CHINA's Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) reports that automatic identification system (AIS) data from its coastal and inland waters will be made available to the public online and in real time.

AIS was introduced by the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to improve safety in the maritime traffic.

Henceforth, reports London's Digital Ship, users will be able to view transmissions from 35,000 ships a day, including data on location, speed and names of the vessels in Chinese waters.

The platform will also include weather and tidal information, as well as basic port details and integrated land and sea data. According to the MSA, statistical reports can be automatically generated based on user demand.

The data will be collected via China's 402 land-based AIS stations, one of the world's largest terrestrial networks.

In 2010, Sweden's Saab TransponderTech was awarded a contract to supply 150 AIS stations for China's inland waterway, including the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.

Also known as the Grand Canal of China, it is the world's oldest and longest man-made waterway, stretching over 1,795 kilometres.