Maritime Shipping Intelligence MCP Server

Port and vessel compliance intelligence for the maritime industry. This MCP server orchestrates 8 data sources covering sanctions screening, weather disruption, trade flow analysis, corporate transparency, and legal entity verification. It delivers vessel sanctions screening, port disruption forecasting, trade route compliance analysis, flag state risk assessment, counterparty verification, cargo origin verification, and a composite Maritime Risk Score (0-100) for fleet-wide risk evaluation.

What data can you access?

Data Point	Source	Coverage
US sanctions listings	OFAC SDN	Sanctioned vessels, operators, and entities
Multi-jurisdiction watchlists	OpenSanctions	40+ sanctions and PEP lists consolidated
International trade flows	UN COMTRADE	200+ countries, bilateral trade statistics
Severe weather alerts	NOAA	Marine weather warnings and storm tracking
Natural disaster monitoring	GDACS	Earthquakes, cyclones, floods, volcanoes
Corporate registries	OpenCorporates	Global company registration data
Legal entity identifiers	GLEIF LEI	LEI verification for shipping companies
Weather forecasting	Weather Forecast	Extended maritime weather predictions

MCP Tools

Tool	Price	Description
vessel_sanctions_screening	$0.10	Screen vessel or shipping company against OFAC SDN, OpenSanctions, and corporate registries for sanctions risk.
port_disruption_forecast	$0.10	Forecast port disruption from severe weather, natural disasters, and maritime hazards using NOAA and GDACS.
trade_route_compliance	$0.10	Assess trade route compliance: partner concentration (HHI), sanctioned route detection, and trade flow risk.
flag_state_risk_check	$0.10	Check flag state risk: flags of convenience, high-risk jurisdictions, and regulatory oversight quality.
shipping_counterparty_screen	$0.10	Screen shipping counterparty: LEI verification, corporate transparency, sanctions, and flag state risk.
maritime_weather_risk	$0.10	Maritime weather risk assessment for shipping routes: storm tracking, visibility, wind, and sea state.
cargo_origin_verification	$0.10	Verify cargo origin: trade flow analysis, transshipment risk, and sanctions-origin detection.
vessel_fleet_risk_report	$0.10	Complete maritime risk report combining sanctions, weather, trade routes, counterparty, and flag state into a Composite Maritime Risk Score.

Data Sources

• OFAC Sanctions Search -- US Treasury Specially Designated Nationals list for screening sanctioned vessels, vessel owners, operators, and flag states
• OpenSanctions Search -- Consolidated multi-jurisdiction watchlist database with maritime-specific entity matching across 40+ international sanctions programs
• UN COMTRADE -- United Nations trade statistics for bilateral trade flow analysis, commodity routing, and partner concentration measurement via HHI
• NOAA Weather Alerts -- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine weather forecasts, severe weather warnings, and storm advisories affecting port operations
• GDACS Disaster Alerts -- Global Disaster Alerting Coordination System for cyclone tracking, tsunami warnings, earthquake monitoring near port facilities, and flood events
• OpenCorporates -- Global corporate registry data for vessel owner transparency, beneficial ownership chains, and corporate structure verification
• GLEIF LEI Lookup -- Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation database for verifying LEI status, registration details, and entity relationship mapping of shipping companies
• Weather Forecast Search -- Extended weather forecasting for route planning, departure timing, and port arrival conditions

How the scoring works

Six specialized scoring models contribute to the Composite Maritime Risk Score.

Vessel Sanctions Risk Score: OFAC/OpenSanctions match confidence, corporate chain screening via OpenCorporates, and LEI verification status through GLEIF. Cross-database matches with high confidence are flagged as critical.

Port Weather Disruption Index: Active severe weather alerts, disaster proximity to port facilities, storm trajectory forecasting, and compound hazard analysis when multiple weather events converge.

Trade Route Compliance Rating: Partner concentration measured by Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), sanctioned route detection through trade flow analysis, and trade volume anomaly identification.

Flag State Risk Weighting: Detection of flags of convenience (Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands), jurisdiction regulatory oversight quality assessment, and regulatory standards comparison.

Counterparty Shipping Fraud Probability: Corporate transparency depth from OpenCorporates, LEI registration status and validity, sanctions cross-reference results, and beneficial ownership chain analysis.

Composite Maritime Risk Score (0-100): Weighted combination of all maritime intelligence signals across sanctions, weather, trade, corporate, and regulatory dimensions.

