Continuous improvement

We have upgraded our AIS data for greater coverage. This includes using S&P Global Market Intelligence’s AIS Antenna Network and the addition of AIS data from vessel based receivers. More about AIS data sources →

Information on the source of AIS data is now also visible in Starboard.

Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) Regional Fleet Register have all now been integrated into Starboard.

This can help speed up analysis with advanced filtering and external information directly available in Starboard. Vessel type is now also updated with subtype from these registers for around 11,000 vessels. More about vessel subtypes →

Managing vessels with notes and tags

To support collaboration and help teams with organising vessels, notes can be added along with tags on vessels. Anyone in an organisation can add subsequent notes for further dialogue and information sharing. More about organising vessels with tags and notes →

SPRFMO fishing registration data integration

The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) Record of Vessels has been integrated into Starboard. This can help speed up analysis with external information directly available in Starboard and provides more detailed vessel type information. More about fishing registration data from RFMO records →

Detailed vessel subtypes for fisheries

Vessel subtypes are now updated with information from three Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs). This information is available for advanced filtering, for example, to identify fishing vessels and fish carriers in an area. More about vessel subtypes →

Journey information for vessel prioritisation

Vessels can be quickly assessed with a summary of all events since they were last in port. Sorting based on key events, such as fishing duration and time at sea, can help to prioritise vessels.

Combined CPI score for port visits

Every vessel now has a combined corruption perceptions index score available in the vessel report. Higher scores suggest visits to countries with lower public sector corruption. The scores can be helpful for assessing vessels based on their port visit history. More about how the combined corruption perceptions index score for port visits works →

Global tags for noteworthy vessels

Global tags bring together various vessel lists around the world, ranging from illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing and worker exploitation, to safety, security, and environmental concerns. A new global tag for OFAC: Sanctioned vessels has been added to Starboard. More about using global tags to find noteworthy vessels →

IOTC fishing registration data integration

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) record of currently authorised vessels has been integrated into Starboard.

This is the third integration of this kind and filtering of these lists can be done in a combined way. For example, finding vessels that are on both the IOTC and WCPFC authorisation lists but not on the FFA List of Vessels in Good Standing.

FFA good standing list integration

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) List of Vessels in Good Standing has been integrated into Starboard.

Advanced filtering helps analysts quickly find vessels of note and record details for vessels are available directly in Starboard to help speed up analysis.

Detailed vessel subtypes for fisheries

Vessel subtypes are now available for a vessel and can be used with advanced filtering.

This information is sourced from Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) where these have already been integrated with Starboard. It’s the first of other vessel detail updates to come. More about vessel subtypes →

Vessel networks for IUU listed vessels

Discover vessels closely linked to illegal, unreported, unregulated (IUU) listed vessels based on past encounters. These connections can help to identify noteworthy vessels, giving additional clues for analysts to uncover hidden relationships and high risk vessels. More about vessel networks →

Anomalous vessel movements

Find noteworthy vessels that have travelled an uncommon path or undertaken unusual manoeuvring. Anomalous movements are based on the GeoTrackNet model and can provide analysts with a new lens for filtering vessels and finding vessels that require further investigation. More about anomalous movements →

Vessel tags

Vessels or fleets of interest can now be tagged to keep track of them. Organising vessels with tags can also help to manage processes like vessel assessments, inspections, and surveillance planning.

Journey analysis

Events between ports are now grouped. Making it easier to analyse a vessel voyage and identify noteworthy activity. This can speed up the assessment of arriving vessels and is particularly useful for those that have been at sea for long periods.

Wind velocity

The new wind velocity layer provides context for a vessel’s movements. Like with all our weather map layers, this is associated with every vessel to make analysis easier.

Sea surface temperature and wave height

New sea surface temperature and wave height layers provide context for a vessel’s movements. To make vessel analysis easier these oceanographic layers are associated with every vessel.

Fishing registration data integration

The Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Record of Fishing Vessels has been integrated into Starboard. This is the first of many registers that will be available within Starboard.

Advanced filtering helps analysts quickly find vessels of note and register information is available directly in Starboard to help speed up analysis.

Geofencing with alerts

Any area of interest can now be turned into a geofence by setting alerts for when vessels enter or exit them.

Alerts can be customised based on frequency, who receives them and if they should be for all vessels entering the area or just those coming from a foreign port.

KML file download for satellite detections

Both Radio frequency (RF) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite detections can be downloaded as a KML file. This can be useful for those using Google Earth for additional data sources such as VMS.

Advanced filtering

Filtering of vessels on the map can now be done by vessel events, flag state or vessel type. This allows you to further customise your analysis and focus on those vessels with behaviours and characteristics of interest.

Downloadable vessel events

A new .csv download option is available that includes the vessel’s events and details of the event.

