‘Going Dark’ is so 2019

From Windward by Omer Primor

Movies have taught us that, when looking to achieve an investigative breakthrough and capture a bad-guy, it is necessary to track their phones.
Movies have also taught us that the bad guys know that, and they often adapt their ways, trying to throw the good-guys off their tail.

The ocean is no different than a great spy movie.

For over two decades, the shipping industry relied on AIS to prevent collisions at sea by requiring ships larger than 300 tons to transmit their digital information, ensuring ships maintain a safe distance from one another at sea.
Today, AIS data can do more.

AIS transmissions implement a new level of transparency regarding ship movements in the ocean and can be used to optimize, enhance, and improve maritime trade, transportation, security, safety, and supply chain management.

For the good guys, this is great news, but for the bad guys, this is another problem they must overcome; AIS transmissions and the increased transparency they create is precisely what bad actors at sea want to avoid.
To try and exploit the sea and conduct illicit activities, criminals have developed sophisticated ways to exploit AIS vulnerabilities and mask their location.

In 2020 however, that may be a moot effort.

AIS off, pressure on

Criminals trying to trade illegal goods or violate sanctions need to do so without getting caught.
As sea, that means avoiding detection, hiding origin and destination locations, not docking at ports, and doing anything possible to avoid transmitting AIS data.

When docking, transhipping, or getting too close to a ship becomes unavoidable for the criminals, their only option is to go dark.
By turning off transmissions, there are no records of locations, port entries, or transshipment conduct occurring.
Sounds great? Think again.

The bar for sanctions screening has been raised as a result of the new advisories, and with it, the Know Your Vessel (KYV) checks companies must perform.
For criminals looking to violate sanctions or conduct illegal activities under the guise of “going dark,” this means bad news.

Any AIS transmission gap becomes a blaring red flag necessitating further examination, thereby increasing the chance of exposure.

It no longer matters if there is no proof of loading or discharging sanctioned cargo; the suspicious behavior itself is enough for companies to withhold services or terminate contracts under the new advisory.

Having an AIS transmission gap and not knowing a ship’s exact whereabouts becomes reason enough to flag it, making turning AIS off completely counterproductive.

You see what I want you to see

Criminals recognize that turning off their AIS signal is an immediate red flag, and that is what they want to avoid.
Instead of turning off AIS data transmission, they instead try to manipulate the data.
Instead of controlling WHEN they do and do not transmit data, they try to control WHAT data they transmit, and WHO is transmitting it.

Consider the following case:
In mid-June 2020, a laden VLCC tanker docked in Qingdao, China.
Based on its size and reported draft change, it delivered approximately 2 million barrels of crude oil from the Persian Gulf.
Diving deep into the voyage data reveals that the tanker first arrived at the Gulf late-April, and after a quick detour into Hormuz, it anchored halfway between Fujairah and Iran for 10 days.
After anchoring, the ship reported its draft as “laden,” and set sail for China.

The voyage itself seems similar to many others; however, there is one significant unanswered question: Where did the oil come from?

An examination of the ships’ AIS data did not reveal any port calls, transshipments, or “dark” periods during the entire 10 days it was anchored.
However, during this time, oil was loaded to the ship.
This makes the origin of the cargo a mystery.

When examining this trade contextually, things do not add up.
Behavior analysis shows the tanker loaded a high-risk commodity in a high-risk area while taking significant efforts to disguise the origin of the goods.
This fact alone does not prove that the ship engaged in a sanctionable and illegal trade, but it should be cause for concern and trigger a due diligence process to investigate the situation further.

Here is the full story of what happened with this tanker: shortly after anchoring offshore Iran, tanker A stopped transmitting AIS.
At the exact same time, another tanker anchoring nearby (tanker B) began transmitting under the guise of tanker A.
In doing so, AIS transmission was manipulated to carry the same identity as tanker A, making it appear as though tanker A was transmitting continuously, albeit with a slightly changed location.
In reality, tanker A was not transmitting AIS data at all.
During this time, tanker A went dark, sailed to Iran, and loaded the sanctionable cargo of crude via ship-to-ship from an Iranian tanker.

