessment of Shipping’s Efficiency Using Satellite AIS

Data

Smith et al. (2014) prepared a report as a part of the

World Shipping Efficiency Indices project funded by the

International Council on Clean Transportation called

’Assessment of Shipping’s Efficiency Using Satellite AIS

Data’. The objective of this report was to generate new

knowledge and insight on the subject of shipping’s

technical and operational energy efficiency. The report was

credited to be the first to use S-AIS data to analyse the

energy efficiency of the world’s shipping fleet. The study

combined global S-AIS data from 2011 with technical ship

data from sources like Clarksons World Fleet Register, and

the Second IMO Greenhouse Gas Study (Buhaug et al., 2009).

Amongst the key findings in this report was that the

average operating speeds in the world bulk fleet was

approximately 10-15% lower, while the average operating

speed for the container ship fleet was up to 25% lower than

the average speeds presented in the Second Greenhouse Gas

Study Buhaug et al. (2009) conducted with data from 2007.

This speed reduction was attributed to the use of ’slow

steaming’, which has become more widespread since

2007(SOURCE: A Study of Satellite AIS Data and the Global

Ship Traffic Through the Singapore Strait , Bjørn Egil

Asbjørnslett, IMT, JUNE 2015).

Geographical Message Distribution

The two satellites collecting AIS data have a much

higher passing frequency, and thus better coverage, in the

far north and south. This is shown by plotting the average

number of AIS messages received per ship, for each degree

latitude and longitude. This is done by simply counting the

number of messages, and the number of ships for each degree

latitude, then plotting the number of total messages

divided by the number of ships. As we can see in Figure

3.8a, there is an extremely high density at -64 degrees

latitude. Upon investigation, there were only two vessels

in this area, where one was the source of the bulk of the

messages. This was the research and survey vessel RV

Laurence M.Gould. This is an icebreaker used for research

in the Southern Ocean by the United States National Science

Foundation. The vessel had a high activity inside an area

with few other ships as well as a high satellite passing

rate, which explains the extremely high density. In Figure

3.8b the messages from the research vessel is omitted. A

pattern of increased density over the southern and northern

most areas comes clear. This is as expected, as the passing

rate of the satellites is higher over these areas. Another

factor that can explain the higher density of messages is

that the signal from AIS messages can be suppressed when

there are a large number of vessels inside the same area.

Erroneous S-AIS Data

1.Erroneous IMO Numbers

To assert the validity of the IMO numbers in the S-AIS

data the checksum verification described in Section 2.1.3

was performed on all IMO numbers. The code for this can be

seen in Appendix F. It was assumed that all ships not

required to have an IMO number will report a blank instead

of an erroneous IMO number. Of the total 34,894 IMO

numbers, 1,183 IMO numbers were erroneous. Note that only

static messages contain the IMO number, so the total number

of distinct IMO numbers does not reflect the total number

of vessels present in the S-AIS data.

2.Erroneous MMSI

Since the data period was from a single year, it was

assumed that the number of ships that changed owners is

negligible. This means that each ship should have only one

MMSI number and correspondingly that each MMSI should

belong to one, and only one ship. Verifying this can be

done by matching the MMSI with the ships IMO number. Any

MMSI with several different IMO numbers attached to it is

not valid. There was 385 different MMSI numbers which

belonged to two or more distinct ships, signified by

different IMO numbers. Since the IMO number only can be

found in the static messages, this method only applies for

the ships with static messages.

3. Erroneous Ship Dimensions

There was a total of 42 distinct ships that had a ship

length above 460 m, which is more than the length of the

longest ship ever built, Seawise Giant. This is not that

probable, and the length could either be manually

corrected, or the vessels could be excluded from the

database. Since these 42 ships constituted such a small

part of the total number of ships, the latter was chosen.

There was a total of 4,304 ships where the length or

breadth was reported as 0 in one or more AIS messages.

1,062 of these ships had reported lengths and breadths

longer than 0 in at least one AIS message. Only the static

messages where the length or breadth was set to 0 was

deleted. This means that the ships with other length and

breadth data still could be included, while the remaining

3,242 ships was excluded from further studies.

 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSIONS

The researchers therefore concluded that There were

several thousand vessels with at least some erroneous data.

However, this constitutes a fairly low proportion of our

total number of ships, since there were 85,108 different

ships in the S-AIS data. Also, in the cases with erroneous

ship positions, only a share of the positions for each ship

is in fact erroneous, a large part of the information is

still valid. These data was removed from further analysis

by enforcing maximum and minimum longitude and latitude.

Ship Types in the S-AIS Data Static messages contain

information about the ship type, and this can be used to

show which ship types that are present in the S-AIS data.

There are static data for 55.3% of the ships in the

combined static and dynamic data. For the 47,089 ships in

the static messages, 46,202 ships had valid information

about their ship type, while the rest lacks this

information. The distribution between AIS ship types for

the remaining 46,202 ships .

Cargo ships

(AIS ship type 70-79) constitute the majority, while

tankers (AIS ship type 80-89) is the next largest ship

group. The category ”other ship types” comprises everything

from tugs, military vessels, diving vessels, sailing-boats,

pleasure crafts to semi-submersible rigs. Figure 3.1:

Distribution of ship types for 46,202 different ships. The

world cargo fleet, divided into vessel types, according to

Mantell et al. (2014), as 27. S-AIS Data is more refined.

