Oil Tanker Tracking API - Cargo Flows, LNG, LPG, Fixtures

Pull crude oil, refined products, LNG and LPG tanker cargo movements, export and import flow time series, top origin and destination rankings, tanker fixtures and port, product, vessel and charterer reference data from the Vortexa REST API with your own API key, as one clean dataset row per record.

Vortexa tracks seaborne energy cargoes worldwide: which tanker loaded which crude grade or product where, where it is going, how much it carries, who chartered it, and whether it is sitting in floating storage. This actor wraps its read only search endpoints on api.vortexa.com, the same ones Vortexa's own Python SDK calls. Give a date range and filters such as origin, destination, product, vessel class or charterer and get deduplicated rows you can download as JSON, CSV or Excel, schedule, or feed into commodity trading models, freight desks, refinery and supply analytics, Google Sheets, BI dashboards and AI agents. Bring your own API key.

BYOK, not live-tested: every path, body field and enum comes from Vortexa's open source Python SDK (github.com/V0RT3X4/python-sdk, version 1.0.32), because the REST reference on docs.vortexa.com sits behind a login. The gateway was probed with an invalid key and answers 401 to every path before routing, so the probe could not confirm the routes themselves. The actor has not been run against a live Vortexa key.

What it does

• Cargo movements: every tanker cargo matching the filters, with cargo ID, status, quantity in barrels, tonnes and cubic metres, product group, category and grade, origin and destination country, port and terminal, loading and unloading times, ship to ship transfer and floating storage flags, vessel name, IMO, MMSI, class and deadweight, and charterer.
• Cargo movement by ID: single cargoes by long or short ID, in barrels, tonnes or cubic metres.
• Cargo flow time series: daily, weekly, DOE weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly totals of barrels, barrels per day, tonnes, tonnes per day or cargo counts, optionally split by origin, destination, product, vessel class, flag, storage location, shipper or consignee.
• Origin and destination breakdowns: the top exporting or importing countries, ports, terminals or shipping regions for the filters, ranked by volume or flow rate.
• Tanker fixtures: reported charter fixtures with vessel, fixing date, laycan, tonnes, route, product and charterer.
• Reference search: geographies (terminals, ports, countries, regions, waypoints, storage), products (crude, condensate, diesel, gasoline, naphtha, jet, fuel oil, LNG, LPG grades), vessels (IMO, MMSI, class, deadweight, capacity, flag, build year) and charterers, so you can find the IDs the flow modes filter on.
• Real filters: activity (loading, unloading, floating storage, in transit, oil on water, waypoints), 41 documented vessel classes from coastal tankers to VLCCs, VLGCs and Q-Max LNG carriers, waypoints such as canals, scrubber fitment and intra movement rules.
• Pay only for results: refused and empty lookups are recorded as a free row that says why, never charged.

Nothing is written to your Vortexa account.

How to get an API key

Vortexa issues API keys to its subscribers; there is no self serve sign up. The key is a UUID of the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx, and the authentication page on docs.vortexa.com explains where to find it once you have access. Paste it into the API key field, or set the DATA_API_KEY secret. The key is sent only to api.vortexa.com, in the apikey parameter exactly as the official SDK sends it, and is removed from everything the actor logs. A key that is not a UUID ends the run before any request, as the SDK does.

Input

Field	Modes	Description
mode	all	cargoMovements (default), cargoMovementById, timeSeries, originBreakdown, destinationBreakdown, fixtures, geographies, products, vessels or charterers
dateFrom, dateTo	flow modes	UTC dates or date-times; empty means the last 7 days
activity	cargo movements, time series, breakdowns	loading_state (default), unloading_state, storing_state, transiting_state, oil_on_water_state, waypoint_start and more
originIds, destinationIds	flow modes	Vortexa geography IDs
productIds, vesselIds, chartererIds	flow modes	Vortexa product, vessel and charterer IDs
vesselClasses	flow modes, vessels	Documented classes such as oil_vlcc, oil_aframax_lr2, lpg_vlgc_vlec, lng
storageLocationIds, waypointIds, intraMovements	cargo movements, time series, breakdowns	Floating storage, waypoint and intra movement filters
vesselScrubbers	cargo movements, breakdowns, fixtures, vessels	disabled, inc or exc
quantityUnit	cargo movements, by ID	b, t, or cbm for by ID
cargoMovementIds	cargo movement by ID	Up to 200 IDs
timeseriesFrequency, timeseriesUnit, timeseriesSplit	time series	Bucket size, metric and split
breakdownGeography, breakdownUnit, breakdownSize	breakdowns	Grouping level, metric and top N
searchTerms	reference modes	Names or parts of names
referenceIds, productParentIds, geographyLayer, productLayer	reference modes	Exact IDs, children of a product, layer filters
maxResults	all	Row ceiling for the run (default 100)
requestsPerMinute	all	Pacing, default 30
apiKey	all	Your Vortexa API key (or the DATA_API_KEY secret)

Example: find the geography ID of Rotterdam.

{
    "mode": "geographies",
    "searchTerms": ["Rotterdam"],
    "geographyLayer": "port"
}

Example: monthly crude exports in barrels per day from one origin, split by destination country.

