BP Shipping digitizes its sanctions compliance efforts

BP Shipping calls recent U.S. advisories “a game changer”

BP Shipping is using a solution developed by Tel Aviv headquartered Windward, a specialist in maritime trade analytics and insights, to digitize its business trade practices relating to sanctions compliance,

The move comes as the U.S. steps up the sanctions pressure on a number of countries that it considers to be bad actors, notably Iran, Venezuela and Syria. Earlier this month, the Treasury sanctioned four tanker companies for breaches of Venezuela sanctions. That came after the U.S. had earlier signaled that shipping would be very much a target of enforcement actions by issuing a guidance on illicit shipping and sanctions evasions practices.

But though the tricks in the sanctions evasions playbook may be fairly well-known, keeping track of who is playing them is less easy.

“Growing trade sanctions make it increasingly difficult for companies operating in the maritime ecosystem to know which vessels are safe to do business with,” says Windward. “Meeting the expectations set by regulators in recent advisories now requires in-depth behavioral analysis in addition to standard screening.”

“We have evaluated Windward for around 12 months and have gained a clear insight into what their capabilities and domain expertise can deliver across the due diligence and know your vessel process,” says Mark Fortnum, BP Shipping VP of Technical and Vetting. “It has been a process of true collaboration and partnership to provide a solution adapted to BP Shipping’s needs. The OFAC advisories published recently are a game-changer for the maritime and trade ecosystems regarding compliance requirements. Solutions that can increase both quality and efficiency in our sanctions compliance operations are essential across all related business transactions.”