AIS ship type 29: Wing-in-ground (WIG) craft, no additional information

What code 29 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.

A units digit of 9 means "no additional information": the operator has set the family and explicitly declined to say anything about the cargo. Read it the same as the plain family code.

Reading the two digits

1. Tens digit 2 → the wing-in-ground (wig) craft family, codes 20–29.
2. Units digit 9 → no additional information.
3. Therefore: Wing-in-ground (WIG) craft, no additional information.

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.