{
    "mode": "timeSeries",
    "dateFrom": "2026-01-01",
    "dateTo": "2026-09-30",
    "activity": "loading_state",
    "originIds": ["<geography ID from the Geographies mode>"],
    "productIds": ["<crude product ID from the Products mode>"],
    "timeseriesFrequency": "month",
    "timeseriesUnit": "bpd",
    "timeseriesSplit": "destination_country"
}

Example output

An illustrative cargo movement row, shaped like the SDK's documented record (values are an example, not real data). The full Vortexa record is kept under record.

{
    "mode": "cargoMovements",
    "modeLabel": "Cargo movements",
    "recordType": "cargoMovement",
    "query": "2026-10-01 to 2026-10-07",
    "id": "a1b2c3d4e5f60718",
    "name": "ULSD (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel)",
    "status": "unloaded_state",
    "quantity": 310000,
    "quantityUnit": "b",
    "productGroup": "Clean products",
    "productCategory": "Diesel/Gasoil",
    "productGrade": "ULSD (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel)",
    "originCountry": "Example Country A",
    "originPort": "Example Port A",
    "loadingStart": "2026-10-01T04:00:00.000Z",
    "loadingEnd": "2026-10-02T11:00:00.000Z",
    "destinationCountry": "Example Country B",
    "destinationPort": "Example Port B",
    "unloadingStart": "2026-10-14T08:00:00.000Z",
    "shipToShip": false,
    "floatingStorage": false,
    "vesselName": "EXAMPLE SPIRIT",
    "vesselImo": 9000000,
    "vesselClass": "oil_handymax_mr2",
    "vesselCount": 1,
    "charterer": "Example Trading",
    "found": true,
    "retrievedAt": "2026-10-22T12:00:00.000Z",
    "note": null,
    "record": { "cargo_movement_id": "a1b2c3d4e5f60718", "events": ["..."], "vessels": ["..."] }
}

A time series row carries period, value, count, unit, frequency and an optional breakdown list. A breakdown row carries name (the geography), layer, value, count and rank. A fixture row carries vesselName, fixingTimestamp, laycanFrom, laycanTo, tonnes, originName, destinationName, productName and charterer. Reference rows carry id, name and layer, plus IMO, MMSI, class, deadweight, capacity, flag and build year for vessels.

FAQ

What is the Vortexa API?

It is the REST API behind Vortexa's energy and freight analytics platform, which tracks crude oil, refined products, LNG, LPG and chemicals cargoes on tankers and gas carriers worldwide. It serves cargo movements, flow time series, breakdowns, fixtures, vessel availability, freight and reference data on api.vortexa.com, and Vortexa publishes an open source Python SDK for it.

Do I need my own Vortexa API key?

Yes. This is a bring-your-own-key actor: it calls Vortexa with your key, under your subscription and its terms. A missing, malformed or rejected key ends the run cleanly with a status message that explains what to change, and nothing is charged.

How do I track crude oil exports from a country?

Run Geographies with the country name to get its geography ID and Products with "Crude" to get the crude product ID. Then run Cargo flow time series with those IDs as origin and product, activity loading, and the frequency and unit you need, such as monthly barrels per day. Add a destination country split to see where the barrels went.

Can I see oil in floating storage?

Yes. Set the activity to floating storage in Cargo movements or Cargo flow time series to get cargoes stored on water during the date range, and use floating storage location IDs to focus on an area.

Does it cover LNG and LPG carriers?

Yes. Filter by LNG or LPG products, or by the LNG and LPG vessel classes such as Q-Max, Q-Flex, conventional LNG, VLGC and VLEC, in any flow mode.

How do I find the top importers of a product?

Run Destination breakdown with the product ID, the date range and activity unloading, choose country, port or terminal as the geography level, and set the top N.

How many API requests does a run use?

One per page of up to 500 records for searches, one per cargo movement ID, and one for each time series or breakdown. Max results stops paging early, and the run log reports the exact request count.

What do I pay?

Pay per result: 0.015 USD per cargo movement, 0.01 USD per fixture, time series bucket or breakdown row, and 0.005 USD per geography, product, vessel or charterer record. Refused and empty lookups are never charged. Your Vortexa subscription is billed separately by Vortexa.

Pricing

Event	Price	Charged for
cargo-movement	0.015 USD	Each cargo movement from a search or an ID lookup
fixture-record	0.01 USD	Each tanker fixture
aggregate-row	0.01 USD	Each time series bucket or origin or destination breakdown entry
reference-record	0.005 USD	Each geography, product, vessel or charterer

Keyword map

Oil tanker tracking API, crude oil flows API, oil cargo tracking, tanker tracking data, LNG shipping data API, LPG flows, refined products flows, oil exports and imports data, floating storage data, seaborne crude data, commodity flows API, tanker fixtures API, freight market data, vessel class data, Vortexa API, Vortexa cargo movements, Vortexa SDK alternative, energy data API.

Terms and data use

Vortexa's only public legal document for the platform is its Fair Use Policy, which asks users not to overload the service, probe its security or get around its access and storage restrictions; it does not forbid storing results or using them in another platform. Your subscription contract with Vortexa is private and governs how you may use, share and redistribute the data, and Vortexa content is typically licensed for internal use. Run this actor with your own key, keep the results for the uses your agreement allows, keep the request rate modest, and do not publish or resell the data without Vortexa's written permission. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by Vortexa.