Your Sanctions Audit Trail Has to Survive a Ten-Year Lookback
At a Glance OFAC Doubled the Retention Period in 2025 On March 12, 2025, OFAC’s extended recordkeeping requirement took effect, doubling the retention period for records of transactions subject to its regulations from five years to ten. The final rule followed an interim rule published in September 2024 and adopted it without change. The driver…
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Panama Canal Restrictions Are Landing on an Already Broken Chokepoint Map
At a Glance The Canal Is Cutting Capacity in the Wrong Season The Panama Canal Authority will run nine daily slots at the Neopanamax locks and 25 at the Panamax locks from September 4, averaging 34 transits per day. That falls again on September 15, when the limit drops to 32 ships. The canal had…
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Five Phrases That Signal Your Screening Workflow Needs an API
At a Glance The Complaints Are Workflow Signals, Not Performance Problems Vessel inquiry volume has outgrown the headcount reviewing it, and every inquiry still passes through a person. Four more phases carry the same weight, though each points to a different problem. Volume, speed, record-keeping, consistency. Separate problems, produced by one condition: a screening process…
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The Cocaine Is Below the Waterline and the Crew Has No Idea
At a Glance A Concealment Method That Doesn’t Need the Ship’s Cooperation Windward MIOC has documented 20 confirmed cases of narcotics concealed inside vessel sea chests since 2017, linking Latin American origin ports to destinations in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Oceania, and North America. Cumulative seizures across those cases exceed 2 tonnes. At least one case involved…
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