Pole Star Global, a world leader in maritime intelligence and regulatory compliance solutions, announced the launch of the Maritime Transparency Index (MTI) — a machine learning-powered risk scoring system that transforms maritime compliance from complexity into clarity.

MTI assigns vessels, voyages, and associated parties transparent scores from 0 (Hard Dark) to 5 (Transparent), distilling complex vessel histories, ownership structures, and behavioral anomalies into credit-style ratings that compliance teams, port authorities, and ship owners can act on immediately.

Similar to financial credit ratings, MTI delivers intuitive risk assessment through a 0-5 scoring scale that compliance and financial teams immediately understand. The proprietary machine learning algorithm analyzes 40,000+ vessels on a quarterly basis — representing 80% of the active commercial fleet — transforming complex vessel behavior, ownership patterns, and operational history into a single, actionable intelligence layer.

MTI's comprehensive scoring model evaluates maritime risk across three distinct transparency pillars:

Vessel Score — Historical and structural risk indicators including vessel age, ownership transitions, flag changes, sanctions history, port detentions, and recorded deficiencies. Identifies vessels with opaque or high-risk operational histories.

Vessel Position — Analysis of reporting gaps and spoofing activity collected via a mesh of vessel position data including AIS. Evaluates the number of such events, total gap time, number of spoofing events, and other behavioral indicators essential to understanding vessel conduct when underway.

Voyage Score — Behavioral anomalies including port call patterns, time in port, ship-to-ship transfers, slow steaming, unexplained delays, and geographic risk exposure. Critical for detecting suspicious activities during transit.

Machine learning algorithms detect flag hopping, AIS manipulation, dark vessel activity, ownership changes, and deceptive shipping practices automatically — delivering timely intelligence as vessels and behaviors change.