Data company launches ‘dark shipping’ detection service
Spire Global, a space-based maritime data firm, has unveiled a “dark shipping detection solution” to track vessels that manipulate their reported position to conceal nefarious activities.
The Automatic Identification System (AIS) on a vessel helps avoid collisions at sea, track global shipping trends and monitor individual vessel activity. But crew members on board can manipulate the system by turning off the transponder to ‘go dark’ or alternatively ‘spoofing’ the AIS to report false positions.
Typically, this is done in order to hide activity that is illegal or could have negative consequences to the ship owner, such as illegal trading, loading or unloading sanctioned goods, or illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Many of the sanctioned Russia-linked superyachts currently prowling global waters have been accused of turning off their transponders to avoid detection by western powers.
Spire says its near real-time, global geolocation position validation service can uncover suspicious activity and pinpoint a vessel without the need for an approximate location. The applications are critical to governments, intelligence and security agencies, and nonprofit organisations’ efforts to identify and locate vessels that are breaking international law.
“For a long time, having the tools to accurately identify and track ships that are attempting to hide their activities or location has been the missing key to preventing sanctions evasion, illegal fishing, human trafficking and many more pressing societal issues,” says Peter Mabson, CEO of Spire Maritime. “Dark shipping detection builds on our breadth of maritime tracking solutions and underscores Spire’s mission to use data that can only be collected from space to improve life on Earth.”
Spire operates a multipurpose constellation with more than 100 satellites. The company plans to launch additional products in 2023 for geolocation and identification of dark targets, at sea, on land and in the air.
