Executive brief #3 From AIS screening to behavior analysis

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) has profoundly changed our understanding of what is happening at sea, providing a deeper understanding of where ships are and where they are headed at all times. However, what AIS does not answer is: What is the ship doing? Why is it doing that? What is its importance?

A skilled analyst can answer that question, however, they may require hours or even days to do so. With the rise of false positives, this means transactions would slow down significantly, transforming compliance risks into operational risks.

Training artificial intelligence algorithms to conduct expert shipping analysis automatically speeds-up vessel due diligence processes and provides compliance professionals with always up-to-date recommendations. Such automation helps minimize false positives and maintain existing compliance frameworks and controls without needing additional domain experts.

Key takeaways

• AIS manipulations and sanctions evasion – Behavior analysis can shed light on the context of questionable activities at sea, generating valuable insights that can support decision making.
• Behavior analysis: The case of the Pacific Bravo – To determine whether or not a vessel was evading sanctions requires deep domain knowledge, expertise in sanctions evasion typologies, and above all, time.
• Scale up behavior analysis with artificial intelligence (AI) – Integrating advanced AI capabilities into vessel due diligence enables automatic clearance of low-risk events and flags suspicious patterns of behavior.

Download the full brief

Featured posts

IRAN WAR

Hormuz Traffic Falls as Military Pressure Intensifies

At a Glance Operational Overview The Strait of Hormuz remains operational, but increasingly constrained. While Iranian officials continue to characterize the Strait as closed, recent observations suggest a more nuanced reality. Commercial traffic continues to move, but at extremely low levels. Dark vessel activity remains persistent, military enforcement continues to expand, and maritime visibility across…

Read more

IRAN WAR

LPG Flows Test the Blockade as Hormuz Tightens

At a Glance Operational Overview The June 5–10 reporting period shows a maritime environment under tightening enforcement, but not full immobilization. While Iranian crude exports remain heavily constrained, limited LPG cargoes continue reaching South Asian markets through deceptive shipping practices. At the same time, U.S. enforcement is expanding geographically, commercial traffic through Hormuz is adjusting…

Read more

BORDER SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE

Why Russia’s Sanctioned Shadow Fleet Is Bypassing the English Channel

At a Glance Russian Tankers Repeatedly Bypass the English Channel Western-sanctioned tankers loading oil at Russian Baltic ports normally transit the English Channel as part of standard voyage routing. In the past 30 days, Windward tracked 84 Western-sanctioned tankers through the Channel — 44% flagged with Sierra Leone, 19% with Cameroon, and 18% with Russia….

Read more

IRAN WAR

Iranian Exports Collapse as Enforcement Pressure Widens

At a Glance Operational Overview The June 1–4 reporting period highlights three parallel developments: Iranian exports are collapsing under blockade pressure, enforcement against sanctioned vessels is becoming more kinetic, and maritime control activity across Hormuz remains elevated. Iranian crude and condensate exports fell to 186,000 barrels per day in May, down 84% from April and…

Read more

BORDER SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE

Why Customs Enforcement Is Moving from Document Screening to Behavioral Intelligence

At a Glance The Screening Model Customs Was Built On No Longer Holds For most of the last twenty years, customs enforcement has operated on a screening model. Cargo manifests arrive ahead of port call, risk scores are calculated against the declared origin, shipper, and route, and anomalies trigger inspection. The model worked while the…

Read more

BORDER SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE

Why Behavioral Intelligence Now Defines Subsea Cable Protection

At a Glance From Monitoring to Prevention For most of the past decade, cable protection meant monitoring. Operators watched the screen, generated alerts when a vessel of concern appeared near a cable, and responded after the fact when damage occurred.  The threat landscape has shifted in ways that existing tools and protocols were not designed…

Read more