Some of the ways we help businesses help avoid the sanctions avoiders (prevent and detect) include:
- Running keywords searches related to specified vessels and jurisdictions through transaction details
- Helping update and maintain appropriate sanctions lists (OFAC, HM Treasury, etc.)
- Analyzing past and real time AIS data, including movement reports and port calls
- Understanding the risks of Free Trade Zone (and similar) areas within supply and distribution chains
The risk to businesses is rising, for two reasons. First, the use of sanctions has grown more complex since Marc Rich, the founder of Glencore, a huge trader, was indicted in 1983 for working with Iran, which was then holding Americans hostage. Last year America imposed sanctions on about 1,500 people, firms, vessels and other entities, nearly triple the number in 2016. Second, blackballed countries and unscrupulous middlemen are getting better at evasion. Boats turn off their transmissions systems to avoid detection. Oil is transferred from one ship to another in the middle of the ocean—ships trading on behalf of North Korea find each other in the East China Sea using WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging service. Captains disguise a ship’s identity by manipulating transponder data to transmit false locations and identity numbers of different vessels.
https://www.economist.com/business/2019/05/18/sanctions-create-business-risks-and-opportunities
