AIS ship and cargo type · High-speed craft (HSC)
AIS ship type 49: High-speed craft, no additional information
Ship type 49 is the high-speed craft (hsc) family, units digit 9: no additional information. What it means, what it does not, and how many vessels we can hear sending it right now.
What code 49 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 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
- Tens digit 4 → the high-speed craft (hsc) family, codes 40–49.
- Units digit 9 → no additional information.
- Therefore: High-speed craft, no additional information.
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.