Southampton Ships (southamptonships.org) is built and operated independently by Rod, a private individual, not a company. For the purposes of UK data protection law, Rod is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

Southampton Ships is not affiliated with Southampton Port Authority, Associated British Ports, or any other entity referenced on the site.

Southampton Ships does not require you to create an account or provide personal information to use the site. We collect information in the following ways:

Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site, such as which pages are viewed, how long visitors stay, and general location and device information (derived from IP address and browser data). Google Analytics uses cookies to do this. See "Cookies" below.

Server logs. Like most websites, our hosting infrastructure automatically logs technical information such as IP address, browser type, and request timestamps, for security and troubleshooting purposes.

Local storage. Your dark mode preference is saved in your browser's local storage. This stays on your device and is never sent to us.

Information you provide. If you email us, such as to request API access or report an issue, we will hold your email address and the contents of your message for as long as needed to respond and keep a reasonable record of the correspondence.

Google Analytics. Sets cookies to distinguish visitors and measure site usage. These cookies are set by Google and are subject to Google's own privacy policy.

YouTube embeds. The Live Webcams page embeds video streams hosted on YouTube. When a video loads or plays, YouTube (Google) may set its own cookies and collect data about that interaction, independently of this site. This happens whether or not you interact with the video player.

We do not currently show a cookie consent banner. If you would prefer not to be tracked, you can block or delete cookies using your browser settings, though this may affect how embedded videos behave.

We rely on legitimate interests to process analytics data, specifically our interest in understanding and improving the site. Where you contact us directly, we process your message on the basis of legitimate interests in responding to you, or to take steps at your request before entering into an arrangement, such as granting API access.

Ship positions, port and cruise schedules, weather, and webcam data shown on Southampton Ships are built from a number of external sources, credited in full on the Acknowledgements page. These sources are not sent any personal data about visitors to this site; they are used only to retrieve public shipping and weather information.

Analytics data is shared with Google as our analytics provider. Video and cookie data generated by embedded videos is collected directly by YouTube (Google) as described above. We do not sell or rent personal data to anyone, and we do not share it with any other third party except where required by law.

Google may process analytics and embedded video data on servers located outside the UK, including in the United States. Google provides appropriate safeguards for these transfers, such as the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

Analytics data is retained by Google in line with our Google Analytics account settings. Emails and correspondence are kept for as long as is reasonably necessary to deal with the matter raised, after which they are deleted.

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to request access to, correction of, or erasure of personal data we hold about you, to object to or restrict how it is processed, and to request that it be provided to you in a portable format. Where processing depends on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Southampton Ships is a general-audience site and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

We take reasonable technical measures to protect any information we hold, but no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to the site or to data protection law. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please get in touch using the Contact link in the footer.