SKILL / Business & Risk
Plans: Pro & AgencyVessel Sanctions Screening
Screen a vessel by IMO number, MMSI or name and review its identity, flags, ownership and the sanctions restrictions attributed to it.
Vessel Sanctions Screening answers the question of whether a vessel is subject to reported sanctions measures. Give Nexus the vessel’s IMO number, its MMSI or its name, and optionally its flag; the IMO number gives the strongest identification because it stays with the hull when the name or flag changes. Nexus reviews the supported records and returns the vessel identity candidates with the restrictions attributed to each.
What you get
Vessel identity candidates with flags and ownership, kept separate from the restrictions attributed to them.
Using Vessel Sanctions Screening in an investigation
For each candidate, Nexus shows the vessel’s identifiers, its flags, the ownership on record and the reported sanctions measures, with the source dates kept. Identity candidates and legal restrictions are reported separately, so a vessel that resembles a sanctioned one is never presented as the sanctioned vessel itself. Where coverage is incomplete, the result says so.
Results attach to the case as findings. Vessel Sanctions Screening pairs with Sanctions Ownership Exposure to follow the owners and operators behind a vessel, with Sanctions, PEP and Risk Screening and EU Sanctions Measures for the companies involved, and with Offshore Structure Research when ownership runs through offshore entities. The outcome exports to a PDF report with the chain of custody preserved.
Example objectives
Run the Skill directly, or describe the objective in your own words — these are the kinds of questions it is built to answer.
Ask Nexus
“Is the vessel with this IMO number subject to reported sanctions measures, and under which restrictions?”
Ask Nexus
“Which vessel candidates match this name and flag, and how do their IMO numbers compare?”
Ask Nexus
“Who does the record list as the owner of this vessel, and is that owner a sanctions candidate too?”
How Vessel Sanctions Screening fits the investigation
A Skill is one move inside a case. The findings stay in the case file, where the evidence behind them can be checked, graphed and reported.
- 01
Choose or describe
Pick the Skill from the Skill Library, or describe the objective in your own words and let Nexus work out which Skills fit the question.
- 02
Review the evidence
Open the evidence record behind any finding and read the original public source before you rely on what it says.
- 03
Add to the case graph
Promote the people, organizations and identifiers you accept into the case relationship graph, straight from their evidence records.
- 04
Brief and report
Turn the case into a BLUF situation brief and, on Pro and Agency, into a court-ready PDF report with chain of custody.
Evidence before conclusions
What Vessel Sanctions Screening cannot establish
Nexus keeps supported findings, possible matches, contradictions and information gaps apart instead of blending them into one narrative. These are the boundaries Vessel Sanctions Screening states up front.
- A name match, a flag or an operator alone does not establish that a vessel is the sanctioned one. Vessels are compared on their own identifiers, and the IMO number is the strongest of them.
- Vessels change names, flags and owners. Each record carries its date and may not reflect the vessel’s current registration.
- Coverage of vessel records and restrictions is bounded. A vessel missing from the result is not cleared, and incomplete coverage is reported as such.
Best for
Teams that reach for Vessel Sanctions Screening most often.
Related OSINT concepts
The vocabulary this Skill works in, defined in the glossary.
Related Skills
Skills investigators commonly run next, in the same case.
Frequently asked questions
What does Vessel Sanctions Screening return?
Vessel Sanctions Screening returns vessel identity candidates for an IMO number, MMSI or vessel name, each with its identifiers, flags and ownership on record, and the sanctions restrictions reported against it. Identity candidates and restrictions are kept separate, source dates are preserved and incomplete coverage is stated in the result.
Should I screen a vessel by IMO number or by name?
Screen by IMO number whenever you have it. The IMO number stays with a vessel through changes of name, flag and owner, so it gives Vessel Sanctions Screening the strongest identification. A name or MMSI search returns more candidates, which the investigator then compares on their identifiers.
Does a match mean the vessel is sanctioned?
A match in Vessel Sanctions Screening is a candidate record that resembles the vessel. A shared name, flag or operator alone does not establish that it is the sanctioned vessel. Nexus shows the identifiers behind each candidate so the investigator can confirm identity first and then read the attributed restrictions in their source context.
Which Nexus plan includes Vessel Sanctions Screening?
Vessel Sanctions Screening is included in the Skill Library on the Pro and Agency plans. Pro unlocks 43 of the 47 investigative Skills, including Vessel Sanctions Screening and the other business, financial and risk Skills, and Agency includes all 47.