Taiwan Strait Live
Every vessel threading the Taiwan Strait, on one live map. One of the world's busiest shipping arteries — carrying a large share of East Asian container trade between the South China Sea and the East China Sea, past the coasts of Fujian and Taiwan.
Live vessel positions
Open full-screen ↗How busy is the Taiwan Strait?
The Taiwan Strait is one of the world's busiest shipping arteries, carrying a large share of the container trade that serves East Asia. Container ships, tankers and bulk carriers move through it constantly, between the South China Sea to the south and the East China Sea to the north. The live map above shows every vessel with an active AIS signal, updated each minute.
Why the Taiwan Strait matters
The Taiwan Strait separates mainland China's Fujian province from the island of Taiwan, linking the South China Sea with the East China Sea. A very large share of the container traffic that serves East Asia passes through or near it, alongside tankers and bulk carriers bound for ports across the region. It is not a canal and not a treaty-regulated waterway — it is an international strait, much of it framed by the median-line arrangement that sits at the centre of cross-strait tensions.
This page exists because that flow deserves a free, public, real-time view — not buried behind a maritime-intelligence subscription. Watch the map. The ships are still moving.
What you're seeing on the map
- Every vessel inside the Taiwan Strait bounding box, between the South China Sea and the East China Sea, with an active AIS signal.
- Vessel type — tanker, bulk, container, cargo, sailing — colour-coded.
- Direction and speed — heading arrows and speed colours show northbound vs southbound transit.
- Live refresh every 60 seconds on the public feed.
For voyage history, sanction status, ownership chain, and cargo inference, sign in to the Strait Up Maritime app.
Geography
The Taiwan Strait is a broad channel separating the Chinese mainland from Taiwan. It is roughly 180 km wide on average, narrowing to about 130 km at its tightest point, and runs between the South China Sea to the south and the East China Sea to the north. Unlike the Suez or Panama canals it is not an artificial waterway, and unlike the Turkish Straits it is not governed by a dedicated treaty. Seasonal typhoons and the East Asian monsoon shape conditions across much of the year.
About the data
Vessel positions come from terrestrial and satellite AIS reception, aggregated across multiple providers and de-duplicated. The public live feed is delayed approximately 60 to 180 seconds from broadcast and covers the public Taiwan Strait bounding box only. Commercial users with a paid plan get unredacted access including vessel detail, voyage history, draught classification, sanctions context, and ownership chain.
AIS data is broadcast openly by vessels under the SOLAS V/19 carriage requirement. We aggregate, refresh, and visualise it — we don't operate the broadcasting infrastructure.
Frequently asked questions
How busy is the Taiwan Strait?
The Taiwan Strait is one of the world's busiest shipping arteries, carrying a large share of the container trade that serves East Asia between the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Container ships, tankers and bulk carriers move through it continuously.
How wide is the Taiwan Strait?
The Taiwan Strait is about 180 km wide on average and narrows to roughly 130 km at its tightest point, separating mainland China's Fujian province from the island of Taiwan.
Is the Taiwan Strait an international waterway?
The Taiwan Strait is an international strait, not a canal or treaty-regulated waterway. Much of it is framed by the median-line arrangement that sits at the centre of cross-strait tensions between mainland China and Taiwan.
How current is the data on this page?
The live map refreshes every 60 seconds from aggregated AIS reception. End-to-end latency from a vessel's actual broadcast to its dot moving on the map is typically 60 to 180 seconds. The hero counter above updates each time you reload the page.
Is this free to use?
Yes. The live map is free and requires no account. If you need vessel detail, voyage history, sanctions context, ownership chain, or draught/cargo inference, those sit behind a paid plan at Strait Up Maritime.
Other chokepoints we cover
The Taiwan Strait is one of several maritime chokepoints under continuous observation across Strait Up Maritime. Each has its own live page; the same dataset powers all of them.