January 7, 2026
Maritime Defense Weekly: U.S. Intervention in Venezuela and Maritime Risk
Elevate business resiliency and compliancy with decision-ready intelligence that verifies real-world behavior. Proactively manage exposure and enable smarter trading decisions with contextual multi-source insights.
Windward integrates LSEG WorldCheck sanctions lists and watchlists to provide real-time screening and compliance checks for vessels and counterparties. This ensures seamless adherence to global regulations and minimizes exposure to sanctioned entities.
Windward uses Gen AI and more than 15 proprietary AI-based models to detect illicit maritime activities, such as ship-to-ship transfers and GNSS manipulation. This allows you to proactively manage risk exposure and identify high-risk vessels before any official designation.
With access to LSEG WC1, Dun & Bradstreet, and Visualized Link Analysis (VLA), Windward provides a complete view of maritime and non-maritime entities, including Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO). This end-to-end due diligence helps uncover hidden risks and connections within complex ownership structures and third-party affiliations.
Windward lets you define tailored risk profiles for your operations. Whether static or dynamic, Windward’s configurable risk indicators automatically set defined risk scores or trigger indications, ensuring customized proactive risk management across your workflows.
At Windward, we are pioneers in translating maritime regulations into actionable, mission-grade AI models. From the moment a regulation is published, we are first to market with intelligence that reflects real-world maritime behavior – delivering predictive insights that flag 99% of sanctioned vessels before their official designation. With deep alignment to global regulations and advisories, Windward sets the gold standard for proactive compliance, accuracy, and time-to-market efficiency in the maritime industry.
Track and assess ship-to-ship transfers using behavioral classification, remote sensing intelligence, and contextual maritime signals to reveal operational risk and cargo movement exposures with higher confidence, and 94% accuracy in flagging illicit STS.
Windward uses patented deep learning models and behavioral analysis to flag dark activities and location (GNSS) manipulations. Windward identifies intentional, sanctions-related AIS spoofing with 75% fewer false positives, ensuring more accurate detection of vessels attempting to hide their true location or engage in illicit activities.
Assess vessel ownership structures and past flag registries to identify vessels linked to the shadow fleet or high-risk regimes. This helps prevent engaging with vessels involved in illicit activities or sanctions evasion.
Verify cargo origin through sequence search and Bill of Lading (BoL) verification. Windward ensures accurate vessel screening and cargo movements and voyage milestone accuracy for payment approvals, risk assessments and fraud identification.
Leverage MAI Expert™, a virtual maritime risk subject matter expert, to quickly identify risks, optimize resources, and standardize organizational communication to promote business growth with an industry-first, maritime-focused Gen AI prompts. Save 20 minutes per screening on average with:
Stay ahead of risks and never lose business with Windward’s WhatsApp mobile vessel screening. Instantly access compliance risk insights, and Gen AI-powered risk assessments from MAI Expert™ – right at your fingertips. Whether you’re traveling or away from your desk, make fast, informed decisions, take action in real time, and seamlessly share insights with your team – directly from your mobile device.
What is Windward’s Risk and Compliance solution?
Windward’s Risk and Compliance solution provides mission-grade maritime intelligence that verifies real-world vessel behavior, ownership, and trade activity. It enables organizations to proactively manage sanctions exposure, deceptive shipping risk, and counterparty due diligence using contextual, multi-source insights rather than static list checks.
How does Windward support sanctions compliance beyond traditional screening?
Traditional screening relies on static lists and point-in-time checks. Windward adds continuous behavioral monitoring, ownership transparency, and voyage analysis to detect how risk evolves over time. This allows teams to identify emerging exposure earlier and make defensible go/no-go decisions based on real operational activity at sea.
Which sanctions lists and data does Windward integrate?
Windward integrates LSEG WorldCheck sanctions and watchlists alongside Dun & Bradstreet data, proprietary maritime datasets, and curated open-source intelligence. These sources are fused with Windward’s Maritime AI™ models to deliver a complete, up-to-date compliance view across vessels and counterparties.
How does Windward detect deceptive shipping practices?
Windward uses more than 15 proprietary AI models to identify behaviors associated with sanctions evasion and illicit trade, including ship-to-ship transfers, AIS and GNSS manipulation, abnormal routing, and regime-linked movement patterns. These detections are grounded in behavioral analysis rather than isolated signals, reducing noise and false positives.
Can Windward identify sanctions-related risk before a vessel is officially sanctioned?
Windward’s behavioral intelligence surfaces elevated risk signals linked to sanctions exposure and evasive activity before formal designation occurs. By monitoring real-world vessel behavior continuously, organizations gain earlier visibility into potential exposure and can act with greater confidence as regulatory landscapes evolve.
How does Windward reduce false positives in compliance workflows?
Windward contextualizes every alert using behavioral history, ownership structures, voyage patterns, and corroborating signals. This layered approach enables more precise risk scoring and has demonstrated significantly fewer false positives in areas such as AIS spoofing and deceptive shipping detection.
How does Windward support counterparty due diligence and ownership analysis?
Windward delivers end-to-end counterparty due diligence by combining maritime and non-maritime entity data, including Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO), flag history, and ownership changes. Visualized Link Analysis reveals hidden connections across vessels, companies, and affiliates that may indicate elevated compliance or reputational risk.
Can organizations tailor risk profiles to their specific compliance requirements?
Yes. Windward allows teams to define organization-specific risk profiles aligned to their regulatory obligations, internal policies, and risk appetite. Risk indicators can be configured to trigger scores, alerts, or workflows dynamically, ensuring compliance decisions reflect operational reality rather than generic thresholds.
How does Windward’s Risk and Compliance solution incorporate document verification?
Windward integrates AI-powered Document Validation directly into its Risk and Compliance workflows, enabling teams to verify whether trade documents reflect real-world maritime behavior. Bills of Lading (BoLs) and other shipping documents are cross-checked against vessel movements, port calls, ship-to-ship activity, and ownership data, helping identify inconsistencies, fraud indicators, and hidden sanctions exposure before they become regulatory or financial risk.
How does Windward verify cargo origin and trade integrity?
Windward validates cargo origin by linking vessel behavior, port calls, ship-to-ship activity, and voyage sequencing with trade documentation such as Bills of Lading (BoLs). This helps confirm whether declared cargo journeys align with real-world activity, supporting fraud detection, payment approvals, and regulatory compliance.
How does Remote Sensing Intelligence support compliance decisions?
Remote Sensing Intelligence adds independent visual and signal-based confirmation through EO, SAR, and RF satellite data. It strengthens compliance decisions by validating vessel location, activity, and interactions at sea, particularly in cases involving dark activity, ship-to-ship transfers, or disputed voyage claims.
What role does MAI Expert™ play in Risk and Compliance workflows?
MAI Expert™ acts as a virtual maritime risk subject matter expert, helping teams interpret risk signals, generate clear summaries, and standardize internal and external communication. It accelerates screening, investigation, and escalation workflows while ensuring decisions remain consistent, explainable, and audit-ready.
How does Windward support auditability and regulatory scrutiny?
Every risk assessment, alert, and decision is logged with traceable data, behavioral context, and supporting evidence. This creates regulator-ready audit trails that demonstrate how risk was identified, evaluated, and managed over time, without relying on manual documentation or fragmented records.
Who typically uses Windward’s Risk and Compliance solution?
The solution is used by compliance, risk, legal, trade finance, insurance, energy, and trading teams that require continuous oversight of maritime exposure. It supports both commercial and government stakeholders operating in sanctions-heavy, high-risk, or highly regulated environments.
