PortInsight.io › How It Works
How PortInsight works
PortInsight turns live AIS vessel positions into port congestion, wait-time and delay data for 7 major ports: Singapore, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Yokohama, Antwerp, Hamburg and Busan. Most of it is free with no signup; a free account adds vessel tracking, alerts and longer history.
1. Find any vessel by name or IMO
Free, no account
Start from the search bar at the top of the homepage. Type a vessel name or IMO number to see where it is, which port it is at, and its status on the live map.
- Matches vessels across all covered ports as you type
- Every tracked vessel also has its own page with recent port calls and measured time at anchorage
- Not in a covered port yet? Add it to your watchlist by name or IMO and it is picked up when it arrives
Paste the IMO number from a booking confirmation to jump straight to the right vessel.
2. Watch each port on a live map
Free, no account
Pick a port and see every vessel at berth, at anchor and approaching, positioned from live AIS data. The Port Status panel beside the map sums up congestion, completed wait times, berth occupancy and marine weather.
- Switch between 7 ports from the port selector
- Filter by vessel type and turn on overlays such as terminals and delay risk
- Congestion level is based on commercial vessels only (IMO, 100 m and longer), so tugs and service craft do not inflate it
- Wind, waves, visibility and a short forecast for the port
Click any vessel on the map for its speed, heading, draft, ETA and status.
3. Read the Port Status & Delay Outlook
Partly free
See how long vessels actually spend at anchorage and whether conditions are getting better or worse. Figures come from completed anchorage stays, not schedules.
- Median time at anchorage, broken down by vessel type
- Hourly arrival patterns and anchorage-time trends over time
- How anchorage times compare in bad weather versus calm conditions
- A written Port Intelligence Brief summarising current conditions
The last 24 hours are open to everyone; 7-day and 30-day history come with a free account.
4. Spot vessels at risk in Arrivals & Risk
Free, no account
Every vessel heading into or waiting at the port is classified by delay risk, so you can see which arrivals are on track and which need attention.
- Each vessel is marked Normal Flow, At Risk or Delayed
- An estimated delay and a confidence score for each prediction
- Vessels anchored for long periods or with stale positions are flagged automatically
Click a status card to filter the list to just the vessels at risk.
5. Track the vessels that matter to you
Free account
Keep the vessels carrying your cargo on a watchlist and follow their status, position and ETA in one place.
- Track up to 10 vessels on the free plan
- Add a vessel before it arrives by name or IMO; it switches to live tracking once it enters a covered port
- Create a shareable tracking link for any vessel, and email it straight to a client
Share tracking links with clients instead of answering "where is my ship?" by email.
6. Get alerted when a port turns
Free account
Choose the ports you care about and get notified when conditions change, instead of checking the map every day.
- Congestion surge: congestion rises to High or Severe
- Weather disruption: wind over 20 kn, waves over 2 m or visibility under 2 km
- Berth occupancy crosses 85%
- Wait-time spike: average wait more than 50% above the 7-day average
- Choose alert types per port and turn email notifications on or off
Set alerts for the ports your next shipments are heading to.
7. Put a number on the delay
Partly free
Turn waiting time into money before the invoice arrives, for a single shipment or for everything waiting at a port.
- The delay estimator works out demurrage, truck rescheduling and total delay cost for a shipment
- A live counter estimates the demurrage building up across all vessels at anchor in each port
- Demurrage forecast for the next 24 hours; 3-day and 7-day forecasts with a free account
Use the estimate to agree delay buffers with clients up front.
Where does the data come from?
Live AIS vessel positions
Positions come from public AIS transponder broadcasts, the same source port authorities use, matched against monitored port and anchorage zones in all 7 ports.
Time at anchorage from observed stays
The headline figure is median time at anchorage: measured from when a vessel anchored in a monitored anchorage until it left. It covers all anchorage time — waiting for a berth, for orders or for bunkers — so it is a different measure from the berth-queue figures published elsewhere and can read higher or lower than them. Bunkering anchorages and stays under an hour are excluded, stays that hit our 72-hour tracking limit are counted at 72 hours, and only commercial vessels count (IMO number, 100 m and longer).
Continuous freshness checks
Data refreshes continuously. Stale positions and low-confidence figures are flagged, so you can see what is current and what needs a second look.