The ocean economy is worth $1.5 trillion a year and carries 80% of global trade by volume. The system the world uses to watch it was never built for adversaries. This is the case for a new one.
Our oceans are a critical medium supporting the global economy. Over 80% of international goods by volume and 70% by value are transported via sea. The ocean economy is worth $1.5 trillion annually — projected to reach $3 trillion by 2030 — employs over 30 million people and supports nearly 3 billion livelihoods. The oceans span approximately 361 million square kilometres, covering 70% of Earth's surface.
The current method for real-time monitoring of maritime activity at global scale relies heavily on the Automatic Identification System (AIS). However, AIS is susceptible to manipulation — including spoofing and deactivation — and in many cases does not exist at all, rendering such ships dark vessels. Recent studies show that only 25% of global fishing activity is visible through AIS. As a result, a significant portion of critical maritime activity is monitored too late, or never seen at all.
This white paper makes the case for a novel, advanced mechanism to monitor our oceans globally in real-time — to plug the massive gaps in the current system. It will let us shift from today's reactive posture to a preemptive one, where maritime incidents can be predicted before they occur.
The following case studies highlight the economic need for an advanced maritime monitoring system, industry by industry.
Maritime piracy imposes substantial economic burdens — ransom payments, loss of cargo, damage to vessels, harm to crew, higher security costs and insurance premiums. Rerouting to avoid piracy-prone regions adds transit time, fuel expense and supply-chain disruption. By some estimates, piracy costs the global economy around $25 billion annually. On March 12, 2024, Somali pirates hijacked the cargo ship MV Abdullah in the Indian Ocean, holding 23 crew hostage and releasing them only after a $5 million ransom.
An advanced system provides on-time piracy alerts with improved maritime domain awareness at global scale, and helps governments curb piracy by delivering timely intelligence on pirate activity — across the vast zones that patrol assets alone cannot cover.