This download responds to filters applied to the vessel’s track history including types of events and length of history, allowing you to customise your download for your analysis.

Arrival estimation

The estimated arrival port is now determined using information from three sources (where available) with the following priority; port schedules, self-reported destinations on AIS or the vessel’s movements.

More about arrival estimation →

Event list filtering

Filter track history in the left hand panel and in reports to quickly find events relevant to your analysis.

Measurement circles

Measure your chosen distance from a set of coordinates in Starboard. This is particularly useful if you are wanting to plot distances from a location or asset at sea.

Aerial asset data ingestion

We have completed our first ingestions of aerial asset data. The asset’s detections are layered with AIS, RF and SAR data for a complete picture of vessels in an area of interest.

Real-time vessel movements

See real-time vessel movements, via automatic identification system (AIS) data, with important events detected as the data streams into Starboard. The data is updated every 2-10 minutes.

Hitchhiker pest risk (FSMC)

Arriving vessels are automatically flagged if they have previously visited risk areas during risk periods for the Flighted Spongy Moth Complex (FSMC).

More about hitchhiker pest risk assessments →

Radio frequency (RF) satellite data ingestion

RF data has a good cost to coverage ratio and low latency. We can now ingest multiple types of RF data in real-time and combine this with AIS data for dark vessel detection.

New map layers and styles

The ‘Show’ menu has been updated. Toggle between showing and hiding vessel tracks for viewing busier areas. Switch to a satellite basemap, helpful for viewing coastal areas. View AIS data points for selected vessels.

Hitchhiker pest risk (BMSB)

Arriving vessels are automatically flagged if they have previously visited risk areas during risk periods for the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB).

More about hitchhiker pest risk assessments →

Explore on-water vessel networks

Explore and understand on-water vessel networks, through the automatic flagging of encounters—when two vessels meet at sea for at least 10 minutes.

More about encounters and track history →

User research with maritime analysts

We continued to hold user research sessions with maritime analysts and incorporated our learnings back into the software—from smaller interface improvements to planning for larger pieces of work.

Funding to develop anomaly detection algorithms

We started developing machine learning algorithms to detect anomalous vessel movements at sea, following funding received from the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation.

Beta testing programme begins

We recruited a wide range of participants across the New Zealand Government, various NGOs and private companies who were then given access to Starboard. This enabled us to learn about their work, and how the analysis of maritime activity fits into that.

Satellite monitoring for small craft

We began persistent monitoring, using high-res optical satellite images, to detect small craft coming to Aotearoa New Zealand, which are potential vectors of Covid-19.

Automated Covid-19 risk assessments

In partnership with leading epidemiologists, we developed an epidemiological risk model which establishes the relative likelihood of crew having Covid-19 onboard vessels.

More about Covid-19 risk assessments →

Analysis to detect non-reporting small craft

We analysed historical small craft movements between the Pacific and Aotearoa New Zealand to establish the best location and type of satellite data to use to detect non-reporting small craft.

Global vessel movements ingested and analysed

We started ingesting, analysing, and updating global vessel movements (via AIS data) every 24 hours.

Vessel search

Find vessels anywhere in the world by entering their MMSI, IMO, name, or call sign.

Improved user management

Invite multiple users from your organisation into Starboard, and manage what level of access they have.

Buying and processing global AIS data

To help nations understand and protect their maritime domain they must be able to analyse maritime activity globally. We purchased global historical AIS data from exactEarth and started processing it.

With a successful proof of concept, then real-time operation which generated valuable new intelligence, and gathered positive feedback we moved from an idea to a business.

Southern bluefin tuna operation in Tasman Sea

We ran a digital operation with the Ministry of Primary Industries in Aotearoa New Zealand looking at southern bluefin tuna over 1–14 May. We combined multiple data sources in real-time, including four types of satellite data to uncover a fleet of non-reporting ‘dark vessels’.

Ingest real-time AIS data for the Tasman Sea

Ingesting and analysing streaming AIS data direct from exactEarth for a chosen area of the Tasman Sea.

Processing pipeline for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data

We developed a processing pipeline to rapidly detect vessels in SAR data, and pass that to Starboard to be displayed to analysts in near real-time.

Real-time analysis interface

To support real-time operations we developed several real-time relevant aspects of Starboard, such as being able to see the speed, heading and location of multiple vessels in a chosen area at once.

Proof of concept finished

We finished a proof of concept web application, testing the integration of satellite data, coupled with automated analysis of AIS data to detect dark vessels on the high seas in between Fiji and Vanuatu.

Display sea surface temperature (SST) for chosen areas of the world

To help analysts understand which fish species vessels may be targeting we integrated SST data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which can be turned on and off as a map layer.

Integrated regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO) databases

To help analysts quickly check a vessel’s registration details we integrated RFMO data into Starboard, which could be viewed on the vessel details panel.