Business · Wired
Now she and other analysts have found new ways to follow them
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“The reporter keep a very, very close eye on a large cohort of 500 or 600 tankers.
Key facts
- The reporter keep a very, very close eye on a large cohort of 500 or 600 tankers
- Today, more than 800 vessels are in the Persian Gulf, according to Windward AI data
- About 20 percent of the petroleum consumed globally moves through the narrow waterway
- A month and a half into the war between Iran and the US and Israel, Michelle Wiese Bockmann has seen one constant: disappearing ships
Summary
A month and a half into the war between Iran and the US and Israel, Michelle Wiese Bockmann has seen one constant: disappearing ships. This is not unusual in the Strait of Hormuz, says Bockmann, a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI who has been tracking shipping across the globe for 30 years. Those unique, seven-digit IMO identifiers allow trackers like Bockmann to trace the ships throughout their floating lifetimes. Jamming and “spoofing” these transponder signals, either by interfering with their satellite signals or creating false ones to make the ships appear where or what they’re not, isn’t new. Today, more than 800 vessels are in the Persian Gulf, according to Windward AI data. Now she and other analysts have found new ways to follow them.
Tankers that are not accurately broadcasting their locations can crash into others or run aground, upping the likelihood of catastrophic oil spills. When Israel and the US attacked Iran in late February, Bockmann had to cut short a visit with her family in Australia.