VesselFinder Scraper: ships, IMO, MMSI, destination and ETA

Scrape the VesselFinder ship database: search by ship type, flag, year built, length, gross tonnage, deadweight or name, or look up vessels by IMO or MMSI number. Every vessel comes with its name, IMO, MMSI, call sign, flag, type, year built, gross tonnage, deadweight, length and beam, plus its destination, ETA, current draught, navigation status and where and when it was last seen. No login, no cookies, no VesselFinder account.

What you get

Identity	Name, IMO number, MMSI number, call sign, ship photo, VesselFinder link
Registry	Flag (country and two-letter code), ship type, VesselFinder category, AIS type, year built
Size	Gross tonnage, deadweight, length overall, beam; TEU, net tonnage and cargo capacities when VesselFinder shows them for free
Voyage	Destination (with the port's UN/LOCODE when VesselFinder matched it to a port), ETA (as shown and as an ISO date), current draught, navigation status
Last position	When it was received ("2 hours ago" and in minutes), sea area, coordinates rounded to whole degrees, course and speed
History	Earlier names and flags

Turn Include vessel details off for a fast list (name, IMO or MMSI, type, flag, year, GT, DWT, size): one request per 20 vessels instead of one per vessel.

How to use it

Pick one or more of:

• Ship types, e.g. Container Ship, Bulk carrier, Crude Oil Tanker, LNG Tanker, Cruise Ship, Tugs.
• Flags, e.g. Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Singapore, Malta.
• IMO / MMSI numbers or ship names: 9342516, IMO 9987225, MMSI 565747000, or a name.
• Ship name search: the start of a name, e.g. EVER, MSC, CMA CGM.
• Filters: year built, length, gross tonnage and deadweight ranges; include ships that are not in service.

Each ship type is searched in each flag. Max vessels is the total for the run, shared fairly between your searches.

Input examples

Singapore-flagged container ships, newest first:

{
  "shipTypes": ["403"],
  "flags": ["SG"],
  "sortBy": "built",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Crude and product tankers under the Malta and Liberia flags, built since 2015, over 100,000 t deadweight:

{
  "shipTypes": ["601", "602"],
  "flags": ["MT", "LR"],
  "minYear": 2015,
  "minDWT": 100000,
  "maxItems": 500
}

Look up specific vessels:

{
  "vessels": ["9342516", "9987225", "MMSI 563318300"]
}

You can also paste VesselFinder list URLs (vesselfinder.com/vessels?…, the filters in the URL are kept) or vessel URLs (vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9342516) into VesselFinder URLs.

Output example

{
  "imo": "9987225",
  "mmsi": "563318300",
  "name": "CMA CGM GRAND PALAIS",
  "shipType": "Container Ship",
  "shipCategory": "Cargo vessels",
  "aisType": "Cargo ship (HAZ-A)",
  "flag": "Singapore",
  "flagCode": "SG",
  "callsign": "9V6664",
  "yearBuilt": 2026,
  "grossTonnage": 237742,
  "netTonnage": null,
  "deadweight": 220923,
  "teu": null,
  "lengthOverall": 400,
  "beam": 62,
  "currentDraught": 12.2,
  "destination": "Port Klang, Malaysia",
  "destinationLocode": "MYPKG",
  "destinationCountryCode": "MY",
  "etaText": "Oct 7, 21:00",
  "eta": "2026-10-07T21:00:00Z",
  "navigationStatus": null,
  "lastPositionReceived": "15 hours ago",
  "lastPositionAgeMinutes": 900,
  "area": "Indian Ocean",
  "approxLatitude": -3,
  "approxLongitude": 82,
  "courseDeg": 47,
  "speedKnots": 11.5,
  "inService": true,
  "crudeOilBbl": null,
  "gasM3": null,
  "grainM3": null,
  "baleM3": null,
  "nameHistory": [{ "year": "2026 Mar", "flag": "Singapore", "name": "CMA CGM GRAND PALAIS" }],
  "photoUrl": "https://static.vesselfinder.net/ship-photo/9987225-563318300-…/1?v1",
  "url": "https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9987225",
  "detailsFetched": true,
  "searchInput": "IMO 9987225",
  "position": 2,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-01T22:20:17.704Z"
}

Every row has the same columns; a value VesselFinder doesn't show is null.

Use cases

• Fleet lists: every LNG carrier, every Panamax bulker under a flag, every ship of an operator's naming series (MAERSK, EVER, MSC).
• Lead lists for maritime services: bunkering, ship supply, inspection, crewing and insurance teams targeting vessels by type, size and age.
• Voyage monitoring: schedule a run on your IMO list to get each ship's destination, ETA and last-seen area every day.
• Market research: fleet age and size profiles by flag and ship type.
• Data enrichment: turn IMO or MMSI numbers from your own records into names, flags, call signs and dimensions.

FAQ

Do I need a VesselFinder account, cookies or a login? No. The scraper reads the same public pages any visitor sees. It never logs in and needs nothing from you except a search or a list of numbers.

How precise are the positions? VesselFinder's free pages round the last position to whole degrees and show when it was received ("15 hours ago"). The scraper returns exactly that, plus the sea area, course and speed. It's good for "which ocean, heading where, arriving when", not for live tracking.

Why are owner and manager missing? VesselFinder only shows registered owner, manager and ISM manager to paying subscribers, so they are not part of the free pages and this scraper doesn't collect them.

How many vessels can one search return? VesselFinder shows the first pages of a search only (a few thousand vessels). If a search has more, the run says so; split it by flag, ship type, year built or size to get the rest.

How fast is it? About 20 vessels per second without details, and 3 to 4 vessels per second with details (one page per vessel).

Which proxy should I use? Keep the default (Apify Proxy, datacenter). It comes with every Apify plan, including the free one. If VesselFinder refuses datacenter IPs for a while, the run switches to residential proxies when your account has them, and carries on without them when it doesn't.

What does a run cost? You pay per vessel saved, per vessel page read for details, per search, and a small fee per run. See the Pricing tab. IMO or MMSI numbers that VesselFinder doesn't know are never charged, and numbers that can't be a ship (a wrong IMO check digit, for example) are skipped before any request.

Is it legal to scrape VesselFinder? This Actor only collects publicly available data: vessel information that anyone can see on VesselFinder without an account, such as a ship's name, IMO and MMSI numbers, flag, type, dimensions and its AIS-reported voyage. Collecting publicly available data is generally legal, but you're responsible for how you use it. Ships are not people, and the scraper doesn't collect owner, manager or crew details. You must follow privacy laws such as GDPR, PIPEDA and CCPA where they apply, as well as VesselFinder's terms. If you're unsure, check with a lawyer. More on this: Is web scraping legal?

Does it access any private data? No. Everything comes from pages VesselFinder shows to any visitor without logging in. It never uses a login, never touches paid features or accounts, and follows the site's robots.txt.

This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by VesselFinder.