Ship station MMSI (MIDxxxxxx)

What it identifies

The ordinary case: an MMSI assigned to a ship’s radio station. The first three digits are the Maritime Identification Digits (MID) of the administration that issued the number, and the remaining six identify the ship within that registry. Ship-station MIDs start with 2 to 7, which gives the region at a glance — 2 Europe; 3 the Americas north of South America; 4 Asia, including the Middle East; 5 Oceania and Southeast Asia; 6 Africa; 7 South America.

How to read it

This is the only format where the first three digits are the flag. The number follows the current registration, so a ship that reflags gets a new MMSI; the IMO number, where there is one, is the identity that survives.

Does it give a flag?

Yes — the MID in digits 1 to 3 identifies the registry that issued the number.

Every vessel page on this site works this out before printing a flag. Where the MMSI is not a ship station, the page names the kind of station instead — a wrong flag is worse than an honest “this is a coast station”.

All MMSI formats

Have a number to check? The MMSI decoder applies these rules to any nine digits. For the background, read Reading an MMSI.