All API methods are called via HTTPS by using the following URL template:
https://api.vesselfinder.com/<METHOD>?userkey=AABBCCDD¶m1=value1¶m2=value2....
On successful request API returns the requested information as JSON or XML. The HTTP status code is 200 (OK) for all successful requests and HTTP response headers contain several custom headers with additional information:
| Header | Description |
|---|---|
| X-API-EXPIRATION-DATE | Expiration date of your account |
| X-API-BALANCE-OLD | Credit balance before your request |
| X-API-CREDIT-COST | Credits charged for your request |
| X-API-BALANCE-NEW | Remaining credits after your request |
| X-API-ADDED-IMO | IMO numbers added to your list |
| X-API-ADDED-MMSI | MMSI numbers added to your list |
| X-API-DELETED-IMO | IMO numbers deleted from your list |
| X-API-DELETED-MMSI | MMSI numbers deleted from your list |
| X-API-REMAINING-SLOTS-OLD | Remaining list changes before your request |
| X-API-REMAINING-SLOTS-NEW | Remaining list changes after your request |
All Methods may return errors if the request contains wrong parameters or if the account is expired, blocked or out of credits. By default HTTP status code is 200 (OK) for all error responses if errormode parameter is not used (see next section)
{
"error":"ERROR DESCRIPTION"
}<error>ERROR DESCRIPTION</error>On error, HTTP response headers contain X-API-ERROR header with a short error description.
All requests may be called with errormode parameter:
errormode=409
When this parameter is used, HTTP returns status code 409 for all errors. The page content is in plain text and contains a short description of the error.