Vessel Lineup data details the scheduled arrivals and departures of ships at a port or terminal. This data includes the vessel's name, expected arrival and departure times, the cargo it is carrying or expected to load/unload, berth allocation, and the current status of the vessel (e.g., whether it is at berth, anchored, or expected).

This data is typically collated by stakeholders within the ports themselves, often from Agents.

Benefits

As this data is gathered from within the ports it provides a strong corroborating dataset to AIS, particularly with the provision of more accurate ETA data, which is one of the less reliable fields in an AIS signal.

In addition to this, the inclusion of cargo data helps organisations better understand supply and demand to a particular region.

As a result of these points, Lineup data is a popular input to major commodity tracking platforms, alongside Bill of Lading, Fixtures and AIS.

Drawbacks

Lineup Data is collected by entities within a port, usually as a secondary or tertiary function to their main responsibilities. This can create issues around reliability or consistency of the data provided.

While there are some global agents which provide this data, this data can be difficult to obtain outside of the ports in which they have agents or associations.

Lineups can change based on congestion or adverse weather, so should be corroborated with other datasets to produce an accurate view of port activity. This is currently even more prevalent given the environmental pressures pushing ships to move away from the Sail Fast And Wait approach.