Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the maritime information platform, has paired up with data analytics giant SAS to develop an AI platform designed to interpret complex vessel movements.

Dubbed Seasearcher Advanced Risk and Compliance, the platform uses predictive analytics and machine learning to identify probability of illicit activities, including ‘dark’ port calls, ship-to-ship transfers, and suspicious loitering.

The software can differentiate between normal, abnormal, and dark vessel movements to automatically detect compliance risk.

“Our collaboration with SAS has pushed our analytical capabilities into another realm,” said Michael Dell, president of Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

“We are now providing our customers with a new level of risk detection and assessment that resets the bar for maritime intelligence and drives transparency in the industry.”

AI-vast me hearties

Lloyd's List itself was founded in 1734 as a journal that listed ship arrivals and departures. Today, the title is owned by British publishing, business intelligence, and exhibitions group Informa – which also owns AI Business – and remains one of the world’s largest maritime news platforms.

Lloyd's List now provides interactive online services including detailed vessel movements and ship information, credit reports, and industry data and analysis including short-term market outlook reports.

It employs market and data analysts who collect and process information from around 1,500 sources across over 1,400 global locations, with more than 100 million positions reported every day from 40,000 unique vessels.

A combination of predictive analytics and machine learning would rule out false positives, the pair said, as multiple layers of live and historical vessel behavior would be factored in to improve results. It would also offer greater context around the level and type of risk, allowing for swifter action to be taken to avoid fines, sanctions, and reputational damage.

The data models used in Lloyd's List’s new Seasearcher service were developed in collaboration with experts from shipping, commodities, finance, legal, and insurance companies.

"The critical and fast-changing nature of shipping demands that we employ the best analytical modeling with the best maritime data to produce a new depth of insight that allows professionals to make swift, accurate and confident decisions around risk and compliance," Bert Boers, VP of southwest Europe sales at SAS, said.