The Trump administration continues to quickly change and adapt its tariff program, with significant changes announced this month to its tariff policies targeting Chinese vessels docking at U.S. ports. This marks another escalation in ongoing trade tensions, specifically designed to help the U.S.: Let’s take a quick look at what has changed, what it means...
The European Union has taken a major step in its ongoing campaign against the shadow fleet – a sprawling network of aging, uninsured, and often sanctioned vessels quietly operating in European waters. The European Commission amended the Vessel Monitoring Directive to require all vessels passing through EU waters – even those not calling at an...
Deceptive shipping practices are tactics employed by bad actors to avoid detection and possible sanctions. But why are maritime stakeholders under the spotlight? The reason that regulators continuously shift increasing responsibility on due diligence towards the maritime ecosystem is because shipping plays a significant role in the global supply chain. This fact hasn’t been overlooked by regulators, as they. The recent advisory from U.S. authorities has, for the first time, detailed the responsibilities and expectations that private businesses connected to the maritime sector must adhere to.
OFAC numbered seven deceptive shipping practices that should be part of an effective compliance process. But simply knowing about them is not enough. How do you identify deceptive shipping practices with traditional matching tools? Well, you can’t. Bad actors today have become experts of their craft and the only way to keep up is with dynamic, AI-powered tools.
As trade sanctions increase, knowing which vessels you can safely do business with is of growing importance across the wider business environment. Today, it is not enough to “Know Your Customer” (KYC); you need to “Know Your Vessel” (KYV). And only strong tools are capable of identifying real-time risk factors at the vessel level.
We recently published a guide on exactly what executives need to know when it comes to deceptive shipping practices. Below are some key takeaways:
New decade, new standards – recent advisories published by U.S. and U.K authorities have raised the bar for players across the supply chain
Goodbye matching tools – Identifying deceptive shipping practices is drastically different from traditional sanctions list screening.
By analyzing vessel behaviors, organizations can proactively identify counterparties that may expose them to sanctions risk.
A sophisticated regulatory environment calls for a sophisticated solution. So what should you do? Onboard more tools and train more staff? The resulting costs and resources, without necessarily more accuracy, can outweigh the benefits. To help our partners manage at risk at scale, Windward automatically vets risk, while accounting for hundreds of risk factors in real-time.
Get the guide to learn more.
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How Will Trump’s Changing Tariffs Be Monitored & Enforced?
The Trump administration continues to quickly change and adapt its tariff program, with significant changes announced this month to its tariff policies targeting Chinese vessels docking at U.S. ports. This marks another escalation in ongoing trade tensions, specifically designed to help the U.S.: Let’s take a quick look at what has changed, what it means…
The European Union has taken a major step in its ongoing campaign against the shadow fleet – a sprawling network of aging, uninsured, and often sanctioned vessels quietly operating in European waters. The European Commission amended the Vessel Monitoring Directive to require all vessels passing through EU waters – even those not calling at an…
The Need to Know Your Vessel (KYV™) is Highlighted in OFAC’s 2025 Advisory
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a new maritime sanctions advisory on April 16, 2025, that signals a pivotal shift in compliance expectations. The update doesn’t just revisit the deceptive shipping practices (DSPs) introduced in 2020, it expands the scope of what regulators consider red-flag behavior, particularly in connection with Iranian…
Explaining the Surge in Cargo-Vessel Port Calls to Syria
A significant anomaly in maritime activity was detected in Syrian waters last week (April 14-21, 2025), with 28 unique cargo vessels making port calls. This represents a 56% increase above the expected value of 18 vessels and exceeds the normal range of activity for the area. This spike follows a period of gradually increasing maritime…
5 Key Findings & Implications from RUSI’s Taskforce’s Last Report
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Maritime Sanctions Taskforce published its second meeting report at the beginning of 2025, offering an in-depth analysis of the evolving dynamics of the shadow fleet. This comprehensive document sheds light on the sophisticated methods employed by the fleet to circumvent international sanctions, particularly those targeting Russia and Iran. For…
Five Critical Data Security Considerations for Selecting a Maritime AI™ Partner
The Lesson in DeepSeek’s AI Data Leak… Data security and integrity have always been important, but with the rapid rise of generative AI, they’re now critical across industries. AI-powered insights and automation will only be as accurate, reliable, and effective as the data that is fed into systems and agents. Entrusting sensitive data to autonomous…
The Journey to Success: Celebrating Windward’s 200th Customer Milestone
Windward is proud to announce a significant milestone in our journey: reaching 200 customers. The success we have achieved for and with our ocean freight, trading and shipping, and government customers stems from our ability to provide innovative technology and services that produce AI-powered, actionable insights. Customers choose Windward and then stay with us for...
Webinar: Russia’s Invasion Impact on Maritime Deception and Ecosystem
Windward’s webinar brought together a diverse group of experts to cut through the noise around the impact of Russia’s war on the diverse maritime ecosystem. Exclusive data from Windward’s Maritime AI™ platform, along with insights from the industry-expert guests, enabled the sharing of unique perspectives. The webinar was filled with actionable tactics and ideas that...
Navigating deception: the impact of Russia’s invasion on the maritime ecosystem
Windward’s webinar brought together a diverse group of experts to cut through the noise around the impact of Russia’s war on the diverse maritime ecosystem. Exclusive data from Windward’s Maritime AI™ platform, along with insights from the industry-expert guests, enabled the sharing of unique perspectives. The webinar was filled with actionable tactics and ideas that...
By Irit Singer, Chief Marketing Officer, Windward 2022 was the year that the maritime ecosystem collectively realized that there is simply too much raw data for manual parsing and the landscape changes too rapidly. The world seemed to go crazy: Coronavirus and closures…war, sanctions, and a price cap…new deceptive shipping practices…plummeting ocean freight prices and...
