Equasis
Equasis provides vessel ownership and safety records, as well as shipping company fleet information.
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Description
Equasis, the Electric Quality Shipping Information System, is a tool designed to consolidate information about vessel ownership and safety records into one place. After creating an account, users can access a search portal to search for vessels by name or IMO number, or search for a company by name. The advanced search feature can search for vessels by call sign, MMSI number, tonnage, flag, etc, which can help to identify a vessel for which only some identifying information is known.
Equasis can provide a significant amount of information about vessels including name, IMO number, flag, call sign, MMSI number, gross tonnage, deadweight tonnage, year built, type of ship, status, registered owner, ISM manager, ship manager, P&I information, classification society, partial location history, and inspection and deficiency history, as well as a history for some of this information. For companies, Equasis can provide registered addresses, a list of vessels in their fleet, and a synthesis of inspections and deficiencies for all vessels in said company's fleet.
Use Case
An example use case for Equasis is to view the inspection records for the MV Dali (IMO 9697428) which collided with Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland in 2024. Under the "Ship Info" tab, Equasis shows the ship is owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and is classified by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (IACS). Under the "Inspections" tab, Equasis shows that the last time the Dali was inspected before its collision with the Key Bridge was in September 2023 and was carried out by the US Coast Guard in the Port of New York, New York. Equasis shows that there were no deficiencies noted during this inspection. Equasis does show that there was a deficiency noted during a prior inspection in July 2016 in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. By clicking the details arrow associated with this inspection and viewing the "Deficiencies per Category" dropdown we can see that this deficiency was in the category of "Structural Conditions", specifically "Hull damage impairing seaworthiness." A Reuters article provides additional context to this Equasis entry. According to Reuters "the Antwerp port authorities said the container ship Dali hit a quay on July 11, 2016, as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal."
Finally, under the "Ship History" tab we can view prior information about the Dali such as its past ownership and flag history.
Cost
Level of difficulty
Requirements
Registering for an account with Equasis requires providing an email address and password, as well as your name, address, and role concerning Equasis.
Limitations
Data in Equasis comes from 56 different providers and is collated by Equasis. However, data from these providers could be incorrect or not up to date. Additionally, in some cases, vessels may be listed as reported sold without providing a new listed owner. As such additional research work should be undertaken to verify information provided by Equasis.
Ethical Considerations
As mentioned under limitations, researchers using Equasis should undertake additional work to verify the information provided by Equasis, particularly when investigating ships and companies suspected of engaging in deceptive shipping practices.
Guides and articles
In 2016 Forbes used Equasis to show there were "nearly 100 safety flaws with Mauritius oil spill ship Wakashio."
Bellingcat has previously used Equasis as part of investigations into Russian grain smuggling, an oil spill in Tobago, and a superyacht that Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President claimed was a military vessel.
Tool provider
Equasis is a non-profit organization founded by the European Commission and the French Maritime Administration. Today nine member states and the European Commission make up a supervisory board governing Equasis and providing funding for it.
Advertising Trackers
Thomas - Bellingcat Volunteer Team
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