Score Range	Risk Level	Interpretation
0-20	LOW	Clean vessel/counterparty, favorable conditions
21-40	MODERATE	Minor weather or compliance signals
41-60	ELEVATED	Active sanctions matches or weather disruptions
61-80	HIGH	Multiple compounding risk factors
81-100	CRITICAL	Sanctions hits with weather disruption overlap

How to connect this MCP server

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "maritime-shipping-intelligence": {
      "url": "https://maritime-shipping-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Programmatic (cURL)

curl -X POST https://maritime-shipping-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"vessel_sanctions_screening","arguments":{"entity":"MSC Oscar"}},"id":1}'

Other MCP clients

This server works with any MCP-compatible client including Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and custom integrations. Point your client to https://maritime-shipping-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp.

Use cases for maritime intelligence

Vessel pre-booking compliance

Screen vessels and their operators against OFAC and OpenSanctions before booking cargo. Corporate chain analysis via OpenCorporates reveals beneficial ownership that may not be apparent from the vessel name alone.

Port operations planning

Forecast port disruptions by combining NOAA marine weather alerts, GDACS disaster monitoring, and extended weather forecasts. Plan vessel scheduling and contingency routing around identified hazards.

Cargo origin verification

Verify declared cargo origins against trade flow data to detect potential transshipment through sanctioned countries. UN COMTRADE bilateral trade statistics reveal anomalous routing patterns.

Counterparty verification

Screen shipping counterparties for corporate transparency, LEI status, and sanctions exposure before entering charter agreements or freight contracts.

Flag state risk monitoring

Identify vessels registered under flags of convenience and assess the regulatory oversight quality of their flag states. Useful for marine insurers setting premium levels and P&I clubs evaluating membership applications.

Fleet-wide risk reporting

Generate comprehensive maritime risk reports covering sanctions, weather, trade compliance, and counterparty verification across an entire fleet or portfolio of vessels.

How much does it cost?

This MCP uses pay-per-event pricing. You are only charged when a tool is called.

Each tool call costs $0.10. The Apify Free plan includes $5 of monthly platform credits, enough for approximately 50 maritime intelligence queries per month.

Usage Example	Estimated Cost
Single vessel sanctions screening	$0.10
Full fleet risk report	$0.10
Port disruption forecast	$0.10
Weekly fleet monitoring (10 vessels)	$1.00

How it works

1. Tool call received -- Your MCP client sends a vessel name, entity name, commodity, or port as the query parameter.
2. Parallel actor execution -- Up to 8 Apify actors run simultaneously across sanctions lists, weather services, trade databases, corporate registries, and LEI systems.
3. Cross-reference matching -- Results are cross-referenced across sources using entity matching to identify the same vessel or company appearing under variant names.
4. Risk scoring -- Specialized scoring models compute sanctions risk, weather disruption, trade compliance, flag state risk, and counterparty fraud probability.
5. Composite assessment -- Individual scores are weighted and combined into the Composite Maritime Risk Score returned as structured JSON.

FAQ

Q: Does this track real-time vessel positions? A: No. It provides compliance and risk intelligence from regulatory, sanctions, weather, and corporate data. For real-time AIS vessel tracking, specialized services like MarineTraffic provide that capability.

Q: What is flag state risk? A: Flag state risk measures the regulatory quality of a vessel's country of registration. Flags of convenience (e.g., Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands) may indicate weaker oversight, which affects insurance and compliance risk.

Q: Can this verify LEI status? A: Yes. The shipping_counterparty_screen and flag_state_risk_check tools query GLEIF for Legal Entity Identifier verification, registration status, and entity relationship data.

Q: How current is the weather data? A: NOAA and GDACS data is fetched live at query time. Weather alerts and disaster monitoring reflect current active events.

Q: Is it legal to use this data? A: All data sources are publicly available. See Apify's guide on web scraping legality.

Q: Can I screen multiple vessels at once? A: Call the screening tool once per vessel. Each call is independently charged. For fleet-wide assessment, the vessel_fleet_risk_report tool provides a comprehensive single-call analysis.

Related MCP servers

MCP Server	Focus
ryanclinton/logistics-freight-intelligence-mcp	Supply chain and freight compliance
ryanclinton/sanctions-evasion-network-mcp	Sanctions evasion network detection
ryanclinton/maritime-resource-compliance-mcp	Maritime resource and fishing compliance

Integrations

This MCP server runs on the Apify platform and integrates with the broader Apify ecosystem:

• Apify API -- Call this MCP programmatically from any language via the Apify API
• Scheduling -- Set up daily port disruption forecasts or weekly fleet screening
• Webhooks -- Trigger alerts when sanctions matches are found or weather risk exceeds thresholds
• Integrations -- Connect to Slack, Zapier, Make, or any webhook-compatible service for maritime risk notifications