Time series, dailyPort throughput feed
Port throughput, counted daily from orbit.
Container stacks, vessel calls and anchorage queues at named ports, as a time series you can lay against customs and port-authority releases.
SpecTFI · Sheet 00
- GSD
- VHR, ≤0.5 m
- Cadence
- Daily
- Platform
- High-res satellite
- Spectral
- RGB
- Coverage
- Named ports, agreed at onboarding
- Delivery
- Same-day to next-day after capture
- Output
- Time-series feed
01 · Deliverables
The files
The feed is delivered as a daily time series, one row per port per day. Each series carries the capture date, and a day with no usable image is left empty.
- Deliverable
- Container stack count
- Format
- What's in it
- Container stacks counted per terminal at each named port. The yard-side signal: how full the terminals look on the day the satellite passed.
- Deliverable
- Vessel call log
- Format
Event log, daily- What's in it
- Vessels detected at the berths of each named port, logged by day. Ships are counted, not identified by cargo.
- Deliverable
- Anchorage queue index
- Format
Time series, daily- What's in it
- Ships counted at anchor waiting off the port. Read it as a congestion flag beside your AIS.
- Deliverable
- Gap flags
- Format
Column in each series- What's in it
- A cloud-covered day shows as a gap with a flag. Nothing is interpolated, so your model sees the same holes we do.
02 · Pipeline
How it works
01You supply
Pick the ports
You name the ports and terminals to track. They are agreed at onboarding, and that list is the coverage. Nothing outside it is delivered.
02We capture
Daily capture
High-res satellite passes are tasked over each named port every day the sky allows.
03We count
Detect and count
Stacks, vessels at berth and ships at anchor are detected in the image and counted. Counts are per port and per terminal where the port has more than one.
04You receive
Feed lands
The daily series arrives same-day to next-day after capture. It joins your notebook, database or spreadsheet next to the customs and port-authority numbers you already use.
03 · Operating envelope
Limits
- Condition
- Cloud cover gaps a day
- Effect on the output
- An optical image cannot see through cloud. A cloudy day at a port has no count, and the series says so with a gap flag.
- Condition
- Counts, not TEU
- Effect on the output
- A stack count is a count of stacks. It is not a TEU figure and does not report a certified throughput. You calibrate it against released port numbers on your side.
- Condition
- Resolution is a floor
- Effect on the output
- At 0.5 m a container is a few pixels across at its short side, so stacks and ships resolve. Individual boxes inside a dense stack do not, and neither does the box type or contents.
- Condition
- Named ports only
- Effect on the output
- Coverage is the port list agreed at onboarding. There is no blanket global set.
- Condition
- Daily is not real time
- Effect on the output
- Delivery is same-day to next-day after capture. It runs days ahead of official releases and behind a live AIS feed.
- Condition
- Optical sees the surface
- Effect on the output
- RGB shows stacks and hulls from above. It does not see inside boxes or read a ship's name.
04 · Reason this exists
Why the nowcast runs late
Customs and port-authority numbers post after the boxes have moved, so between releases the desk leans on AIS. AIS goes dark or lies just where the read matters, and it cannot see what is stacked on the terminal.
The nowcast ends up part vessel tracking, part instinct, and gets corrected when the official print lands. This feed adds a daily optical count of what is on the yard and what is waiting off the port.
05 · Fit
Who it's for and who it's not for
Who it's for
- Macro and trade-flow analysts at funds who nowcast trade balances or export and import volumes.
- Shipping desks that want an optical read on congestion beside their AIS.
- Data teams that backtest an alternative series against released port and customs numbers before they buy.
Who it's not for
- Teams that need TEU-exact throughput or a certified count.
- Teams that need every port in the world.
- Live vessel tracking. AIS does that job, and this sits beside it.
- Cargo, commodity or vessel-owner intelligence.
06 · FAQ
Questions from data sourcing
Does this replace AIS?
No. It is an optical count that sits beside AIS, and it is most useful when AIS is dark or the positions are spoofed.
Can we backtest it?
Ask for the history at onboarding. How far back a given port goes depends on the archive for that port, and you should check it against released numbers before you commit.
What happens on a cloudy day?
The day is left empty and flagged. We do not interpolate.
Is the count in TEU?
No. The feed counts stacks, vessel calls and ships at anchor. Turning that into a throughput estimate is your model's job.
Which ports are covered?
Named ports agreed at onboarding. Tell us the ports and terminals you trade around and we confirm which can be delivered.
How fast does data arrive after capture?
Same-day to next-day, tied to the daily cadence. It is not a real-time feed.
How do we bring it into our stack?
It arrives as a time series for your data team to ingest. The delivery mechanics are agreed at onboarding.
Who owns the data and what can we do with it?
Use and redistribution terms are written into the contract before delivery starts. The public and commercial satellite sources keep their own licences.
How is it priced?
Pricing is not published on this page. Tell us the ports you need and the team will come back to you directly.