2026.02.02
In today’s maritime market, decisions are made in minutes — but the consequences can last for years. From bunker trading to shipyards and global operators, compliance teams are under constant pressure to move fast without getting it wrong, in a sanctions landscape that is growing more complex by the month. What was once a relatively black-and-white exercise has become a world of grey zones, competing regulations, inconsistent enforcement, and rising commercial stakes.
To unpack what this really looks like in practice, Austin John, Global Head of Solutions Consulting at Lloyds List Intelligence, brought together a panel of customers and industry leaders including Duncan Pang, Group Compliance Manager at Kuok Group, Mike Gerasymov, Global Head of Corporate Risk at Enesel Group; and Raymond Tan, Credit Manager at Integr8 Fuels for an honest discussion on compliance, day to day operations and the future. In this candid discussion, they shared how sanctions, data quality, and decision speed collide in their day-to-day work; why getting the right information at the right time is now a competitive advantage; and how new technologies — from APIs to agentic AI — are reshaping how maritime businesses manage risk. Their insights reveal not just the cost of getting it wrong, but what it takes to grow responsibly in an increasingly uncertain world.
1. Speed Has Become a Competitive Advantage
Time-to-decision is as important as accuracy. Across trading, operations, and shipyards, one theme was constant: the speed of decision-making now directly affects revenue. Traders expect answers in minutes, not days, and delays caused by incomplete information or slow screening can mean losing a deal entirely. Compliance is no longer just a control function — it plays a critical role in enabling commercial activity at pace.
2. Sanctions Are No Longer Black and White
Compliance teams are operating in a world of grey zones, where judgement and risk-based decision-making are unavoidable. The traditional idea of “sanctioned vs non-sanctioned” is breaking down. Since 2022, sanctions regimes have become more layered, fragmented, and geographically complex. Businesses now face overlapping obligations from the US, EU, UK, Australia — and increasingly China — with differing rules, extraterritorial reach, and enforcement practices.
There is no universal standard for maritime compliance. Some companies take a conservative “avoid entirely” approach; others invest heavily in enhanced due diligence, and some, who were not represented by this panel, deliberately operate close to the line. Regulators themselves acknowledge that full compliance is impractical, pushing responsibility onto businesses to define and manage their own risk tolerance.
3. Data Quality Is as Important as Data Availability
The focus is shifting from “do we have data?” to “is the data accurate, complete, and usable in real time?” Panelists repeatedly highlighted that poor-quality data from alternative software providers, or incomplete data from customers and traders, slows everything down. Missing vessel identifiers, unclear ownership structures, or gaps in AIS history create friction, introduce risk, and frustrate both compliance teams and commercial counterparts.
4. Automation and Agentic AI Is Changing How Decisions Are Made
Automation is moving compliance from a bottleneck to an enabler, handling the majority of low-risk decisions instantly. Manual compliance workflows can’t keep up with the pace or volume of modern maritime transactions. Some organizations are tackling this problem by actively automating the screening, monitoring, and escalation processes using APIs and agentic AI systems — reserving human analysts for only the most complex cases. In practice, this means fewer handoffs, faster resolutions, and significantly leaner compliance teams.
5. The Cost of Getting It Wrong Is Existential
Compliance is vital for overall enterprise risk management — not just a regulatory requirement. The downside of a bad decision goes far beyond fines. Panelists described potential nightmare scenarios involving frozen accounts, uninsured vessels being stuck in dry docks, operational paralysis and financial loss, and reputational damage that could take years to recover from. For smaller companies especially, a single sanctions breach can be catastrophic.
6. Human Intelligence Still Matters
The future of compliance lies in combining automation and AI with deep human expertise — not replacing it.
Despite rapid advances in AI and automation, panelists agreed on one point: human insight remains critical. Sanctions evasion, opaque ownership structures, and dark fleet activity often sit beyond what structured data alone can reveal. Trusted human networks and analyst judgement continue to differentiate high-quality intelligence from commoditized data.
To learn how Lloyds List Intelligence can support and protect your compliance operations. Talk to our team today.
