The intelligent solution to vessel tracking

Even ship masters on legitimate vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are switching off AIS tracking in a bid to avoid being targeted by the Houthi rebels attacking merchant shipping. While this may remove immediate vulnerability to this threat, ships operating without AIS significantly raise the risk of collision, with associated potential loss of life and environmental damage, as well as creating supply chain uncertainty.

The lack of transparency in shipping is now of global concern to those governments and stakeholders who wish to operate in compliance. This creates a divide between good actors and bad actors. The shift of Russian oil tankers from large open registries to smaller, less diligent flags in response to heightened sanctions from the USA, EU, UK and others highlights the growing challenges. These developments are complicating efforts by the International Maritime Organization and national regulatory bodies attempting to reinstate order.

Persistent tracking: a hi-tech alternative

While the need to improve shipping transparency is a given, solving it is far from straightforward. The industry urgently needs a stronger solution. This solution should combine multiple tracking data sources supplemented at times with affordable Earth-observation (EO) data. The goal is to deliver persistent tracking of every vessel without compromise.

Persistent tracking overlays multiple vessel tracking services and data sources. This includes AIS and secure point-to-point satellite tracking systems (Inmarsat-C, Iridium, etc.), voyage plans when available, EO data when relevant, and real-time analytics to transform the accuracy and reliability of vessel location data.

Developing a persistent tracking system is typically beyond the capability of a single organisation. It would require data selection, aggregation, management, storage, and processing using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. With this overall technical complexity and cost, it is best to align with an established specialist application service provider.

Intelligence-led operations

With multiple, layered data sources and robust cross referencing and analysis, the persistent tracking model allows stakeholders to have increased confidence in a vessel’s true position. Guessing is eliminated and errors associated with false positives are minimised, allowing stakeholders to ensure any anomaly or vessel deviation is immediately identified and notified, and open to investigation.

Multiple, diverse vessel detection technologies feed into live dashboards, providing stakeholders with the essential visibility and control required to confidently locate and manage vessels. By adding the power of predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, stakeholders can gain far more insight into the extent of dark activity and ensure secure, safe, clean, and compliant operations.

With the rise of compromised security, safety, and environmental compliance, the lack of visibility across seas globally must be urgently addressed. Proposing additional sanctions and greater risk assessment is a necessary start. Yet, without a persistent tracking solution that can layer multiple tracking data streams to overcome the current information gaps, the maritime industry will continue to incur unacceptable risk.