15 LNG tankers are currently sailing toward India.
• 2 are already in Indian waters and 2 more are arriving within days.
• 3 remain stuck in the Arabian Gulf.
• 7 are weeks away from Africa and the Americas.
Supply is now operating on a razor-thin margin.
Strait of Hormuz transit dropped 80% in 24 hours. 📉
It's not just the strikes, it's the insurance. With P&I clubs cancelling war risk extensions and premiums surging to 1%, the waterway is effectively closed by risk assessment.
windward.ai/blog/role-of...
Maritime enforcement is accelerating.
Boardings, safety-based intervention, and access denial are now applied across regions, not single theaters.
This week’s Maritime Defense Weekly highlights the signals driving the shift. windward.ai/blog/maritim...
High-seas boardings, false-flag liability, and safety-driven intervention are unfolding faster, across more jurisdictions, and with fewer constraints.
This week’s Maritime Defense Weekly highlights the growing enforcement velocity and key developments at sea. windward.ai/blog/maritim...
Russian crude hasn't disappeared from EU energy markets. It has moved upstream.
Windward's report analyzes how India, China, and Turkey processed 1.17B barrels of Russian crude in 2025, feeding EU-bound refined products ahead of the EU’s 18th sanctions package. windward.ai/knowledge-ba...
The fall of Maduro and the EU’s 18th sanctions package mark a structural shift in maritime compliance.
List-based screening no longer protects against seizures, interdictions, or molecule-level bans.
What changed, and what compliance now requires: windward.ai/blog/maduros...
Sanctions tightened and Russia adapted. Windward tracking shows EU-owned tankers regained share of Russian oil shipments in December as prices fell below the cap and new trading structures emerged. windward.ai/blog/eu-owne...
Sanctioned and fleeing tanker Marinera, as seen in this Windward remote sensing SAR image in the North Atlantic on January 6. A smaller vessel is also visible, possibly in pursuit.
Tanker Bella 1 is attempting to evade a U.S. blockade by repainting a Russian flag and claiming protection at sea. Windward has also observed other sanctioned VLCCs making U-turns near Venezuela, signaling widening disruption to oil exports. windward.ai/blog/tanker-...
Windward AI has identified six high risk tankers including the BELOMOR and JUMBO adopting a coastal hugging strategy near Türkiye. These sanctioned vessels are betting that proximity to shore will prevent strikes. Data shows the dark fleet is under pressure. windward.ai/blog/russian...
Undersea cables carry 99 percent of global data.
They are exposed, lightly monitored, and increasingly targeted.
Infrastructure sabotage now hides behind “routine” maritime activity. Detecting it requires visibility beyond AIS. windward.ai/blog/protect...
The dark fleet is not a vessel problem. It is a network problem.
AIS manipulation, false flags, and shell ownership are coordinated across fleets to move sanctioned oil at scale. Vessel-by-vessel monitoring misses the system behind the activity. windward.ai/blog/what-is...
FREESIA 1 (IMO 9159660) is transmitting near Venezuela.
Windward’s Remote Sensing Intelligence confirms the vessel was physically scrapped in Bangladesh in 2021.
This is what zombie vessels look like in practice. go.wnwd.com/how-zombie-v...
AIS was built for safety, not deception.
As spoofing and dark activity scale globally, Windward's Remote Sensing Intelligence delivers the answer by fusing SAR, EO, RF, and behavioral analytics to provide the verified visibility you need. windward.ai/blog/why-mar...
Port operations in the UK and Canada slowed this week as weather, rail issues, and a container spill added pressure.
Follow for more port insights.
From @apnews.com: "The Skipper’s final weeks hiding in the Caribbean were reconstructed by Windward, which uses satellite imagery relied on by U.S. officials mapping the movements of the dark fleet."
Thank you to AP, @washingtonpost.com, & @skynewsrss.bsky.social for surfacing our intel to readers.
The U.S. seizure of Skipper and Ukraine’s targeted drone strikes show a clear shift. Flagless dark-fleet tankers are becoming active enforcement targets. Nearly 400 falsely flagged ships are now exposed.
Full context: windward.ai/blog/the-dar...
In 2025:
More than 24,000 vessels faced GPS jamming.
Over 1,000 ships were sanctioned.
Manual systems could not keep up.
See the trends shaping 2026 and why technology will determine who stays ahead: windward.ai/blog/2025-ma...
2025 ends in the dark.
This month’s MariTIMES provides the intelligence you need to see ahead into 2026. www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-v...
Gambia is removing Russia-trading tankers from its flag as pressure grows on permissive registries used by the dark fleet. Twenty vessels are now falsely flagged, with more expected.
Windward data shows how the crackdown is shifting tanker flows: windward.ai/blog/gambia-...
False-flag vessels have doubled since January.
Q3 added a 22% surge, four new fraudulent registries, and record-level flag-hopping across global fleets.
This is the new map of maritime deception.
⚓️ Follow @windward-ai.bsky.social for more #ShipoftheDay insights into the shadow fleet, sanctions evasion and deceptive shipping practices.
15. The behaviour of New Power shows how unreliable conventional AIS has become in tracking many sanctioned tankers. GNSS manipulation, false flags and prolonged dark periods are now standard tools in a widening landscape of opacity.
14. This includes Azure Voyager and Olina (IMO 9282479), which surfaced off Venezuela on November 15 even though its last signal had been in Chinese waters in July.
13. The tanker now joins a group of vessels whose AIS tracks indicate protracted loitering in Venezuela or the Caribbean, despite movements that make little economic or commercial sense.
12. After leaving China, AIS showed the vessel heading toward Venezuela. Why New Power appeared to loiter in Venezuelan waters for such a long period remains unknown.
11. New Power then sailed to Dongying, China, where it went dark for 16 hours. During that period the tanker discharged its oil at an undisclosed terminal. This practice has become common in northern China as terminals attempt to hide the origin of sanctioned cargoes.
10. The vessel’s last voyage involved Iranian crude loaded via ship-to-ship transfer in the Riau archipelago off Malaysia in March, according to Vortexa data.
9. Windward had already flagged New Power as high risk long before regulators acted, identifying ID manipulation, location tampering, ship-to-ship transfers involving Russian oil, and behavioral anomalies over 18 months.
8. The UK sanctioned New Power in July 2025 and the EU sanctioned it in May 2025.
