In February 2025, French authorities arrested the Tanzanian-flagged cargo vessel KOKOO after discovering 75 tonnes of cigarettes onboard.
According to reporting from Radio New Zealand “The Kokoo was also carrying two 300-horse-power shuttle-type small boats, indicating logistical capacity to deliver parts of the shipment to successive onshore drop points, in what specialists refer to as "go-fast" mode, a technique usually associated with narcotics traffickers.”
Using Starboard Maritime Intelligence to identify the vessel of interest
Area of interest
Using the area tool, we can filter the view to the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Our analysis shows that 12,699 vessels operated in this area during the period of interest.
Area of operation and port calls
By selecting ‘Entered area from a foreign port,’ we focus on vessels arriving from overseas. Adding a filter to exclude vessels that visited ports in Australia or New Zealand over the last 90days isolates those that have entered the EEZ without being subject to recent inspections. These filters immediately reduce the number of candidate vessels to 872.
Vessel activity in the area of interest
Starboard allows users to filter by specific vessel activity. By selecting ‘Loitering’ within the area, we remove vessels behaving in a manner consistent with standard commercial traffic. This further narrows the list to 72vessels—just 0.5% of the original traffic in the Australian EEZ.
Prioritising by risk
Starboard’s flag risk analytics surface vessels with false, unknown, or unverified flags. These represent the highest priority for analysts, as they likely lack flag-state oversight, classification society certification, and P&I insurance. This assessment provides 13high-risk vessels for final review.
Identifying KOKOO
Of the 13vessels, the KOKOO displays the most anomalous behaviour. After loitering off the coast of Tasmania, it departed the Australian EEZ for New Caledonia. Based on this intelligence, French authorities boarded the vessel and discovered the illicit cargo.
Why This Matters
This case study demonstrates the power of Risk-based Targeting. Without advanced analytics, maritime authorities face a "needle in the haystack" problem, attempting to monitor tens of thousands of vessels manually. Starboard Maritime Intelligence solves this by:
Drastically reducing the search area: Narrowing down 12,000+ vessels to 13 high-priority targets in minutes.
Exposing hidden risks: Surfacing identity manipulation and "shadow fleet" characteristics (such as false flags) that traditional AIS monitoring misses.
Enabling operational efficiency: Providing the actionable intelligence required to direct limited physical assets like patrol boats and aircraft to the highest-probability targets.
By fusing movement data with global registry information, Starboard transforms vast amounts of raw data into a clear Common Operating Picture (COP), allowing agencies to move rapidly from information to interdiction.