Wondering what kind of vessel you see on the horizon? A fishing boat, a luxury yacht, a neighbor’s sailboat, a cruise ship or perhaps a cargo ship carrying salt or citrus fruit from Spain to lands further north? If you are curious about what moves out there on the water, find a smartphone, tablet or PC and go to www.vesselfinder.com. On this site you can see exactly which ships sail in Spanish waters at any given time, what kind of vessels they are and possibly what type of cargo they bring with them. Make your walk along the beach even better!
The Spanish coast is busy. Just in the Strait of Gibraltar, something like 120,000 ships pass through every year. On average, that would be almost 330 vessels per day through the strait that separates the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean – impressive when you consider that at its narrowest it is only 7.7 nautical miles or approx. 14.3 km between Africa and Europe. You can follow the shipping traffic along the entire Spanish coast completely free of charge through the Vesselfinder service.
At www.vesselfinder.com you will find not only information about merchant ships, but also fishing vessels, cruise ships, privately owned yachts and even the occasional military vessel and their movements. You can study a stretch of coast, a sea area or simply enter the name of the port you are in or want information about. A lot of information comes up, most often in real time, which can make the view even more exciting.
Should you happen to take a trip along the local harbor, Vesselfinder can show you a list and description of the vessels moored there and an overview of their movements. Many of the vessels are presented with photos and the dimensions of the ship. For commercial vessels, you can also find out a great deal about the ship’s history, including year of construction, maintenance and cargo.
Cartagena is a very busy port, and if you use vesselfinder.com, for example, when you walk along the piers there, you will learn a lot about business and trade in the region. In this port you will almost always find oil tankers, bulk carriers and container vessels registered in a number of different countries. Cartagena is also well visited by cruise ships, pleasure boats, research vessels and lifeboats. Here you may also find one of the Spanish Coast Guard’s surveillance ships.
Click on “Maps” to bring up maps that show overview images of ship traffic on a specific stretch. Vessels appear as small triangular arrows and their positions are continuously updated. If you are interested in finding out what kind of ship is passing, you can click on one of the arrows. A picture of and other information about the ship the arrow represents, then appears to the left of the map and you can study the ship’s dimensions, year of construction and which ports it passes between or has passed between in the past and which country it is registered in.
Vesselfinder follows the movements of about 370,000 ships worldwide. You will also find short presentations of approximately 4,000 ports – overviews that will give you an impression of the size and location of the ports, often with pictures of them. As mentioned, it is free to use vesselfinder.com.
Follow this link https://www.vesselfinder.com/ to find out what is moving off the coast of where you live.
Find Your Spain!
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