Several days later, after tanker A was laden with sanctioned oil, it returned to the same area where tanker B was.
In a magnificently orchestrated digital dance, tanker B switched off, tanker A switched on, and the operation was complete; a VLCC, laden with Iranian crude, retained squeaky clean from entity and AIS screenings.
The only way this could have, and was, detected, is by examining voyage irregularities.

Behavior analysis to the rescue

Since the start of 2020, the number of VLCCs “going dark” to disguise sanctionable trading has dropped by over 80%, going down from 26 tankers in January to just 4 in July.

The decline in VLCC’s “going dark” can either mean a drop in the trade of sanctioned crude or an increase in the sophistication of deceptive shipping practices criminals undertake.

“Going dark” is still a key deceptive shipping practice used by bad actors looking to conceal illicit operations, but now it is harder to identify it.
As seen above, criminals are getting better at manipulating AIS data, and each time technology catches up with them, they will have a new method of AIS manipulation.

Unfortunately for criminals, while they can try to manipulate AIS data and show false movements and identities, they cannot manipulate behavior.
Analyzing trade patterns of all ships makes it possible to whitelist certain vessels and immediately reveal voyage irregularities for those that do not operate the way they should.

Behavioral analysis that leads to actionable results can only be achieved by combining automated analysis with human expertise.
Together, man and machine can investigate new signals and voyage irregularities, improving accuracy and illicit behavior at sea.
Incorporating emerging methods that go beyond common deceptive practices is crucial for businesses and organizations that want to make forward-looking decisions and gain control of potential risks before they impact their operations.

Much like in the movies, criminals do not simply stop exploiting opportunities; they just get better at hiding.
It’s up to the good guys to stay one step ahead of crime at all times.

Links :

• GlobalFishingWatch : Going Dark: When Vessels Turn Off AIS Broadcasts
• GeoGarage blog : Iceye releases dark vessel detection product / The 'dark fleet': Global Fishing Watch shines a light on illegal catches / How 'dark fishing' sails below the radar to plunder the oceans / How illegal fishing is being tracked from space

New Zealander sails through Arctic on custom yacht in violation of COVID-19 restrictions

The Kiwi Roa off the coast of Greenland in 2019.

Peter Smith, 72, is sailing this yacht in the Northwest Passage in violation of COVID-19-related orders prohibiting most foreign ships from entering Canadian waters.

(PeterSmith.net.nz)

From CBC by John Last

'I am a yacht, not a bloody cruise ship,' says Peter Smith, who's adamant he will not be turned around

According to the Canadian government, he has no business being there.

But 72-year-old Peter Smith is sailing the Northwest Passage anyway, in violation of COVID-19-related orders prohibiting most foreign yachts from entering Canadian waters.

Since June 1, Transport Canada has prohibited pleasure craft from operating in Arctic waters "to better protect Arctic communities" from the spread of COVID-19.

But according to a Facebook post on Aug. 20, Bobby Klengenberg, a local observer with the Inuit Marine Monitoring Program, spotted Smith's custom yacht, the Kiwi Roa, off the coast of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

Transport Canada confirmed the sighting in an email to CBC News, and said the vessel was told "to depart Canadian waters and not make landfall."

A spokesperson said the Canadian Coast Guard will "monitor the vessel's transit out of the region." If Smith is indeed found to have broken the law, they wrote, the agency "will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action," including penalties of up to $5,000.

CBC News contacted Cambridge Bay's mayor, its chief administrative officer and representatives of the local Hunters and Trappers Organization. None responded to requests for comment.

Bureaucracy 'gone mad': yachter

Smith is an accomplished boat builder and ocean racer from New Zealand. He has been living aboard the custom-built Kiwi Roa, described on his website as "the ultimate ocean-going home," for 26 years.

Reached by email, Smith said the story is one of bureaucracy "out of control and gone mad."

"I suspect it is also motivated toward gaining political points in support of Canada's claim to have control of the [Northwest Passage], the local Inuit and innocent yachtsman just being pawns in the game," he wrote.

Smith aboard the Kiwi Roa. Reached by email, Smith said completing a transit of the Northwest Passage is 'unfinished business' after he failed a similar attempt in 2018. (PeterSmith.net.nz)

In a second email, Smith said the wording of the original Transport Canada ban was "ambiguous."

