AIS ship type 25: Wing-in-ground (WIG) craft, reserved

What code 25 means

Wing-in-ground craft fly a few metres above the surface on the cushion of air trapped between a wing and the water. They are rare in service. Because the craft are rare, a 2x code on what is plainly an ordinary hull is worth reading as a likely configuration error rather than as a WIG craft.

Units digits 5 to 8 are reserved for future use in the qualified families. The standard gives them no meaning, so we report the family and say plainly that the qualifier is undefined rather than guessing.

Reading the two digits

1. Tens digit 2 → the wing-in-ground (wig) craft family, codes 20–29.
2. Units digit 5 → reserved (no meaning is assigned to it yet).
3. Therefore: Wing-in-ground (WIG) craft, reserved.

Every code in the 20–29 range

What the code is not

The ship-and-cargo type is typed into the transponder by whoever installs or operates it. No authority checks it against the ship’s certificates, and it is broadcast in the static report every six minutes whether or not it is right. It describes what the operator says the vessel is, not what it is doing — that is the job of the navigational status.

For the whole decade structure in one read, see AIS ship type codes explained.