The dark activity tag is assigned to a port call for vessels carrying sanctioned or previously sanctioned cargo that seek to evade tracking of their activities, with their load or discharge confirmed by vetted data sources. The vessels go dark to avoid scrutiny for carrying sanctioned or previously sanctioned cargo, leading them to turn off AIS transponders or spoof their AIS signals to mask their operations. However, in some parts of the world, poor AIS coverage or the need to mask activities for security reasons (e.g., terrorist attacks or piracy) may lead vessels to turn off their AIS. Such instances, where AIS is turned off, are not associated with dark activity.

We have incorporated satellite imagery into our tracking methodology to enhance our capabilities for monitoring sanctioned flows involving Iran and Venezuela. The dark activity tag, now available on the Voyage, Port Call, and Trades tabs, identifies dark vessel operations involving the transportation of sanctioned or previously sanctioned cargo as captured by our new tracking methodology. For more details, refer to the Iranian oil tracking methodology and the Accounting for Unidentified Dark Venezuela Vessels articles, which include a new section on tracking flows using satellite imagery. The main difference between the analyst assumption tag and the dark activity tag is that the analyst assumption tag is used when we add a port call based on our interpretation of the vessel's tracks and draft in absence of hard data sources. In contrast, the dark activity tag is used when there are sources confirming that the vessel did indeed load or discharge.

For example, the vessel Voras did not enter any ports but recorded a draft change while heading towards Asia. Our sources confirm that it loaded Iranian crude and hence, this port call is assigned the dark activity tag. In the same voyage, we recorded Voras discharging the cargo at EOPL into Ayden as we have sources confirming the STS between these two vessels. Previously, we could only assume Voras discharged into an unknown vessel based on a draft change, which warranted an analyst assumption tag. Now, with the incorporation of satellite imagery, we are able to identify Ayden as the daughter vessel. Both STS port calls (discharge at EOPL from Voras to Ayden & load at EOPL to Ayden from Voras) were hence assigned the dark activity tag.

Vessel Snow Lotus loaded from the Kozmino installation but spoofed its tracks to show a loading from the South China Sea. However, sources confirm that she loaded ESPO from Kozmino, hence this port call is tagged with the dark activity tag.