The text of the ban does allow for foreign vessels to exercise the right of "innocent passage" in Canadian waters, which Smith says he is now relying on "as a last resort."

But Canada's official position is that the Northwest Passage counts as "internal waters," meaning that right does not apply. That position is contested by the United States and several other countries.

"Canada has no legal right to apply Canadian law to a foreigner in [an] international waterway," Smith wrote.
"Half the world does not recognize Canada's claims and this needs to be sorted out."

Smith said he was initially communicating with Transport Canada after they first gave notice of the ban on May 14.

He said it wasn't until six days after he left Nome, Alaska, on July 27 that they notified him the trip would not be allowed.

In response, he stopped reporting his location to authorities.

"I had tried to comply with Canadian requirements as a mark of respect to Canada," he wrote. "As far as I am concerned, I was dictated to and not consulted."

Smith said he never intended to stop "at any place of habitation." Since he was spotted, he has also agreed with Transport Canada to provide daily position reports — though only once a day, not twice as Transport Canada requested.

"I am a yacht, not a bloody cruise ship," he wrote.

The Kiwi Roa at its launch in England in 1994. Smith estimated he is two to three weeks away from exiting the Lancaster Sound, at which point he will be back in international waters. (PeterSmith.net.nz)

Smith went on to say concerns about his spreading the coronavirus are overblown.

"I am 72 [years] old with a history of lung problems from my job as boat builder," he wrote.
"I am much more at risk from the villages than they are from me."
"I respect the locals wish to be left alone. I am not a tourist."

'Record' trip underway

Smith's previous travels have taken him to Antarctica, South Africa, Greenland, and Newfoundland, among other places.

In his email, he said his final destination on this journey is Lisbon, Portugal, which he estimated is about eight weeks away.
They would need a swat team to make me [turn around.]- Peter Smith, captain of the Kiwi Roa

The trip via the Northwest Passage is more than 9,000 kilometres shorter than the alternative route via the Panama Canal, he said.

But Smith also said completing a transit of the Northwest Passage is "unfinished business" after he failed a similar attempt in 2018.

He claimed he is on track to set a record for the fastest transit of the Northwest Passage with no fuel stops, having sailed "90 per cent of the way."

Smith estimated he is two to three weeks away from exiting the Lancaster Sound, at which point he will be back in international waters. He is adamant he will not be turned around.

"They would need a swat team to make me do that," he wrote.

Links :

• CBC : Adventurer reaches Tuktoyaktuk, calls North toughest stretch of 24,000-km journey / Message in a Thermos: Argentine couple's 'treasure' discovered near Arctic Circle sign / A failed attempt through the Northwest Passage brings a sailor from New Zealand to St. John's
• ExplorersWeb : Northwest Passage Sailor Ignores Arctic COVID Restrictions
• Nunatsiaq News : Nunavut spotter sees New Zealand yacht heading east into the Northwest Passage 

Map of the week : The Explorers

Map by @NatGeo shows the routes that famous explorers took around the world
(click on the picture to view it and expand it)

 World saling ship routes:

this chart illustrates the more important routes described in the book of "Ocean Passages" published by the Admiralty in 1923

see National Libray of Scotland

Unu Mondo expeditions : In the wake of Northabout - "A Long Road to the Arctic".

Discover with us the rapid changes affecting the Arctic.

A few shots of our North Atlantic crossing.
Unu Mondo expedition is a 5-month sailing expedition to the Arctic to understand and anticipate the impacts of global warming and provide concrete solutions.

The Unu Mondo expedition is on its way to Greenland.

Before departure, Tobias Carter, captain of the Expedition and Sophie Simonin, Expedition Director  have prepared a video to show you the aluminum sailboat "Northabout", which is specially built for the Arctic.

We’ve been busy with preparations since February, flashback on these last eventful weeks!
With just a few days to go, our team is more than motivated to set sail for Greenland... 

Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

Spectacular photo of rescue carried by Banksy’s boat Crew rescuing migrants in distress approached by dolphins off Libya’s coast

Photograph: Ruben Neugebauer

From The Guardian by Lorenzo Tndo and Maurice Stierl

Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities

The British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children.

It is now looking for a safe seaport to disembark the passengers or to transfer them to a European coastguard vessel.

