How Satellite Tech Paired With AI Can Unmask The Shadow Fleet

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Tracking vessel movements in the Strait of Hormuz has become a major focus for governments and private companies worldwide amid the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Artificial intelligence can analyze patterns in vessel movements. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

As space becomes a hotspot of modern war and global attention remains focused on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, artificial intelligence is now at the fore of tracking and analyzing vessels.

Paired with satellite technology, AI is proving capable of spotting suspicious patterns at sea – showing potential to draw back the veil on vessels used covertly by Russia, China and Iran in what is now called the shadow fleet. Shadow fleet vessels disguise their identity and purpose through a broad range of deceptive activities, including spoofing their locations and destinations.

Last week, lawmakers and national security personnel gathered for the grand opening of a new Maritime Intelligence Center launched by SynMax Intelligence in Washington, D.C., in an event that demonstrated how far AI has come in the world of geospatial intelligence analysis.

Tracking Illegal Fishing Activities

U.S. Coast Guardsmen from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Kapolei, Hawaii survey fishing vessels in May 2026 in an operation led by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, courtesy Air Station Barbers Point)

U.S. Coast Guard

Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, delivered an address at the center’s inauguration in which he called for the technology to be used to track illegal Chinese fishing vessels.

“The scale of the Chinese distance water fleet is staggering. It has thousands of vessels with some public estimates as high as 16,000 vessels. Between 2022 and 2024, it accounted for 44% of global fishing across 110 million hours in the waters of…

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