Early Detection: a New Crystal Ball for Emerging Maritime Anomalies  

The Windward Early Detection solution has launched. It is a game-changing, AI-based solution that reveals the unknown unknowns (unanticipated threats and patterns) and delivers early intelligence and business insights on pivotal events, geopolitical shifts, supply chain disruptions, and covert operations. 

“Intelligence is power, and those with the earliest data and insights inevitably lead the market.  Early Detection acts like a crystal ball, eliminating the surprise and chaos around evolving trends or events providing our customers with an unprecedented advantage,” says Ami Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of Windward. 

Let’s dive deeper…

Rumsfeld Was Right on Unknown Unknowns? 

During a news briefing way back in 2002, United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was widely mocked for saying, “There are unknown unknowns.”  

Jamie McIntyre, the reporter who drew out the quote, told The Atlantic: “I remember some people were portraying it as some sort of gaffe—some bit of nonsense he had said that was convoluted and didn’t make any sense.”

But leaving aside his politics and whether he was being evasive, Rumsfeld was technically right! There are unknown unknowns and it is important to try to anticipate them. That is now possible in the maritime sphere thanks to Windward Early Detection. 

Why Detecting Emerging Anomalies is Difficult

The maritime and logistics industries face significant challenges, including a lack of expert manpower, an enormous surface area to monitor, unpredictable weather, geopolitical changes, and a shortage of timely intelligence. These are situations with no prior data or indicators, making it difficult to identify emerging risks or anomalies until they have already occurred. 

The world is becoming increasingly volatile and unpredictable – Houthi attacks, ever-evolving sanctions, extreme weather events, etc. – and a new approach to risk mitigation and management is critical. Government and commercial organizations relying on the same methods and tactics are bound to stay behind. 

Technology and Gen AI are crucial to move organizations beyond what is known, away from the dependence on pre-existing knowledge or assumptions. Knowledge is power and those with the earliest data and insights inevitably lead the market and ensure their resilience. Early Detection eliminates the surprise and chaos around evolving trends or events, providing organizations with an unprecedented advantage. 

Introducing Early Detection and What It Does

Early Detection, coupled with MAI Expert™, Windward’s generative AI-powered virtual analyst, equips commercial and governmental stakeholders with a competitive advantage with early identification of critical events, and delivers both the context and recommendations necessary for swift and informed action. 

The solution analyzes vast amounts of maritime data to spot irregular activities, empowering organizations to passively uncover anomalies or new trends automatically with no required user input. The capability alerts stakeholders to global events that would otherwise remain hidden, such as an increase in vessels loitering in specific locations, or a surge in ships changing their flags even before the cause is apparent.  

Early Detection utilizes Windward’s proprietary data enhanced with multiple open-source data streams, including news, social media, and in the future, extreme weather and refinery outages (and other data sources of relevance and importance). This enables linking anomalies with relevant external data, providing real-time insights and context as events unfold.

MAI Expert™ offers multiple expert agents per vertical, so that users gain contextual insights into the anomalies detected as they occur. When Early Detection identifies an anomaly, MAI Expert™ provides possible relevant, contextualized causes, such as illegal trafficking, weather changes, or economic shifts, and recommended actions. Users can understand potential underlying factors driving the unusual activities and be the first to respond to them, whether that is marking an area of interest, launching an investigation, or taking immediate action.

Who Can Benefit?

For governments, intelligence agencies, and law enforcement, Early Detection revolutionizes maritime surveillance by providing leads to analysts about activities that warrant investigation. The most complex challenge of all is finding the unknown unknowns (unanticipated threats).

Early Detection highlights unusual vessel movements, new congregations of vessels, sudden changes in ship registrations, and other anomalies that could indicate security threats or illegal activities. MAI Expert™ then provides the context, such as sanctions evasion, trafficking or illegal fishing. By providing timely, actionable intelligence, Early Detection and MAI Expert™ enable the public sector to focus their resources more effectively, enhancing national security and maritime law enforcement efforts.

Commercial customers – including shippers, insurers, traders, freight forwarders, and bunkering companies – can leverage Early Detection and MAI Expert™ to proactively identify business opportunities and mitigate risks. The capability alerts users to events like sudden increases in port congestion, or shifts in shipping routes, allowing them to leverage Early Detection for financial advantage. 

For example, if vessels begin rerouting to avoid specific areas and opt for longer, safer routes as seen during the Red Sea Crisis earlier this year, bunkering companies can strategically position services along these new paths to meet emerging demand. By understanding these trends and anomalies, businesses can optimize efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance profitability.

Your Crystal Ball

“Not only does this innovative tool highlight unexpected activities at sea, but coupled with MAI Expert™, it also provides the possible context behind these anomalies and the action that needs to be taken,” continued Ami. “This empowers our public sector clients with new potential targets and our commercial clients with actionable business intelligence, allowing them to be ahead of the competition, make informed decisions and act swiftly and efficiently. We’re excited to bring this game-changing tool to the industry, furthering our mission to revolutionize global trade with AI.”

I Need a Crystal Ball!