Pole Star Global, a leading provider of maritime intelligence and regulatory compliance solutions, has announced the launch of the Maritime Transparency Index (MTI). It is a machine learning-powered risk scoring system that takes maritime compliance from complex to clear.
MTI assigns transparency scores to ships, voyages, and related parties from 0 (hard dark) to 5 (transparent), distilling complex ship histories, ownership structures, and behavioral anomalies into credit-style ratings that enable compliance teams, port authorities, and shipowners to take immediate action.
Similar to financial credit ratings, MTI provides an intuitive risk assessment through a 0-5 scoring scale that compliance and finance teams can quickly understand. Proprietary machine learning algorithms analyze more than 40,000 vessels, representing 80% of the active merchant fleet, on a quarterly basis, transforming complex vessel behavior, ownership patterns, and operational history into a single, actionable intelligence layer.
MTI's comprehensive scoring model assesses ocean risk across three clear pillars of transparency:
• Vessel Score — historical and structural risk indicators such as vessel age, ownership transitions, flag changes, sanction history, port detentions, and recorded deficiencies. Identify vessels with opaque or high-risk operating histories.
• Vessel Position—Analysis of reporting gaps and spoofing activity collected through a mesh of vessel position data, including AIS. Evaluate the number of such events, total gap time, number of spoofing events, and other behavioral metrics essential to understanding vessel behavior during navigation.
• Voyage Score — behavioral anomalies such as port call patterns, port lengths, ship-to-ship transfers, slow sailing, unexplained delays, and exposure to geographic risks. Important for detecting suspicious activity during transportation.
Machine learning algorithms automatically detect flag hopping, AIS operations, dark vessel activity, changes in ownership, and deceptive shipping practices, providing timely intelligence as vessels and behavior change.
Multi-sector applications include:
• Flag State managers can leverage MTI to identify high-risk vessels that require immediate inspection and prioritize registration monitoring. The MTI score enables data-driven intervention strategies and demonstrates a registry's commitment to international compliance standards.
• Port officials focus inspection resources on vessels with low transparency scores. Pre-arrival risk assessment reduces port congestion while increasing the detection of non-compliant vessels and sanctioned activities.
• Sanctions compliance teams overlay sanctions screening and transparency scores to enhance due diligence. A low MTI score triggers a deeper investigation into ownership structure, sailing patterns, and related party relationships.
• Shipping companies (beneficiaries, ship operators, and managers) leverage high MTI scores to unlock premium charter rates, reduce insurance costs, minimize delays at ports, and differentiate their fleets in a competitive market that requires verified transparency.
Saleem Khan, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Polestar Global, said: “The Maritime Transparency Index represents a fundamental shift in the way the industry approaches shipping risk assessment. It combines machine learning and advanced analytics with 25 years of maritime intelligence expertise. “By doing so, we have created a powerful and easy-to-use tool. MTI applies credit-style scoring to maritime operations, transforming complex data patterns into clear, actionable scores that provide a common common ground for compliance teams, flag states and shipowners.” A language for transparency.
“Analysis that previously required hours can now be completed in seconds, allowing our customers to make faster, more informed decisions while reducing exposure to sanctioned vessels and fraudulent shipping practices.”
