Windward

At a Glance A drone struck ENERGOS WINTER, a U.S.-managed LNG floating storage unit at Damietta, Egypt, on July 29, with fire spreading to a second LNG tanker alongside. Iranian …

At a Glance The maritime security community is no longer arguing about whether AI belongs in the operational picture, but about how fast it can be trusted, deployed, and adopted …

At a Glance Hormuz recorded 6 transits on July 27, all via the northern corridor, with zero tanker crossings in either direction. Bab el-Mandeb crossings fell 22% since the July …

At a Glance The July 17, 2026 deadline for EU member states to identify critical entities under the Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive has passed, and notifications to designated entities …

The EU’s 21st sanctions package has been released and, as anticipated, the proposal for a full maritime services ban was shelved, allowing European shipowners and marine service providers to continue …

At a Glance The Houthis resumed attacks on July 22 following a September 2025 ceasefire, hitting or affecting four vessels across the reporting period. Houthi missile strikes hit the Saudi …

A Blockade, Declared and Partly Kinetic On July 20, Houthi-aligned forces announced a full naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, framed as retaliation for Saudi strikes on Sanaa airport. The declaration …

The Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20, escalating threats across the Red Sea corridor while Iranian forces struck three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz …

WHAT: Russia is now the leading flag for the shadow fleet after shifting some 69 sanctioned ships to its registry since November 2025 in response to the interdiction of stateless …

At a Glance Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed until further notice after the U.S. military launched a third round of strikes on July 11, hitting approximately 140 Iranian …

At a Glance U.S. Central Command struck more than 80 targets inside Iran overnight on July 7 to 8 , including air defense systems, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, …

At a Glance Two laden tankers were struck overnight on the NCAGS-approved outbound route, including AL REKAYYAT, a Marshall Islands-flagged Qatari LNG carrier, and a Saudi-owned ULCC, both running dark …

The first major maritime sanctions deadline of 2026 arrived on January 21, when the EU’s refined-products ban began applying to fuels produced in third countries from Russian crude. That deadline …

In 1776, the ocean was opaque. A ship’s captain leaving an American port for European waters could not be certain when they would arrive, or whether they would arrive at …

At a Glance The OFAC-OFSI Publication in Context The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and His Majesty’s Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) …

At a Glance Two kinetic incidents in 72 hours have tested the post-MoU operating environment, including the June 25 attack on the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel EVER LOVELY and the June …

At a Glance The IRGC published a claim on its official Telegram channel that three tankers transiting the southern corridor were ordered to turn back , with Windward identifying five …

At a Glance The Compliance Problem That Did Not Exist Five Years Ago For two decades, AIS has served as the trusted backbone of maritime compliance screening. Banks screen counterparties …

At a Glance The European Commission proposed the EU’s 21st sanctions package against Russia on June 9, 2026, targeting energy, financial services, and trade across multiple sectors, with the EU …

Windward is releasing GPS Jamming Resilience, a new platform capability that automatically identifies and suppresses the false vessel activity generated by GPS interference, before any of it reaches an analyst. …

At a Glance GPS jamming reached an estimated 978,000 events globally in Q1 2026, with 98% concentrated in the Middle East Gulf , marking the largest single-quarter concentration of maritime …

At a Glance Iran reinstated PGSA toll and clearance requirements on June 21, attempting to re-close the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the announcement, 25 AIS-visible transits were recorded on June …

At a Glance The U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on June 17, and June 18 marked the first day of commercial reopening at the Strait of Hormuz . …

At a Glance The EU Action Plan on Cable Security , adopted in February 2025 in response to Nord Stream and the wave of subsequent incidents, marked a policy shift …

With the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding now signed electronically by both presidents and in effect as of Wednesday, June 17, 2026, the maritime industry is entering a phase of cautious …

At a Glance GPS jamming is deliberate interference with the positioning signals that vessels, aircraft, and other GPS-dependent systems rely on to navigate, with the affected area either denied (signal …

