Windward

Windward is an Israeli maritime intelligence company founded in 2011 by Ami Daniel and Matan Peled, listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) since December 2021. Its platform fuses AIS vessel-tracking data, satellite imagery, and machine-learning behavioural models to flag sanctions evasion, illicit ship-to-ship transfers, and anomalous vessel behaviour at scale.

Across both the Iran-conflict and Russia-Ukraine tracks, Windward's data has become primary evidence for policymakers. In the Strait of Hormuz, the company mapped 92 AIS denial zones and 44 GPS jamming zones as of 5 March 2026, documenting the electronic warfare environment strangling commercial navigation . By 12 April, it documented 14 State Department-sanctioned dark-fleet vessels near Hormuz using the identities of scrapped ships . By 20 May, Windward logged a 600 per cent AIS transponder deactivation surge and only two commercial transits against a pre-crisis baseline of roughly 95 per day. On 21 June 2026, as CENTCOM logged 55 merchant vessels transiting, Windward said the IRGC closure declaration and the vessel data 'were pointing in different directions' . When General Licence X authorised Iranian oil sales on 22 June, the firm described the 12-transit day as a 'late-blockade baseline closer to wartime dark-fleet running' rather than a reopening . In the Russia-Ukraine war, Windward's registry analysis documented that Sovcomflot reflagged 56 per cent of its fleet to Russia's own registry, supplying the evidentiary basis for the EU's March 2026 shadow-fleet sanctions package.

Windward occupies an unusual position: a private company whose commercial product directly shapes sanctions enforcement and conflict reporting in two simultaneous major conflicts. Its data appears in EU policy documents, news wires, and government briefings simultaneously, raising questions about accountability, methodology transparency, and the role of for-profit maritime analytics in determining which ships are targeted.