A daily index of real maritime activity — built from physical ship movements (AIS), not surveys or freight prices. It measures how many cargo vessels are actually working the region's ports each day, indexed to a baseline of 100.
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Base 2019 = 100 · United States
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Methodology
What it measures
Distinct cargo vessels physically present in the region's ports each day — an intensive activity metric (one vessel counts once per day regardless of how many AIS pings it sends), so it's robust to changes in AIS coverage density.
Source
United States: NOAA historical AIS, 2018–2024. Europe: our own live AIS feed, updated daily. Both cross-referenced against port polygons. Raw AIS is never redistributed — only this derived index.
Construction
Daily activity → 7-day moving average (removes weekly seasonality) → indexed so the base period mean = 100. LMI = 100 × activity₇ / base. Each geography is indexed to its own base, so levels are comparable within a series over time, not across regions.
United States: 2018–2024 (base 2019), historical, updates when NOAA publishes further years. Europe: live from May 2026 (base = 2026 launch period) and growing daily — a young series that deepens over time. A global composite follows.
Updates
Europe updates daily from live AIS; the US series extends as NOAA releases newer years. A weekly summary release is planned.