At a Glance The UK has sanctioned 27 tankers in its latest sanctions package , including four LNG carriers that Russia quietly purchased in the first quarter of 2026, becoming …

At a Glance Russian-flagged and Russian-linked vessels have been observed exhibiting behavior over European subsea cables with no commercial explanation , including zig-zagging, loitering, AIS gaps, and uneconomic routing directly …

At a Glance The U.S. and Iran have agreed to end the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, with the agreement set to be signed on Friday and Iran reporting …

At a Glance AIS-visible commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained near zero across the June 11–14 reporting period. A cargo barge carrying civilian goods was reportedly struck by …

At a Glance AIS-visible traffic fell to just five transits during the June 10–11 reporting period, among the lowest levels observed since the conflict began. SAR imagery detected three dark …

At a Glance Operational Overview The June 5–10 reporting period shows a maritime environment under tightening enforcement, but not full immobilization. While Iranian crude exports remain heavily constrained, limited LPG …

At a Glance At least 12 Western-sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tankers have made repeated transits around Great Britain rather than through the English Channel, avoiding UK coast guard scrutiny. Eleven …

At a Glance Iranian crude and condensate exports fell 84% month-on-month in May to the lowest level since February 2020. month-on-month in May to the lowest level since February 2020. …

At a Glance AIS -only monitoring is no longer sufficient for cable protection , with more than 2,700 events globally where vessels remained near cable routes for over 24 hours, …

At a Glance Smuggling networks have outpaced conventional screening , with cocaine seizures alone hitting record levels across European ports while the underlying vessel-level behavioral signals were visible weeks or …

At a Glance ~73 IRGCN small craft surrounded a stationary container vessel in East Hormuz on May 31, the most direct kinetic engagement against commercial tonnage in the current cycle. …

At a Glance Commercial cable operators are increasingly expected to defend against sabotage and hostile state activity, but the authority to challenge, board, or remove vessels operating near critical assets …

At a Glance The Claims Environment Forced the Conversation The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse did more than produce a market-defining loss. Howden Re’s revised assessment puts insured losses above …

At a Glance As of day 89 of Operation Epic Fury , commercial transit volume has collapsed approximately 94% versus the pre-conflict baseline and has not normalized. versus the pre-conflict …

At a Glance Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) extended its claimed zone boundary to the UAE coast south of Fujairah on May 20, asserting administrative authority over the maritime …

At a Glance Iran has activated the Kuh Mubarak offshore loading buoy on its Gulf of Oman coast as a recurring export node , lifting approximately 6.9 million barrels of …

At a Glance Of the dozens of submarine cables crossing the Middle East Gulf, only two — FALCON and GBI (Gulf Bridge International) — pass directly through Iranian territorial waters, …

At a Glance Iran is moving to formalize a state-administered transit-toll regime under the new Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) , with reported per-transit payments of up to $2 million …

On May 16, 2026, the chairman of Iran’s Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Ebrahim Azizi, confirmed that Tehran will “unveil soon” the full details of a new mechanism …

At a Glance Of the dozens of submarine cables crossing the Middle East Gulf, only two — FALCON and GBI (Gulf Bridge International) — pass directly through Iranian territorial waters, …

On April 23, 2026, the EU adopted its 20th sanctions package against Russia, adding 46 vessels to the shadow fleet list, cutting off 20 more Russian banks, and putting the …

At a Glance Operational Overview Five weeks into the ceasefire, the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained, opaque, and increasingly managed through selective access. The clearest signal is the state of …

At a Glance Kharg Island loading terminals were observed fully empty for the first time since April 18, despite approximately 20 staged dark tankers nearby. for the first time since …

At a Glance Commercial shipping through Hormuz increasingly appears to be operating under dark or EMCON conditions . . IRGC fast craft activity expanded across both Hormuz corridors , including …