If all oil tankers, LPG and LNG carriers from Table 2.5 is

combined, these represent 16.8% of the total world fleet.

In the S-AIS data, these ship types are labelled as

tankers, and represent 19.5% of the total number of ships.

According to Mantell et al. (2014), all cargo ships

represent 31% of the world fleet. All cargo ships from the

S-AIS data represent 46.8% of the total number of ships.

Since the ship type only can be found in the static AIS

messages, this distribution does not need to be

representative for all ships in the S-AIS data. However,

this indicates that tankers and cargo ships are slightly

higher represented in the static S-AIS messages compared to

Mantell et al. (2014). One reason for this can be that

tankers and cargo ships often are ocean going ships, where

the satellites reception is higher. Coastal vessels, such

as passenger ferries, tugs etc. can be under-represented in

the S-AIS data. Another explanation is that Mantell et al.

(2014) includes ships that are not obliged to emit AIS

data. 3.4.1 Cargo Ships There was a total of 19,740 cargo

ships with available length and breadth statistics. As can

be seen from Figure 3.2, the largest length category for

cargo ships is between 180 and 210 m, with about 4,750

ships. Figure 3.3 shows that just shy of 7,000 ships had a

breadth between 30 and 35 m, making this the largest

category. These were most probably Panamax vessels. The

relation between the length and breadth of all cargo ships

in the S-AIS data can be seen in the length and breadth

scatter plot shown in Figure 3.4. This is particularly

interesting, since it appears that most of these ships fall

into a fairly distinct pattern. This could be used to

validate the data, as a high deviation from a regression

line could point to erroneous data. The high amount of

ships with a breadth between 30 and 35 m is also visible in

this scatter plot.

Tankers

There was a total of 7849 tankers with available

information on length and breadth. As can be seen from

Figure 3.5, the most common length was between 180 and 210

m, with just under 1500 vessels. The length category

between 90 and 120 m is also fairly common. As with the

cargo vessels, the most common breadth for tankers was

between 30 and 35 m.

One of the aims of this thesis was to investigate

whether Satellite AIS data was a reliable source of

information. Analyses showed that these data can be

erroneous. Ship dimensions, ship ID (IMO and MMSI numbers),

geographical positions and especially speed recordings were

erroneous in some data. This means that when working with

AIS data, one have to be cautious. Sorting out these

erroneous data is a fairly easy process. This should be

done before any analyses on the basis of Satellite AIS data

are to be carried out, or else the erroneous data has to be

taken into account when the results are interpreted.

Satellite AIS data is collected by satellites that have a

certain passing rate and a certain detection probability.

This means that some geographical positions can be

overrepresented in the global data. This should also be put

into consideration before any studies using AIS data are

conducted. To show the potential use of S-AIS data,

heuristics were developed. These heuristics identified the

specific ship type of a vessel, based on the information in

the S-AIS data. This makes it possible to do refined

studies, where specific ship type is a factor, without

having access to vessel databases. This is especially

helpful when working with a larger number of vessels. The

heuristics showed a high accuracy, and covered a fairly

large proportion of the world fleet. These heuristics is

unprecedented in literature, and may be a very important

finding.(source:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/66b5/7eba4409931abd46f3ce688e17ede228c385.pdf)

Types of ship identifiers include:

 Code letters – an identifier for a ship that is displayed

on vessels by ICS flags representing the letters of the

alphabet and numbers 0–9, eg. the flags (from top

to bottom) represented the identifier "USMW"

 Hull number or Hull Identification Number (HIN) – a

number used as an identifier for civilian and naval

vessels, national/regional subtypes include:

 o Craft Identification Number – a permanent unique

fourteen-digit alphanumeric identifier issued to all

marine vessels in Europe

o ENI number (European Number of

Identification or European Vessel Identification

Number) – a unique, eight-digit identifier for ships

capable of navigating on inland European waters that

is attached to a hull for its entire lifetime,

independent of the vessel's current name or flag

o Naval Registry Identification Number – United States

until 1920s, replaced by hull classification symbol

system

 IMO number – a unique identifier issued by the

International Maritime Organization (IMO) for ships

 Maritime call sign – an identifier used during radio

transmissions, used mainly during verbal transmissions

and sometimes incorporating a vessel's MMSI

 Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) – a unique, nine-

digit identifier used over radio frequencies to identify

a vessel, used mainly for automated, non-verbal

transmissions

 Official number – a ship identifier number assigned to

merchant ships by their country of registration, this

system has been superseded by the IMO number system

 Ship name – a proper noun chosen at the shipowner's

discretion; may change several times during the vessel's

lifetime

o Ship class – a common name for a group of ships with

similar design, usually named for the first vessel of

the class, e.g. "Nimitz-class aircraft carrier"

 Ship prefix – a combination of letters, usually

abbreviations, used in front of the name or hull number

of a civilian or naval ship, e.g. "HMS", "MV", "RV",

"SS", or "USS"; naval prefix systems include:

o Hull classification symbol (List of U.S. hull

classifications) – United States since 1920s, replaced

the Naval Registry Identification Number system

o Hull classification symbol (Canada)

o Pennant number – United Kingdom and Commonwealth

countries

RECOMMENDATIONS

The researchers therefore recommend that AIS can be

used to identify the identity of a ship through these ship

identifiers stated above.however, we should not rely to

only one equipment, because sometimes it also provide us

erroneous information.