Vessel Documentation Search

 United States Coast GuardU.S. Department of Homeland Security

You can access our copy of the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG)  vessel data base and extract vessel characteristic, documentation, and ownership data (please read our data caveats page). This data base is updated on a monthly basis. Our query program only retrieves data about vessels which are craft that are 5 net tons or larger and are documented by the USCG. Craft less than 5 net tons (“boats”) are numbered by individual states. Refer to our data caveats page for information about who collects vessel documentation data, the type of data collected and for the authorization and rationale for publishing these data.

The “Search By Name” vessel documentation query will only retrieve data for vessels which are currently documented or which have not exceeded their certificate’s expiration date by more than 180 days. The “Search By USCG Official Number” query will retrieve documentation data (exclusive of ownership) for craft that have exceeded the expiration date by more than 180 days.

Contact the     [USCG Vessel Documentation Center.    for vessel title and lien information.

If you would like to obtain a copy of [the USCG’s list of documented vessels, “Merchant Vessels of the United States,” purchase information is listed in the “Frequently Asked Questions ” at the documentation center’s web site.

Suggestions to ensure getting data on a specific vessel of your choice include:The vessel name may be entered in upper or lower case.The vessel name that is entered must be identical to the vessel name listed in our vessel data base. You could not retrieve data for the vessel “MOONLIGHT III” if you entered the name as “MOONLIGHT 3”.The data retrieval program will return documentation and other information on up to 20 vessels based on entry of only a portion of a vessel’s name. For instance, if you enter the name “ANN” you could retrieve data on vessels named ANN, ANNIE, MARYANN, BANNER, etc.If more than 20 vessels match the name you enter, then an abbreviated listing (reporting the vessel name, year built, service, hailing port, length, and documentation number) of up to 400 vessels will be output to your monitor. Based on data in this listing, select (click on) a vessel name (in hypertext) to get complete documentation data for that vessel.Enter the complete vessel name whenever possible because you are limited to retrieving abbreviated data on a maximum of 400 vessels per query. You probably could not get data for a craft named “SEA ROVER X” if you entered only the name “SEA” because the vessel data base has over 9,000 vessels with “SEA” in their name.

Suggestions to ensure getting data on a specific vessel of your choice include:

The vessel name may be entered in upper or lower case.

The vessel name that is entered must be identical to the vessel name listed in our vessel data base. You could not retrieve data for the vessel “MOONLIGHT III” if you entered the name as “MOONLIGHT 3”.
The data retrieval program will return documentation and other information on up to 20 vessels based on entry of only a portion of a vessel’s name. For instance, if you enter the name “ANN” you could retrieve data on vessels named ANN, ANNIE, MARYANN, BANNER, etc.

If more than 20 vessels match the name you enter, then an abbreviated listing (reporting the vessel name, year built, service, hailing port, length, and documentation number) of up to 400 vessels will be output to your monitor. Based on data in this listing, select (click on) a vessel name (in hypertext) to get complete documentation data for that vessel.
Enter the complete vessel name whenever possible because you are limited to retrieving abbreviated data on a maximum of 400 vessels per query. You probably could not get data for a craft named “SEA ROVER X” if you entered only the name “SEA” because the vessel data base has over 9,000 vessels with “SEA” in their name

Vessel Documentation Search