AIS ship and cargo type · High-speed craft (HSC)
AIS ship type 44: High-speed craft, hazardous category D
Ship type 44 is the high-speed craft (hsc) family, units digit 4: hazardous category D. What it means, what it does not, and how many vessels we can hear sending it right now.
What code 44 means
High-speed craft are the fast ferries, catamarans, hydrofoils and similar vessels built to the IMO High-Speed Craft Code. On a live plot they are the ones covering ground noticeably faster than the ships around them.
A units digit of 4 is the operator declaring hazardous category D cargo on board — the standard groups dangerous goods, harmful substances and marine pollutants into categories A to D. It is a voluntary, hand-entered declaration, not a manifest.
Reading the two digits
- Tens digit 4 → the high-speed craft (hsc) family, codes 40–49.
- Units digit 4 → hazardous category D.
- Therefore: High-speed craft, hazardous category D.
Every code in the 40–49 range
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 40 | High-speed craft |
| 41 | High-speed craft, hazardous category A |
| 42 | High-speed craft, hazardous category B |
| 43 | High-speed craft, hazardous category C |
| 44 | High-speed craft, hazardous category D |
| 45 | High-speed craft, reserved |
| 46 | High-speed craft, reserved |
| 47 | High-speed craft, reserved |
| 48 | High-speed craft, reserved |
| 49 | High-speed craft, no additional information |
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.