The Louise Michel ship that Banksy has financed.
Banksy funds boat to save humans 

Photograph: Ruben Neugebauer

The crew, made up of European activists with long experience in search and rescue operations, had already assisted in two other rescue operations involving a total of 105 people, who are now onboard the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 4.

Painted in bright pink and featuring Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel sails under a German flag.
The 31-metre motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs authorities, is smaller but considerably faster than other NGO rescue vessels.

Banksy’s involvement in the rescue mission goes back to September 2019 when he sent an email to Pia Klemp, the former captain of several NGO boats that have rescued thousands of people over recent years.

The vessel set off in secrecy from the Spanish port of Burriana, near Valencia.

Photograph: Ruben Neugebauer

“Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers.
You sound like a badass,” he wrote.
“I am an artist from the UK and I’ve made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously I can’t keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know.
Well done. Banksy.”

Klemp, who initially thought it was a joke, believes she was chosen by Banksy due to her political stance.
“I don’t see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist fight,” she told the Guardian.

Banksy, Mediterranean Sea View 2017, detail.

The triptych is expected to sell for £800,000–1,200,000 (about $1 million–$1.5 million).

Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s London.

She has made clear that Banksy’s involvement in the operations is limited to providing financial support.
“Banksy won’t pretend that he knows better than us how to run a ship, and we won’t pretend to be artists.”

With a top speed of 27 knots, the Louise Michel would be able to “hopefully outrun the so-called Libyan coastguard before they get to boats with refugees and migrants and pull them back to the detention camps in Libya”, said Klemp.

Pia Klemp in October 2017.

Photograph: Lisa Hoffmann

Non-state sea rescuers have long criticised the mass return of migrants to Libya by the Libyan coastguard in collaboration with EU member states.
International organisations have accused the Libyan coastguard of mistreating people at sea or selling them off to militias at Libyan harbours after intercepting them.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 7,600 migrants have been intercepted so far this year and returned to Libya, a war-torn country where different political factions continue to struggle for power.
Often confined to informal camps, the situation for migrants in Libya is desperate, with acts of systematic torture and rape long documented by human rights organisations.

The 10 crew members of the Louise Michel have diverse backgrounds, but they all identify as anti-racist and anti-fascist activists advocating for radical political change.
As it is a feminist project, only female crew members are allowed to speak in the name of the Louise Michel.

Lea Reisner, a nurse and head of mission for the first rescue operation, said the project was anarchist at its heart, meant to bring together a variety of struggles for social justice, including for women’s and LGBTIQ rights, racial equality, migrants’ rights, environmentalism and animal rights.

The planning of the mission was carried out in secrecy between London, Berlin and Burriana, where the Louise Michel had docked to be equipped for sea rescues.
The crew feared that media attention could compromise their goals: if word had circulated that a project financed by Banksy would soon sail toward the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants, the European authorities could have attempted to thwart the mission.
For this reason, Banksy’s team and the rescue activists agreed to release the news about the boat only after carrying out the first rescue.

 In the past week, the Louise Michel already assisted #SeaWatch4 in two operations,

and rescued 89 people itself.

The Louise Michel is the latest intervention by members of civil society seeking to prevent deaths in the Mediterranean.
Other NGO rescuers have engaged in rescue activities this year but have been impeded by what they consider to be excessive and politically motivated inspections carried out by Italian authorities.
Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions have also affected sea rescue activities, with NGO crews unable to return to the central Mediterranean for the last several weeks.

So far in 2020, more than 500 refugees and migrants are known to have died in the Mediterranean sea, and the real number is estimated to be considerably higher.
On Wednesday, 45 people – including five children – died when the engine on their boat exploded off Libya, in the country’s deadliest shipwreck this year, the UN said.
More than 19,500 migrants have survived the Mediterranean crossing along the central maritime route this year and reached Italy or Malta.

Claire Faggianelli, an activist who prepared the Louise Michel for its first mission, saw the project as a wake-up call for Europe.
“We really want to try to awaken the consciousness of Europe and say: ‘Look, we have been yelling at you for years now. There is something that shouldn’t be happening at the very borders of Europe, and you close your eyes to it. Wake up!’” she said.

Links :

• ArtNet : Banksy Has Financed a Search-and-Rescue Ship Patrolling the Seas to Help Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean