Windward

At a Glance Venezuela’s 2026 oil sector reform opens production to foreign investment and operational control but was driven by external political pressure, not internal stability. Shadow fleets, deceptive shipping …

The Week in Focus Maritime enforcement is moving from designation to action, with boardings, safety interventions, and access denial increasingly used across multiple regions rather than confined to a single …

Key Takeaways The 2026 National Defense Strategy treats maritime access as a continuous strategic condition , not a crisis response. , not a crisis response. Chokepoints, routes, and infrastructure function …

At a Glance The 2026 U.S. National Defense Strategy (NDS) places the maritime domain at the center of U.S. homeland defense and economic security. and economic security. Securing maritime approaches …

The Week in Focus U.S. maritime enforcement expanded beyond Venezuelan waters , with continued interdictions tied to oil sanctions signaling a shift from monitoring to physical enforcement at sea, regardless …

At a Glance False flagging has surged as sanctions pressure increases across oil and commodity trades. Shadow fleet operators are exploiting fraudulent and defunct registries to evade enforcement. These practices …

At a Glance In 2026, maritime enforcement has escalated with global tanker seizures under Operation Southern Spear and drone attacks targeting commercial traffic in the Black Sea. Vessels are increasingly …

The Week in Focus Drone strikes in the Black Sea have targeted multiple commercial tankers awaiting loading at or near the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal. awaiting loading at or …

Key Takeaways Maritime enforcement is shifting from observation to interdiction , as illicit actors increasingly embed themselves within legitimate trade flows. , as illicit actors increasingly embed themselves within legitimate …

At a Glance On January 3, a large-scale U.S. military strike resulted in the capture of the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, leading to a total blockade of the nation’s ports. …

The Week in Focus U.S. military intervention in Venezuela has shifted the operating environment from sanctions monitoring to active maritime risk management, with uncertainty now driving behavior across ports, offshore …

Preliminary figures show European-owned tankers shipped 29% of all Russian oil in December, underscoring the growing complexity of sanctions enforcement as Western governments further target exports funding the Kremlin’s war …

By Ariel Zibziner, VP Business Services, Windward Data Integrity in an Era of High-Frequency Signal Manipulation As we conclude 2025, the maritime domain is characterized by a trust deficit in …

Bella 1 Reflags to Russia to Avoid U.S. Interception Runaway Venezuela-trading tanker Bella 1 (IMO 9230880) painted a Russian flag on its hull, changed its name, and reflagged to Russia …

At a Glance Gray-zone maritime operations blur the line between competition and conflict, using tactics engineered to evade attribution. Dark activity, AIS manipulation, loitering, and underwater reconnaissance now appear across …

At a Glance KYD™ serves as a proprietary validation layer that ensures all data feeding AI and risk models remains accurate, complete, and resilient against intentional manipulation. This framework addresses …

The runaway tanker Bella 1 is claiming Russian protection by painting a Russian flag on its hull, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The U.S.-sanctioned, falsely flagged …

The Week in Focus The White House announced a two-month military “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil, raising immediate questions around scope, legal authority, and treatment of non-sanctioned vessels. Russia’s shadow fleet …

At a Glance Following Ukrainian drone strikes in late November and December, dark fleet tankers are abandoning direct Black Sea crossings and instead hugging the Turkish coastline, adding 350 miles …

At a Glance The dark fleet refers to tankers that use deceptive shipping practices to move sanctioned oil outside international enforcement. refers to tankers that use deceptive shipping practices to …

The Week in Focus U.S. forces seized Centuries, a non-sanctioned tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, signaling a shift toward behavior-based maritime enforcement. A third tanker, Bella 1, was intercepted en route …

At a Glance The seizure of Skipper and the announced U.S. blockade mark a shift from monitoring dark fleet activity to sustained enforcement pressure. The United States and Ukraine are …

The Week in Focus Three developments this week carry direct implications for maritime operations worldwide: the U.S. announcing a blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan tankers as Caribbean dark fleet activity surges …

At a Glance The U.S. seizure of the tanker Skipper marks a shift from tracking dark fleet activity to direct intervention. Dark fleet vessels rely on AIS manipulation, false flags, …

At a Glance Windward identified 116 vessels conducting 130+ area visits to the Caribbean Sea over the past 30 days. conducting to the Caribbean Sea over the past 30 days. …

Expanding Sanctions and the First Enforcement Actions As the United States prepared to intercept and seize more tankers off Venezuela, six shipping companies that owned sanctions-evading very large crude carriers …

