Misc

Map: Visualizing Every Ship at Sea in Real-Time

Published

5 years ago

November 23, 2017

Jeff Desjardins

The ocean is a big place, which makes it a pretty difficult thing to wrap our brains around.

It covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, is home to millions of species of life, and it makes up 97% of all water on the planet. But, with this massive size and ubiquity also comes a significant challenge for humans interested in trade: it must be constantly traversed in order for us to move goods around.

As a result, millions of people hit the high seas each day to get cargo from one place to another. The vessels used range from tiny sailboats to massive oil tankers, some of which can get up to four football fields in length.

Every Ship at Sea

We previously posted an interactive map of shipping routes that used 250 million data points to show how boats moved across the ocean.

Today, in a similar vein, we highlight a website that tracks the world’s ships in real-time, providing a unique picture of what is happening at sea. Below is a screenshot from MarineTraffic and going there will allow you to see all major ships in real-time as they voyage around the Deep Blue Sea.

Every ship visualized

You may be wondering, does this really show every ship at sea?

Well, it might not catch your Uncle Steve’s sailboat off the coast of Florida, but this map will show all major commercial vessels. Any oil tanker, cargo vessel, cruise ship, or fishing boat can be spotted, and it makes for some interesting observations if you know where to look.

A Look at Oil Chokepoints

Upon loading the real-time map, the first thing we did was adjust the filters to only show oil tankers.

After all, we know that every day, about 18.5 million barrels transit through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman, and 16 million barrels go through the Strait of Malacca between Indonesia and Malaysia.

EIA Chart on Oil Chokepoints

Here’s a screenshot of the Strait of Hormuz, showing only oil tankers. (Dots are tankers that are not moving, while arrows represent tankers that are currently on course.)

Strait of Hormuz

And here are the ships going through the Strait of Malacca, which at its narrowest point is only 1.7 miles (2.7 km) wide.

Strait of Malacca

If you want to get oil from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea, this strait is vital – otherwise a big ship must detour thousands of miles around the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java to find the next suitable waterway.

Coast of Somalia

Compare those above straits to the coast off of Somalia, where piracy and hydrocarbon theft are major concerns.

Somalia

All is pretty quiet, aside from the one daring tanker that is about 500 miles (800 km) east of Mogadishu.

Antarctic Cruises

One other easy observation?

It’s the few passenger boats hanging around the Antarctic Peninsula – which is the part of the continent closest to Argentina and a destination for cruise ships.

Antarctica

If you have a chance, check out the live map for yourself and play around with the filters. It’s also interesting to see what’s happening in your local waters, as well.

Related Topics:shipping map trade sea ocean ships real-time

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Automotive

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today

This infographic lists the most fuel efficient cars over the past 46 years, including the current leader for 2023.

Published

1 day ago

January 26, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today

When shopping for a new car, what is the most important factor you look for? According to Statista, it’s not design, quality, or even safety—it’s fuel efficiency.

Because of this, automakers are always looking for clever ways to improve gas mileage in their cars. Beating the competition by even the slimmest of margins can give valuable bragging rights within a segment.

In this infographic, we’ve used data from the EPA’s 2022 Automotive Trends Report to list off the most fuel efficient cars from 1975 to today.

Editor’s note: This is from a U.S. government agency, so the data shown skews towards cars sold in North America.

Data Overview

All of the information in the above infographic is listed in the table below. Data was only available in 5-year increments up until 2005, after which it switches to annual.

Model Year	Make	Model	Real World Fuel Economy (mpg)	Engine Type
1975	Honda	Civic	28.3	Gas
1980	VW	Rabbit	40.3	Diesel
1985	Chevrolet	Sprint	49.6	Gas
1990	Geo	Metro	53.4	Gas
1995	Honda	Civic	47.3	Gas
2000	Honda	Insight	57.4	Hybrid
2005	Honda	Insight	53.3	Hybrid
2006	Honda	Insight	53	Hybrid
2007	Toyota	Prius	46.2	Hybrid
2008	Toyota	Prius	46.2	Hybrid
2009	Toyota	Prius	46.2	Hybrid
2010	Honda	FCX	60.2	FCEV
2011	BMW	Active E	100.6	EV
2012	Mitsubishi	i-MiEV	109	EV
2013	Toyota	iQ EV	117	EV
2014	BMW	i3	121.3	EV
2015	BMW	i3	121.3	EV
2016	BMW	i3	121.3	EV
2017	Hyundai	Ioniq Electric	132.6	EV
2018	Hyundai	Ioniq Electric	132.6	EV
2019	Hyundai	Ioniq Electric	132.6	EV
2020	Tesla	3	138.6	EV
2021	Tesla	3	139.1	EV

From this dataset, we can identify three distinct approaches to maximizing fuel efficiency.

Downsizing

Prior to 2000, the best way for automakers to achieve good fuel efficiency was by downsizing. Making cars smaller (lighter) meant they could also be fitted with very small engines.

For example, the 1985 Chevrolet Sprint was rated at 49.6 MPG, but had a sluggish 0-60 time of 15 seconds.

Hybrids

The 2000s saw the introduction of mass-market hybrid vehicles like the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. By including a small battery to support the combustion engine, automakers could achieve good MPGs without sacrificing so heavily on size.

While the Insight achieved better fuel economy than the Prius, it was the latter that became synonymous with the term “hybrid”. This was largely due to the Prius’ more practical 4-door design.

The following table compares annual U.S. sales figures for both models. Insight sales have fluctuated drastically because Honda has produced the model in several short spans (1999-2006, 2009-2014, 2018-2022).

Year	Insight Sales	Prius Sales
2005	666	107,155
2006	722	106,971
2007	3	181,221
2008	-	158,884
2009	20,572	150,831
2010	20,962	140,928
2011	15,549	136,464
2012	6,619	236,655
2013	4,802	234,228
2014	3,965	207,372
2015	1,458	184,794
2016	67	136,629
2017	3	108,661
2018	12,513	87,590
2019	23,686	69,718
2020	15,932	43,525
2021	18,685	59,010
2022	7,628	33,352

Source: goodcarbadcar.net

The Prius may have dominated the hybrid market for a long time, but it too has run into troubles. Sales have been declining since 2014, even setting historic lows in recent years.

There are several reasons behind this trend, with one being a wider availability of hybrid models from other brands. We also can’t ignore the release of the Tesla Model 3, which began shipping to customers in 2017.

Electric Vehicles

We’re currently in the middle of a historic transition to electric vehicles. However, because EVs do not use fuel, the EPA had to develop a new system called MPGe (miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent).

This new metric gives us the ability to compare the efficiency of EVs with traditional gas-powered cars. An underlying assumption of MPGe is that 33.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity is comparable to the energy content of a gallon of fuel.

The most fuel efficient car you can buy today is the 2023 Lucid Air, which achieves 140 MPGe. Close behind it is the 2023 Tesla Model 3 RWD, which is rated at 132 MPGe.

Check out this page to see the EPA’s top 10 most efficient vehicles for 2023.