Tank Tracker: Follow Vessels Live on MarineRadar
In this article 9 sections
Search “tank tracker” and you could land on a fuel-level sensor, a GPS unit for a tank trailer, or an armoured vehicle. This guide is about a fourth thing: the big ships built to haul liquids and gas, and how to see where one is right now.
MarineRadar puts those ships on a live map next to every other vessel it follows. Below you will find what the map shows, how to pick one tank vessel out of a crowd, and where the signal runs out.
Four things people mean by “tank tracker”
The phrase is crowded. Plant managers use it for dashboards that report how full a storage tank or silo is. Haulers use it for GPS devices on tank trailers. Defence readers use it for tracked combat vehicles. None of those belong on a chart of the sea.
The fourth meaning is the one MarineRadar covers: tank vessels, better known as tankers. Crude oil, refined fuel, chemicals and liquefied gas all cross oceans in ships that are mostly tanks and pipework. Any of them that carries AIS shows up on the live vessel map like any other ship.
If you want the oil-and-sanctions angle, our Tanker Tracker guide goes deep on reading a tanker’s status and telling a ship that went dark from a normal gap in data. This page is the app walkthrough.
What the map shows for a tank vessel
Tap a ship and its page fills with whatever the vessel itself broadcasts: name, IMO number, MMSI, type, position, speed, course, heading, destination and ETA. Draft, dimensions and gross tonnage sit there too. A tanker is no different from a ferry in that respect, so nothing needs to be switched on first.
The scale is large. MarineRadar follows 112,000+ vessels, and its tanker category listed 14,198 of them when we wrote this. Positions come from coastal receivers where they reach and from satellites where they do not, which is why update rates vary from one sea to the next.
Four families of tank vessel
“Tanker” covers more variety than the word suggests. Crude oil tankers carry unrefined oil and are sorted by size class: VLCC (200,000–320,000 DWT), Suezmax (120,000–200,000) and Aframax (80,000–120,000). Product tankers carry petrol, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha in coated tanks, usually from refining hubs to import-dependent regions. Chemical tankers carry acids, methanol, vegetable oils and solvents in stainless-steel or epoxy-coated tanks. Gas carriers move LNG, which travels at −162 °C, and LPG, which moves under pressure or refrigeration.
To AIS they are all one family. Type codes 80 to 89 cover tankers, so the map groups the lot under a single label. The second digit can flag a hazard class, though many ships never fill it in. Our explainer on AIS ship types walks through the full code table.
Follow one tank vessel, step by step
First, get an identifier. A name works. IMO numbers are steadier, because one stays with the hull for life. A nine-digit MMSI works too, and our MMSI lookup guide explains how to read one.
Second, search it. Type the name, IMO or MMSI into the search bar in the app, or on the web map.
Third, check the type. The result should read Tanker. Owners reuse names across sister ships, so a close match is not always the right ship.
Fourth, read the voyage line. Look at speed, course, destination and ETA. The destination is typed in by the crew, so treat it as a hint.
Fifth, save it. Add the ship to My Fleet and set vessel alerts for arrivals and departures, so the map comes to you.
Reading what a tank vessel is doing
A dot tells you where. A few fields tell you what is going on.
Draught: a loaded tanker sits deep and an empty one rides high, and the draught figure follows. For a very large crude carrier, MarineRadar’s tanker page puts it at about 22–23 metres loaded and about 8 metres in ballast. The crew updates the real figure by hand, so it can lag.
Status and speed: a tanker holding at anchor is often waiting for a berth or for orders, because terminal slots are tight. One making steady way is simply in transit.
ETA: it moves with speed, weather and port conditions, so a shifting number is normal. We cover the causes in our guide to why a vessel’s ETA changes.
When a tank vessel is not on the map
An empty search is rarely a bug, and ships disappearing from the map usually has a simple cause. The usual causes are a transponder switched off, a ship renamed after a sale (the IMO number survives, so search that), or a vessel too small or exempt to be required to broadcast. Far from shore, coverage depends on offshore satellite AIS, and updates arrive less often.
One limit never changes: AIS carries no cargo manifest. You can see that a ship is a tanker, never what is in its tanks.
Go past the live dot
Route history shows where the ship has been, not only where it is. The Weather Map lets you lay wind, rain and cloud over the track to see whether a slowdown has a weather explanation. Zone alerts and Live Activities give you a nudge when a ship enters or leaves an area you chose, without keeping the app open. Video export lets you record a vessel’s movement as a clip of 10 to 60 seconds and share it.
Free to start
MarineRadar is free to download on the App Store and Google Play, with optional in-app purchases, and it holds a 4.6 rating from 18,000 reviews. If you are weighing upgrades, our free versus subscription comparison lays out the difference
FAQs
Is there a free tank tracker app?
Yes. MarineRadar is free to download on iOS and Android, and you can search a tanker by name, IMO or MMSI without paying. Some extras sit behind optional in-app purchases.
Can a tank tracker show what a tanker is carrying?
No. AIS sends identity, position, speed, course and voyage details, but there is no field for cargo. The type code only says the hull is built to carry liquid or gas in bulk.
How do I show only tankers on the map?
Open Map options, turn on vessel labels and choose Type. Every ship then carries its category as text, so tankers stand out from cargo ships. You can also browse the tanker list on the vessel types page.
Are LNG and chemical tankers included?
Yes. Oil, chemical and gas carriers all use AIS type codes 80 to 89, so they appear in the same tanker category.
How often does a tank vessel’s position update?
It depends on coverage. Near a coast, land-based receivers pick up frequent reports. Far offshore, satellites fill the gap at a lower rate. MarineRadar says it receives satellite positions about every five minutes.
Track the ships behind the story
MarineRadar follows 112,000+ vessels with satellite positions every 5 minutes. Search by name, MMSI or IMO — free on iOS and Android.
