Flag	IMO	MMSI	Vessel Name	Type	Latest Position	Current Port	Last Known Port	Destination	ETA (UTC)	DWT
Flag	IMO	MMSI	Vessel Name	Type	Latest Position	Current Port	Last Known Port	Destination	ETA (UTC)	DWT

Welcome to the NK Pro Ship Tracker, a platform which combines multiple data streams to more closely follow North Korea-linked vessels.

The tracker combines historical data dating back to 2013, Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel positions updated every hour, inspection records, ship biographies and histories to help keep track of the DPRK’s shifting merchant fleet.

The Dashboard

This section of the NK Pro ship tracker allows an overall view of all vessels with North Korean flags, and those tied to the DPRK through trade, visit to the country, or linked via networks of paper companies in Hong Kong and China.

The menu on the left allows for filtering and searching by ship name, IMO (International Maritime Organisation) number, previous name, ship type, and what flag it is sailing under.

The groups menu can be used to select vessels associated with certain companies or sanctions.

Linked to Hongxiang – Vessels which are linked to Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development company, a Chinese organisation sanctioned by the U.S. for helping evade UN sanctions again the DPRK.

Linked to Kasatsugu Network – Vessels which are tied to Hiroshi Kasatsugu, a Japanese national mentioned in numerous UN Panel of Expert reports for helping North Korea evade sanctions, and who has likely helped facilitate arms shipments.

Mentioned by the PoE – Vessels mentioned in one of the UN Panel of Experts reports on North Korea.

Sanctioned by the U.S. – Vessels designated by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Sanctioned by UN – Vessels sanctioned by the United Nations in Resolution 2270.

Formerly sanctioned by UN – Vessels that were initially included on the UN’s blacklist but were later removed

OMM – Vessels formerly owned by Ocean Maritime Management, a known North Korean weapons smuggler working under the auspices of the Ministry of Land and Marine Transport.

Risk

The Risk Indicator is a bespoke measure indicating the likelihood a particular vessel may be linked to sanctions breaching activity, or individuals or entities known to help the DPRK evade sanctions.

While all North Korean vessels would likely be considered “high risk” by financial or insurance institutions, within the DPRK fleet some vessels exhibit behaviour that is intended to hide their links to the DPRK, their true ownership, and their general activity.

The Risk Indicator considers several factors including, previous ownership and management information, use of flags of convenience (FOCs), unusual renaming and reflagging patterns, visits to North Korea, unusual routes or port visits, links to entities and individuals mentioned by the UN Panel of Experts and sanctioned entities and several other metrics.

Broadcast in last hour

Not all vessels broadcast their location information all the time. Some vessels move out of AIS coverage, others become laid or up or in need of repair, and some probably switch off their AIS transponders to hide their journeys.

The NK Pro ship tracker displays the last known position of a vessel, but selecting this option will only show ships which have broadcast positional data in the last sixty minutes.

Fleet View

The fleet tab shows all the ships currently being followed by the NK Pro tracker in tabular form. The table can be sorted by flag, vessel name, last known position or port visits.

Ship View

Individual ships can be selected from either the Dashboard (More Vessel Details) button or by selecting the ship IMO number in fleet view.

Individual ship pages reveal a vessel’s previous voyages (going back to 2013), biographies and reasons they are being tracked, previous company and name information, coordinates for all previous positions, and a record of each vessel’s safety inspections in some cases dating back over 17 years.

The slider on the map allows for custom time frames to be selected, showing a vessel’s positional history throughout the desired timeframe. Older positions are represented by yellow icons, while newer data transmissions are red.

The data in this section are drawn from several maritime databases simultaneously, which update at different times. Some inconsistencies may occur from this process.