Boat Tracker
This page tracks boats in the English Channel between Calais / Dover in real time.
English Channel Boat Tracker
This new map aims to track the location of the UK Border Force’s patrol vessels, cutters and RNLI lifeboats. Much of their work is now spent “rescuing” illegal migrants from boats in the channel. The people smugglers have learned that if the boats make a “mayday” call as soon as they reach British waters (effectively at the maritime border between the UK and France, shown on the map as the red line in the middle of the English Channel), the Border Force will come out and take them the rest of the way. Look carefully at videos of migrants jumping onto dinghies in France – one of them will almost certainly now be carrying a marine band transceiver.
Click on a pin to see vessel details. Ship locations will refresh in around loading... seconds
Notes to the Tracker
Click on a pin to see the name of the vessel, its speed and heading. The “last seen” time is in UTC (an hour behind British Summer Time). The MMSI number is a unique communications code assigned to each vessel.
This map currently tracks all ships broadcasting AIS signals in the English Channel area. Ships with AIS transponders routinely transmit their position, speed and direction every few seconds. We interrogate those signals using a third party API (thanks, AIS Stream) and refresh the map every 30 seconds. So, the longer you loiter on this page, the more vessels you will see.
Crucially, migrant boats do not send AIS signals. Legally they should as they’re technically passenger boats, but they don’t. Just another law they’re breaking on their way to breaking into the UK illegally. Migrant boats themselves wont therefore appear on this map.
However, UK Border Force vessels bringing migrants ashore will appear, as long as they are broadcasting AIS signals. They don’t always do this for security reasons (if you’re tracking down a boat smuggling drugs you don’t want the smugglers knowing you’re coming). Border Force and other known official boats will show up with a Union Jack marker pin so you can easily identify them.
Waves In The Channel
It’s our opinion, and almost certainly a fact, that it’s the weather, and not the current (useless) Labour government policy, that is the biggest determinant of how many migrants cross each day. The graphic below shows the current sea state in the English Channel through the main crossing route.
Click on one of the bubbles to show wave height, speed and direction. If these bubbles are all green, you should expect migrant boats to be crossing.
NOTE TO ILLEGAL MIGRANTS (other than, “stay put in France and claim asylum there because it’s perfectly bloody safe!”)… do NOT use this map to decide whether you should attempt to cross or not. Get yourself a proper maritime forecast. We accept NO liability for any consequences, either directly or indirectly, of you using this map. Oh, and we speak English in the UK, so this website is not available in any other languages.
Share Us On Social Media
One of the main objectives of this site is to inform the public about locations being used to house migrants in their area. The sites are not classified or officially secret, but the government refuses to publish an official list of them. We believe the people paying for these facilities have a right to know where they are.
Please help create this transparency by sharing a link to this site on your socials. All you need to do is click on the relevant link(s) above.