A new platform revolutionising marine safety

The subscription software analyses diverse data points to spot marine crime

Spotted: With more than 90 per cent of the world’s goods being transported by sea, our oceans are a hotspot for crime, particularly armed robberies and trafficking. Because of this, finding an effective way to monitor risk and maritime crime is crucial. Enter Starboard.

The company has developed a new intelligence platform that collects data from various sources, including satellites and the global automatic identification system (AIS), to spot suspicious activity at sea in real time. The SaaS platform uses a mix of proprietary and open-source algorithms and machine learning models to spot key marine incidents such as crimes, port visits, illegal fishing, vessel encounters, and more.

The platform allows analysts to filter through different vessels and focus on particular risks, threats, or areas of interest such as incoming vessels, port history, or anomalous movements. This information helps governments, border security teams, NGOs, and fishery organisations streamline operations and spot risk much faster than is possible using existing, manual procedures.

Starboard recently raised NZ$5 million (around €2.8 million) in seed funding, which will be used to expand and increase its impact across more countries.

Springwise has spotted other innovations looking to make our oceans safer, including AI tech that monitors sea conditions to ensure safe passages and a robotic ship cleaner.

Written By: Lauryn Berry and Matilda Cox