The U.S. government’s seizure of Skipper, alongside Ukraine’s drone attacks in the Black Sea, shows that the dark fleet of hundreds of flagless, stateless tankers can no longer operate unchallenged …

At a Glance The 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) defines maritime security chokepoint access as a core national interest tied directly to economic stability. Illicit networks, gray-zone behaviors, and …

Rising Tensions Over the Tow of Kairos A diplomatic row is brewing between Türkiye and Bulgaria over how and why a tug towed the stricken shadow fleet tanker Kairos into …

At a Glance Undersea cables and offshore pipelines have become primary targets for covert state-linked activity and gray-zone pressure. Infrastructure sabotage is accelerating, from Baltic Sea incidents to suspicious cable …

At a Glance AIS was designed for safety, not sanctions, security, or deception detection. Modern threats exploit AIS gaps through spoofing, cloning, and dark activity. Remote Sensing Intelligence verifies activity …

At a Glance Today’s maritime threats are non-cooperative, fast-moving, and increasingly designed to evade traditional monitoring. Remote sensing intelligence provides mission-critical visibility across SAR, EO, RF, AIS, behavioral analytics, and …

At a Glance Sanctions compliance now requires seeing beyond AIS and paperwork to actual behavior at sea. Deceptive shipping practices, dark fleets, and false flags exploit the limits of cooperative …

Gambia Moves to Reassert Control Over Its Flag Gambia’s maritime administration has begun removing most Russia-trading tankers flagged through its privately run ship registry as a broader crackdown on weak …

At a Glance Vessel-based deception surged in 2025, including false flags, spoofing, and document manipulation. KYC doesn’t account for vessel behavior, movement history, or hidden ownership risk. Know Your Vessel …

U.S. enforcement and intelligence agencies confront a maritime threat environment characterized by systematic deception and accelerating evasion tactics. Adversarial actors employ coordinated Automatic Identification System (AIS) manipulation campaigns. GPS interference …

At a Glance Satellite intelligence has evolved from government reconnaissance programs to widely accessible commercial constellations. Modern maritime, trade, and security teams rely on remote sensing satellite imagery, RF detection, …

21 January 2026. Mark the date. On that day, the EU’s 18th Sanctions Package triggers a rule that will upend global petroleum compliance: any refined product containing Russian-origin crude — …

Russian Naphtha Arrivals in Venezuela A tanker loaded with Russian naphtha has berthed at Venezuela’s Jose terminal, four days after reports that a U.S. warship intersected the route of another …

A Rapid Drop in Greek-Owned Liftings There’s been a drastic and immediate fall in the number of Greece-owned tankers lifting Russian crude to the lowest level since the invasion of …

At a Glance 2025 has been a live stress test for the maritime world, with each quarter introducing new shocks, including GPS spoofing and jamming, tariff shifts, registry fraud, and …

Shadow Fleet Tankers Cluster at Duqm Six sanctioned Russia-trading tankers are signaling that they are berthed at the Oman port of Duqm, amid an escalation in deceptive shipping practices in …

At a Glance Remote sensing collects data about Earth’s surface without physical contact, using satellites, aircraft, or drones. Satellite imagery — from optical to radar — is the most visible …

At a Glance RF signals (radio frequency signals) are electromagnetic emissions produced by communication and navigation systems on vessels. They can be detected passively, revealing vessel locations and activities even …

At a Glance SAR imagery (synthetic aperture radar imagery) uses radar signals to detect objects on Earth’s surface, day or night, in any weather. It’s the all-weather foundation of remote …

At a Glance EO imagery (electro-optical imagery) captures reflected sunlight to deliver color-based satellite views of maritime activity. It’s the most visual layer of remote sensing intelligence, offering confirmation that …

The government of Comoros has begun a clean-out of its international flag registry which has been central to sanctions-circumventing dark fleet tankers shipping Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil. There are …

At a Glance The paradox : Generative AI (Gen AI) was meant to improve trade transparency but is instead empowering fraudsters with sophisticated, scalable tools for tariff evasion. : Generative …

At a Glance Introducing the industry’s first WhatsApp-based vessel screening interface, bringing Maritime AI™ insights directly into the world’s most-used messaging app. Receive instant, mobile-native risk summaries in seconds by …

London International Shipping Week 2025 captured the industry at a crossroads. More than 30,000 delegates gathered across hundreds of events, confronting a sector caught between technology’s promise, climate ambition, and …