Appearance
🧭 Voyage Timestamps
This guide explains when timestamps are set for voyages in the tracking system. These timestamps represent real-world events detected from vessel behavior.
⏱ What Are the Timestamps?
The system automatically sets two kinds of timestamps for each stop on a vessel's voyage:
- ATA (Actual Time of Arrival) — when a vessel is detected to have stopped at a location.
- ATD (Actual Time of Departure) — when a vessel is detected to have resumed movement after stopping.
These timestamps are generated based on the vessel’s position and movement patterns, collected over time.
📥 How do we receive Timestamps?
When the user has consent of the vessel owner for tracking, the user can enable tracking in the vessel overview page.
We have 2 ways of receiving our timestamps:
- Euris, European waterways platform.
- Third party tracking e.g. AIS
To have the most accurate data it's recommended to register the vessel in the Euris platform.
⛵ How do you get the most accurate voyage data?
There are a few actions the user can undertake to get the best out of our tracking system:
When creating a new location make sure that the coordinates of the location match the terminal location.
Register the vessels on the Euris platform. This helps to get the most accurate vessel positions data.
Make sure you are using the correct eni & mmsi number for your vessel.
Have tracking consent on your vessels. Without consent, we can not track the vessel and not track the voyage.
Fill in your voyages as complete as possible. Our system starts tracking vessels 72 hours before the ETA to make sure we capture the first stop ATA.
✅ When is an ATA Set?
The system logs an ATA (Arrival Time) when:
- The vessel has recently stopped moving.
- It is close enough to a known stop location.
- There is no existing ATA for that stop.
If these conditions are met, the system records the arrival time based on the timestamp of the vessel's position data at that moment.
🕒 When is an ATD Set?
An ATD (Departure Time) is logged when:
- The vessel has previously stopped at the location (i.e., an ATA was already set).
- The vessel is now clearly moving.
- At least 60 minutes have passed since it arrived.
- The vessel is moving far enough away from the stop to confirm it's departing.
If all of these are true, the system registers the departure using the most recent timestamp from the vessel's movement.
✋ Manual Timestamp Entry
In some cases, the system may not have enough position data to confidently detect an ATA or ATD. For example:
- The AIS transmitted incomplete or delayed AIS positions.
- There were less than the required number of samples available.
- The stop duration was too short or occurred just outside detection thresholds.
To ensure accuracy, users have the option to manually enter or adjust ATA/ATD timestamps through the system interface.
You can:
- Enter an ATA or ATD based on known events or port logs.
- Adjust an existing timestamp if the automatic one is incorrect.
Manual entry ensures continuity and correctness of voyage data even in cases where automatic detection is not possible.
🔍 How Does the System Know?
The system uses:
- AIS positions collected frequently from each vessel.
- Speed and distance calculations to understand whether the vessel is moving or stopped.
- Proximity to known stops to associate movement with specific voyage locations.
Only recent and reliable data is used, and the system avoids making assumptions unless all required conditions are met.
🧪 Real-World Example
Let’s say a vessel approaches a port:
- Once it slows down and stops near a stop location, an ATA is logged.
- After staying stopped for over an hour, if the vessel starts moving away, an ATD is recorded.
If this sequence is missed (e.g., due to data gaps), users can manually enter the missing timestamps to ensure the voyage is properly logged.
ℹ️ Notes
- The system only logs what it can confidently detect based on data patterns.
- Once set, timestamps are not overwritten automatically — manual entries remain unless changed by a user.