DRAMATIC DROP OFF IN CHINESE SHIP TRACKING DATA

Now why would they do that? -NCS

Via Business Insider

Ships in Chinese waters have vanished from tracking systems the maritime industry uses, a development that could worsen the global supply chain crisis.

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) — which relies on ships to send data to stations along the coastline or via satellites — has witnessed a plunge in the signals it receives in recent weeks.

Data from market intelligence and valuations provider VesselsValue show the number of signals in Chinese waters plunging 85% in under a month — from more than 100,000 a day on October 28 to over 15,000 a day on November 17.

Graph showing drop off in China's AIS ship data in November 2021.
Graph showing drop off in China’s AIS ship data in November 2021.
VesselsValue

The steep decline comes after China Personal Information Protection Law came into effect on November 1. The new rules regulate how domestic and foreign organizations collect and export the country’s data.

There are no specific guidelines on shipping data due to the new regulations, but some domestic providers in China have stopped providing information to foreign companies due to the law, Reuters reported earlier this month.

Shipping companies use the data for a wide range of purposes, including the planning of shipping routes, logistical operations and congestion analysis.

As these signals typically provide the greatest data coverage and insight into shipping in Chinese ports, the decline in this data could significantly impact ocean supply chain visibility across China, one of the world’s major trading countries, said VesselsValue’s head trade analyst Charlotte Cook in an email statement to Insider.

“The increased availability and volume of AIS data in recent years has become something the industry widely depends on, allowing shipping lines to predict vessel movements ahead of time, track seasonal trends and improve port efficiency,” said Cook.

“Ultimately, the significant reductions we are seeing in the count of vessels signaling in China will reduce the ability to accurately monitor vessel activity, and this could have knock-on effects to already squeezed global supply chains,” she added.

“If this continues, there will be a big impact in terms of global visibility especially as we come into the busy Christmas period with supply chains already facing huge problems all over the world,” Anastassis Touros, AIS network team leader at ship tracking and maritime intelligence MarineTraffic, told Reuters.

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

10 Comments

  1. 0ughtsix November 27, 2021 at 00:12

    Damned orientals think they are sooo very inscrutable.

    Ominous.

  2. JL November 27, 2021 at 00:41

    A cousin was a US Merchant Marine officer in the early 1970’s and while training was told that if a major war started every ship at sea would be sunk as soon as possible by the enemy. Are the Chinese going there?

  3. Jeff (VA. Rebel) November 27, 2021 at 03:01

    Could be something – could be nothing but knowing cargo ships / containers have been converted for other nefarious purposes, it makes one wonder if “the pea(s) is being shuffled around under the shells …”
    Picked up a link in comments on J.R. Nyquist blog’s latest post dealing with Austria situation – “Russian subs “urgently” setting to sea from the Kamchatka base.” (don’t know if we can post links here but it’s in the comments at – 11/26 – 8:50 PM mark)
    Could be something – could be nothing …
    Ear to the rail as always.

    • NC Scout November 27, 2021 at 07:49

      Post it.

  4. Reader November 27, 2021 at 09:03

    Here’s the comment left on JR Nyquist’s blog the above mentioned:


    Jeff have you seen the reports of Russian subs leaving their port and heading into the Pacific? On the other hand, this is Pravda, so…..

    https://english.pravda.ru/news/russia/149739-russian_submarine/

    This seemed to be the source of this news. Per their M.O., it’s because of us: https://avia-pro.translate.goog/news/vse-rossiyskie-atomnye-podlodki-razmeshchyonnye-na-kamchatke-ekstrenno-otpravleny-v-more-vsyo?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=nui

    • NC Scout November 27, 2021 at 09:34

      Thanks for this. Nyquist is usually on top of things.

  5. Johnny Paratrooper November 27, 2021 at 09:50

    Are we certain this has nothing to do with the lack of containers?
    Also, good choice on photo for the article.

  6. Anon November 27, 2021 at 14:57

    Possible the point is being missed here. If you are foreign intel tracking ships via satellite and you have access to AIS then you can automatically discard everything that is on your track that is ALSO in AIS as standard shipping. That significantly narrows the pool of traces to identify. If however, the Chinese are failing to populate AIS with any ships in their AOR, you now have to trace and ID all of them the hard way.

    • Tim_2A November 27, 2021 at 17:26

      I think you’re on target with that last statement, and now, IFF is made considerably more difficult than it had been. Needless to say, by design.

      Undoubtedly, the ChiComs want to c/overtly populate (logjam?) the world’s oceans and ports with their ships/materiel. Unfortunately, we in the uSofA are still eager to see another container ship arrive in port, since that’s the only way we get anything anymore.

      It was either the immediate past dictator of the PRC, or the current, but the statement was made, “One world, one China.” Yes, they are a serious threat, especially with our own private, personal dictator, ‘ol China Joe, giving them recognition as anything other than a dictatorship. I think we’ll be saying soon, “Bye-bye, Taiwan.”

      In the vein of “populating,” around 17 or 18 years ago, I heard from a well-informed individual that the line of ships from China and other Asian exporters was such that they could almost see each other on the ocean.

      Not to sound fatalistic, but who knows if some today are Trojan horses, and if they are, what can we do?

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