Data methodology

Seafarer Index ships with roughly twenty maritime datasets, each committed to the public repository and exposed unmodified at /api/data/<type> under CC BY 4.0. This page documents how each one is built, dated, verified, and graded for confidence.

Live dashboard (22,285 rows across 11 datasets)

Counts computed from the datasets at build time. Last-modified dates from data/_lastmod.json (per-file git commit timestamp).

Sources, by dataset

• Ports. UN/LOCODE register, port-authority publications, Wikidata, and primary timezone/currency/electricity references. Coordinates and timezones are deterministically resolved.
• Ships. IMO numbers, MarineTraffic-class publicly disclosed fields, owner/manager linkage from companies dataset. Live position is not stored — links out to live trackers instead.
• Companies. Operator / manning-agent type classification, headquarters country, vessel-type focus, and official website. Sourced from regulatory filings, company sites, and trade-press coverage.
• Flag states. ISO 3166 country codes mapped to flag administrations; MLC ratification status from ILO NORMLEX; Paris and Tokyo MoU ratings from the published annual lists; FOC status from ITF's list.
• Certifications. STCW Code Tables A-II/1 to A-VI/6 + flag-state-specific endorsements + national certificates of known major flags. Duration, validity, and typical cost are reference-grade industry figures, not flag-state quotes.
• Glossary. Definitions cross-referenced to IMO and ILO publications, IMO Model Courses, and reputable industry glossaries.
• Reference pages (/reference/*: SOLAS, MARPOL, COLREGs, IMDG, STCW chapter-by-chapter etc.). These mirror primary regulatory text. Each page now carries an editorial sidecar entry in data/reference-meta.json with a confidence level + an optional lastReviewedAt ISO date. When lastReviewedAt is null, the confidence is auto-classified from the page's git age: < 12 months → high, 12–24 months → medium, > 24 months → stale. The auto-classification is rebuilt by scripts/build-reference-meta.mjs on every prebuild. Editorial reviewers can override any record by setting lastReviewedAt + reviewer + confidence in the sidecar; manual overrides survive subsequent rebuilds. For convention currency, follow the linked IMO / ILO source — our summary captures the framework, not the live amendment cycle.
• Salaries. Range data triangulated from ITF Total Crew Cost (TCC) benchmark, IBF wage table, employer disclosures, industry surveys, and forum reports. Each row carries a confidence band and a year. See /salaries/methodology.
• Helplines. Phone, WhatsApp, email, and operating hours sourced from each organisation's own published material. We do not host the call — we route to the issuing organisation.
• Seafarer centres. Mission, ICMA, AOS, ISWAN, and national welfare-board listings — linked back to a UN/LOCODE port.
• Training centres. Accredited providers, source: flag-state admin lists and METNET membership.
• Manning agencies. Licensed registries (POEA / DMW, DG Shipping, others). License number, status, and principal list when public.
• PSC detentions. Public Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU monthly bulletins, scraped daily.

Dating

Each detail page shows a last verified badge. The underlying record carries a per-row last_verified_at ISO date wherever we have one; where we don't, the page falls back to the file's most recent git commit timestamp from data/_lastmod.json, which is generated at build time. This means every page tells you when its facts were last touched — never "recently" without a date.

Confidence levels

On rows where we cannot guarantee accuracy without ongoing verification (salary ranges, certain port operational fields), we attach a confidence badge:

• High confidence — multiple independent primary sources within the last 12 months.
• Medium confidence — one primary source within the last 24 months, or two industry-reference sources.
• Low confidence — single source, indirect inference, or last verified more than 24 months ago.
• Stale — needs review — needs re-verification. Treat the figure as a historical reference, not a current quote.

Verification status

Per-record provenance:

• Verified — confirmed against the primary source within the last 12 months.
• Partially verified — core fields confirmed; secondary fields imported from public references.
• Imported — not yet verified — bulk-imported from a reputable public dataset, not yet individually checked.
• User-submitted (pending review) — submitted via the correction form or forum, pending editor review. Not displayed in the main directory until reviewed.
• Needs review — flagged for re-verification, usually because an external source changed.

Open data + redistribution

All datasets are downloadable as JSON under CC BY 4.0 from /data. The JSON Schema is at /data/schema.json. Cite the dataset as "Seafarer Index (seafarerindex.com), retrieved YYYY-MM-DD".

What we will not include

• Per-seafarer personal data of any kind.
• Defamatory or unverified criminal allegations against named individuals or companies.
• Job postings (we are not a recruiter; the brief is to defend seafarers from bad ones).
• Subscription-only data we cannot legally redistribute.
• Speculative salary numbers presented as guaranteed wages.

How to report bad data

Every detail page carries a report a correction link. You can also email the site operator (linked from /about) or open an issue on GitHub. See /corrections for what to include.