port ship count throughput
What it checks
We count ships at major container ports from free satellite imagery; spikes signal a global trade-throughput pulse that propagates to shipping and consumer names.
Mechanism
Sentinel-2 imagery at 10m over 8 major container ports (LA/LB, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Felixstowe, Le Havre, Algeciras, Valencia) detects ships via a brightness-threshold heuristic over NDWI water masks. Daily global ship count z-scored over 252d; spikes broadcast as a global trade-throughput signal. Substrate gates surface logistics/shipping/consumer-discretionary names that actually react. Complementary to baltic_dry_ais_proxy (AIS catches broadcasting ships; Sentinel-2 catches dark ships).
Signal rule
Sentinel-2 daily global ship-count z>=1.0/1.5 over 252d, holds 10/20/60d, broadcast.
Data dependencies
daily_pricesAdjusted-close OHLCV for every US-listed ticker; primary price feed.
sentinel2_port_panelsWorker data table, see services/worker schema.
Expected edge
- Paper alpha
- 1-3%/yr
- Paper window
- 2015-present (Sentinel-2 launch)
1-3%/yr on logistics + consumer-discretionary cross-section.
Example tickers where this is likely to fire
Illustrative only, the signal fires based on the live data, not a fixed list.
Related families
Explore port ship count throughput on alphactor.ai
See which tickers this family is currently firing on, with live signals and rankings.