LIVE CAMERA NETWORK
Ferry Tracker — Live Ferries & Terminal Cameras
Washington State Ferries, BC Ferries and the Staten Island Ferry: the boats live on AIS, the docks on camera. Positions, not timetables — free, no signup.
A ferry is the most trackable vessel in any harbour: it runs the same water on a loop, it is big, it is named, and it announces itself. Every ferry on AIS broadcasts its name, position and destination continuously — and the great ferry systems sail from docks that public camera networks already watch. This tracker joins the two: the boats, live by name, and the terminal cameras at the docks they serve.
Three systems qualify on evidence. Washington State Ferries is the flagship — its state DOT publishes a camera at essentially every dock. BC Ferries sails identifiable Queens, Spirits and Salish-class boats past real terminal cameras at Departure Bay and Horseshoe Bay — and its three biggest terminals have no camera at all, which its page states rather than pads. The Staten Island Ferry has no camera inside either terminal, and says so; its page walls the harbour it crosses instead. Systems that failed the evidence rule — a real vessel path and real cameras — are not here.
Washington State Ferries — 130 cameras, 11 terminal walls
Washington State Ferries runs the largest ferry system in the United States, and it is the rare operator whose terminals are already on camera: Washington's DOT publishes a camera at essentially every dock in the network — the holding lanes, the toll booths, the terminal approaches. This page gathers them all, dock by dock, and pairs them with the boats themselves, tracked live by the names they broadcast on AIS.
Loading live cameras…Fetching the live index for Colman Dock, Seattle.
Every card is the camera's real live feed: snapshot cards refresh about every 15 seconds, stream cards play live in the grid (a few at a time, the same budget the map tiles use) and in full when you open a camera. Feeds are provided by their operators and public sources; a camera whose stream has gone off air shows as unavailable rather than playing a recording.
Open the Washington State Ferries tracker — live fleet panel & all terminal walls →
BC Ferries — 17 cameras, 2 terminal walls
BC Ferries is one of the largest ferry operators on Earth, running the Inside Passage and the straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland — and its boats are as identifiable on AIS as any fleet afloat: the Queens, the Spirits, the Coastal class, the Salish class, each broadcasting its own name. The live panel above lists the ones reporting now, matched by those names inside BC waters.
Loading live cameras…Fetching the live index for Departure Bay, Nanaimo.
Every card is the camera's real live feed: snapshot cards refresh about every 15 seconds, stream cards play live in the grid (a few at a time, the same budget the map tiles use) and in full when you open a camera. Feeds are provided by their operators and public sources; a camera whose stream has gone off air shows as unavailable rather than playing a recording.
Open the BC Ferries tracker — live fleet panel & all terminal walls →
Staten Island Ferry — 24 cameras, 1 terminal wall
The Staten Island Ferry makes the most famous short crossing in America: St. George to Whitehall, across the mouth of the Hudson, past the Statue of Liberty, free to ride and running around the clock. Its boats are named for New York — the Barberi, the Molinari, the Marchi, the Dorothy Day — and they announce those names on AIS like every vessel in the harbour. The live panel above lists the ones reporting now.
Loading live cameras…Fetching the live index for New York Harbor.
Every card is the camera's real live feed: snapshot cards refresh about every 15 seconds, stream cards play live in the grid (a few at a time, the same budget the map tiles use) and in full when you open a camera. Feeds are provided by their operators and public sources; a camera whose stream has gone off air shows as unavailable rather than playing a recording.
Open the Staten Island Ferry tracker — live fleet panel & all terminal walls →
How ferry tracking works here
- 1Each system's page opens with its live panel: the fleet as AIS hears it, vessel by vessel, nothing older than ten minutes admitted.
- 2Below the panel sit the terminal walls — the public cameras at the docks, each wall labelled with its own radius rule.
- 3A filling holding lane plus a boat on the panel slowing for the dock is the closest honest thing to a departure board.
- 4Gaps are printed, not padded: where a system has a terminal with no public camera, the page names it.
Ferry tracker — FAQ
How are the ferries identified?+
Can I see sailing times or book a ferry here?+
Why only three ferry systems?+
Is the ferry tracker free?+
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