AIS ship and cargo type · Tankers
AIS ship type 88: Tanker, reserved
Ship type 88 is reserved by the AIS standard and has no assigned meaning. Here is what it tells you when a vessel sends it anyway.
What code 88 means
Liquid bulk carriers: crude oil, refined product, chemical and gas tankers all share the 8x family. The units digit, where it is used, is the operator’s declaration about hazardous cargo, not the tanker’s design.
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
- Tens digit 8 → the tankers family, codes 80–89.
- Units digit 8 → reserved (no meaning is assigned to it yet).
- Therefore: Tanker, reserved.
Every code in the 80–89 range
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 80 | Tanker |
| 81 | Tanker, hazardous category A |
| 82 | Tanker, hazardous category B |
| 83 | Tanker, hazardous category C |
| 84 | Tanker, hazardous category D |
| 85 | Tanker, reserved |
| 86 | Tanker, reserved |
| 87 | Tanker, reserved |
| 88 | Tanker, reserved |
| 89 | Tanker, 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.