As the sanctions environment becomes more complex, so has the data required to support compliance. Here’s how the right data can be used to improve your maritime risk management.
Why advanced maritime data matters
It won't have escaped your notice that international shipping is under more scrutiny than at any other moment in its history. It's why advanced maritime data has become an essential part of compliance. From ownership to financing, chartering to insurance, crewing to certification, bunkering and beyond, sanctions enforcement operations have tightened everywhere.
This is fuelled by—and, ironically, is fuelling—the increasingly sophisticated sanctions evasion methods used by a few unscrupulous operators. In one recent example, smugglers were found to be laundering ships' identities to evade the sanctions on North Korea.
This technique involves registering an existing IMO identity to a ghost vessel, which can be applied to help disguise other ships. The dual effect of this ‘spoofing’ is the undermining of international sanctions programmes and the IMO's ship registration system.
Of course, the vast majority of organisations aren't engaged in this kind of illicit activity. But that hasn't stopped them from being penalised by OFAC enforcement, regardless of whether their transgression was unintentional. In 2021, OFAC pursued more than $19m in penalties or settlements with organisations who had violated its sanctions regulations. But financial penalties can be the sharp tip of a very deep iceberg.
Falling foul of the more stringent regulatory scrutiny can result in sanctions for organisations linked to maritime industry; not to mention criminal penalties, civil enforcement and being locked out from the US financial market. And that doesn't account for the sizeable reputational damage that would come along with the OFAC enforcement press release.
How advanced maritime data ensures compliance
As sanctions evasion has become more complex and sophisticated, so has the data required for effective maritime risk management. The ability to pinpoint high-risk exposure requires more than just reliable data collection. It's about being able to spot patterns or a series of events that should raise suspicions.
Advanced maritime data can deliver the insight, context and clarity professionals connected to maritime trade need to ensure international compliance. It can help them complete due diligence and mitigate risks.
Good data in. Good data out.
Clearly articulated analytics, perspective and insight are the best weapons when it comes to maintaining compliance in a trading landscape where risk has to be identified and priced, mitigated or escalated.
With sanctions and compliance enforcement unlikely to ease in the near future, the most prudent course of action is ensuring access to the high-quality information needed to navigate these waters safely and with certainty. And that’s exactly what we deliver.
As the trusted expert partner for 300 years, we enable professionals connected to maritime trade to act on the truth with transparent data and analytics, validated analysis and actionable insight.
Key takeaways
- Increasing scrutiny and stricter sanctions compliance requirements are placing higher burdens on companies connected to maritime trade.
- This, alongside the growth of sophisticated sanctions evasions techniques, makes advanced maritime data essential to achieve compliance and avoid penalties, whether financial, reputational or commercial.
- Truly advanced vessel data not only flags individual factors such as AIS gaps and frequently changing ownership, but crucially considers multiple factors together to build a sophisticated indicator of risk based on the full picture.
- At Lloyd's List Intelligence, we provide this level of advanced maritime data, enabling world-class compliance risk management for the maritime industries.
