Q: What’s new compared to the previous version?

A: There's plenty more in Global Shipping 24

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• More ships in the water

• Land on over 15,000 of them!

• Better in-flight performance

• Faster load times

• More variants

• Localised Traffic

• Enhanced high-density regions

• Interactive ship map

• Re-engineered for MSFS2024 using our new internal toolchain

​Q: Does Global Shipping 2024 rely on live ship traffic?

A: No.
All shipping traffic is fully offline and pre-programmed, so it remains consistent, stable, and visible regardless of live data availability or model-matching limitations.

Q: How many ships are included?

A: Many tens of thousands of ships are placed globally across real-world shipping routes, including mid-ocean corridors, major trade lanes, chokepoints, and port approaches. You can see the scale on the Interactive Map!

Q: Are there moving, landable ships?

A: Yes — At launch over 15,000 ships are fully landable, and the Interactive Map clearly labels vessels that support landing or helicopter operations. As we continue to update the models more will be available to land on. For the smoothest landing, try calmer sea conditions, as MSFS2024's new water physics can make landings more dynamic in rougher waves.

Q: Do the ships use real-world data?

A: Yes — Global Shipping 24's routes are based on historical AIS position data from real-world ships and includes a select set of handcrafted, enhanced areas too. It's also fully offline (i.e. not real-time), ensuring:
 

• Global coverage

• Predictable behaviour

• No reliance on external API uptime

• No dependency on external data quality or coverage

• No model matching issues
   

This allows you to experience traffic today, and long-term regardless of live traffic service status.

Q: Are the models new?

A: Vessels: Global Shipping 24 uses the same high-quality Vessels Core Library — but the set has increased from 54 variants in Global Shipping to over 90 in Global Shipping 24, covering the majority of commercial vessels found on real-world oceans and major trade routes. More are coming in post-launch updates too.

Q: What other features do the ships have?

A: The ships include night lighting/navigation lighting, plus wake and smoke effects. Some of them have animated, rotating radars too.

Q: What is the interactive map?

A: It’s a web-based map showing every ship’s starting location, coordinates, vessel type, and whether the ship is landable or helicopter-friendly.
It’s designed to help pilots plan flights, missions, and oceanic routes more easily.

Q: Do the ships impact performance?

A: Performance was a core design requirement.
We use models with LODs and a distributed global placement system. In internal testing, we consistently achieved a low impact on FPS with no noticable load-time penalties.

Q: Are the ships tied to the sim date/time?

A: No. To ensure fast loading times, ship positions are not calculated based on the simulator’s date or time. This allows you to start flying quickly without waiting for traffic data to be generated.

Q: Why release a new version instead of patching the 2020 Global Shipping product?

A: MSFS2024 introduced major changes to the world simulation system, including how the AI traffic worked, water physics and sea level. Even with fixes to MSFS2024's AI traffic systems, the original Global Shipping would still not be fully compatible with MSFS2024 due to changes we had to make for MSF2020's sea level implementation.

In response to requests for an FS2024 version, and to improve reliability and long-term support, we built Global Shipping 24 from the ground up using our new internal toolchain. This allows us to deliver faster updates and supports compatibility with MSFS2024 today and into the future.

Q: Why place ships in the middle of the ocean?

A: Because real-world shipping routes often cross thousands of miles of open ocean.
Long-haul sim pilots, airline captains, and oceanic flyers specifically asked for mid-ocean traffic to make long journeys more immersive.​

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Performance testing shows that these placements have no measurable impact on FPS or load times, so global realism was the clear design choice.

Q: What types of ships are included?

A: Cargo, LNG, bulk carriers, cruise ship, trawlers, vehicle carriers, livestock carriers, oil tankers, crane ships, dredgers, and more — in over 90 optimized variants.

​Q: Will these ships work with MSFS2024’s future live traffic system?

A: Our offline system is independent and will continue to provide global coverage regardless of the status of future live shipping systems.

​Q: What Ship Traffic settings should I use?

A: Unlike the original version, Global Shipping 24's traffic levels aren't linked to the ship traffic settings. You just install it and see the maximum amount of traffic all the time. This not only makes setup easier, it also makes the most of the performance improvements that come with the new addon.

Q: Will existing owners get a discount?

A: Yes — anyone who owns the 2020 version of Global Shipping receives a £5 (~$7) loyalty discount for Global Shipping 24 from their original store. Note that you must be logged in to your store account for the discount to show. Some stores are providing a unique voucher code for you to apply.

Q: I purchased from another store - Can I get the upgrade from you?

A: We do not have access to personal order data for any of our partner stores so are unable to verify purchases outside of seafrontsims.com. However, we have asked our partners (MSFS Marketplace, Orbx, Contail and JustFlight) to apply the loyalty discount.

Q: Why is Global Shipping 24 priced higher than the original currently is?

A: Global Shipping 24 is priced the same as the original launch price from over four years ago. The original version was permanently reduced to £9.99 with the launch of MSFS2024. The new version adds refreshed features, more ships, and optimized performance — all at the same historical launch price.

Q: What will happen with the original Vessels: Global Shipping?

A: The original version of Global Shipping will remain available for MSFS2020, so you can continue to enjoy it. However, all new feature development is focused on Global Shipping 24 for MSFS2024. This ensures we can deliver the best possible experience with the latest tools, performance improvements, and new features moving forward.

Q: Why aren’t ferries included in Global Shipping 2024?

A: Global Shipping 24 focuses on large-scale global commercial traffic — cargo ships, tankers, bulk carriers, trawlers, LNG vessels, dredgers, cruise ships, and more — covering major oceanic and coastal trade routes worldwide.
 

Ferries, by contrast, are typically regional services with localised routes. Because these networks vary significantly from country to country, we include ferries as part of our dedicated regional packs, where we can model:
 

• the correct vessel types,

• the actual routes,

• and the unique local operations they follow.
   

This ensures that ferry traffic is accurate, location-specific, and not generic or placeholder.
 

Global Shipping 24 and our regional packs are fully compatible, allowing pilots to layer detailed local ferry systems., populated marinas and leisure traffic on top of global commercial shipping.

Q: Why is this a paid product if I already bought the 2020 version?

A: This isn’t an update — it’s a rebuild.
MSFS2024 required entirely new traffic logic, data structures, and placement systems. We've removed all of the old code from this version. The new version includes thousands more ships in the water, more variants, and fully re-engineered compatibility.

See "Will existing owners get a discount?"

Q: Is installation still simple?

A: Yes - First, ensure you have the free Vessels Core Library* installed from the MSFS Marketplace, one of our partner stores or here.

Next, you install Vessels: Global Shipping 24 just like any other addon. There's no further configuration needed.
 

Unlike the previous versions traffic volume is not tied to any settings in the sim's options, giving you maximum traffic at all times without the hassle of configuration.

*The Vessels Core Library is free but use is subject to our End-User Licence Agreement and exclusively for Seafront Simulations addons.

Q: Will the model library grow even more?

A: Yes. We plan to expand the model library even more.
Global Shipping 24 already includes a curated and optimised set of over 90 MSFS-native ship variants (up from 54 in the original), covering the majority of commercial vessels found on real-world oceans and major trade routes. Our focus is on delivering detailed models whilst maintaining global coverage, a smooth experience and fast load times.