Portbook Sea Ports

Every World Port, in your pocket with no signal — depths, berths, pilotage, 9,024 ISPS terminals (GISIS) and a world chart that needs no network.

A reference to the world's seaports that keeps working when the signal does not.

Every one of the 3,804 ports in the NGA World Port Index is on the device — not cached, not synced, not waiting on a server. So are 9,024 ISPS terminals, a searchable index, and a vector chart of the whole world.

WHAT IS IN A PORT RECORD

103 fields, straight from the World Port Index:

• Channel, anchorage, cargo pier, oil and LNG terminal depths • Maximum vessel length, beam and draft, onshore and offshore • Harbour size, type and shelter afforded; tidal range • Entrance restrictions — tide, heavy swell, ice, overhead limits • Pilotage: compulsory, available, advisable, local assistance • Tugs, traffic separation, vessel traffic service, turning area • Cargo facilities: container, Ro-Ro, breakbulk, solid and liquid bulk, oil, LNG • Cranes and lifts by capacity; repairs, dry dock, marine railway • Supplies: fuel oil, diesel, potable water, provisions, deck and engine stores • Quarantine, first port of entry, medical, waste and ballast disposal • Chart numbers and the Sailing Directions volume that covers the port

Fields the survey never recorded are hidden rather than shown as "no". A blank is not a zero, and the app never pretends otherwise.

TERMINALS AND GISIS CODES

9,024 ISPS port facilities across 1,785 ports, each with the number it is registered under in IMO GISIS. Rotterdam alone lists 120.

Search a berth by its name or by its code. "Waalhaven" finds Rotterdam. "NLRTM-0002" finds one specific terminal. "Steinweg" finds twelve, in four ports and three countries.

A CHART THAT WORKS WITH NO NETWORK

With a connection you get satellite imagery. Without one the app draws its own chart from vector data in the bundle: coastlines, borders, lakes, and the names of countries, cities, seas and straits — Bosporus, Bab el Mandeb, the Strait of Gibraltar, Drake Passage.

It has a night palette that follows the system appearance: a near-black ground and dim ink, because a chart that glows costs the watchkeeper their night vision.

All 3,804 ports sit on one map, clustered. Tap a cluster to drop into it.

HARBOUR DETAIL, DOWNLOADED

A 1:50m coastline is kilometres wide of the truth at berth scale. For any port you care about, download about 20 km of harbour detail from OpenStreetMap: quays, piers, breakwaters, dock basins and canals, drawn on the offline chart. Rotterdam is under a megabyte.

Downloads refresh themselves roughly once a month over Wi-Fi. A failed refresh keeps the copy you already have — a chart from last month beats no chart at all.

SEARCH AND FILTER

Search by port name, alternate name, UN/LOCODE, country, region, terminal name or GISIS code. Filter by harbour size, minimum channel depth, pilotage, and ten kinds of terminal.

Every port carries its full UN/LOCODE record from UNECE: the official spelling, the administrative subdivision, whether the location is also a rail, road or air terminal, and how firmly the code is established.

PRIVACY

No account. No tracking. No advertising. No analytics. Nothing is collected, because nothing needs to be.

WHAT NEEDS A CONNECTION

The port database, the world chart, downloaded harbour detail and your saved ports all work with no network whatsoever. Satellite imagery, downloading harbour detail, and opening a Sailing Directions PDF are the three things that need one.

SOURCES

• NGA World Port Index (Pub 150) — a US Government work in the public domain • UN/LOCODE, published by UNECE • Natural Earth — public domain • Harbour detail © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL • ISPS terminal list from IMO GISIS

NOT FOR NAVIGATION

This is a reference, not a navigational aid. It is not an electronic chart system and it does not replace official charts, Notices to Mariners, or the judgement of the master. Data quality varies: the World Port Index is a survey record, and some entries are decades old.