Kasper Nielsen, Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) lead for the EME region and seafarer engagement tells Intent Communications about how the organisation is using generative AI technology in the form of a confidential Large Language Model (similar to CharGPT or Claude) to support its seafarer interactions.
The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) is a global business network working to eliminate corruption in maritime trade. For more than a decade, MACN has brought together shipping companies, governments, civil society organisations, and port stakeholders to improve integrity and support seafarers facing unethical demands during port calls. MACN’s anonymous incident database contains more than 72,000 reports of demands worldwide, demonstrating the scale and persistence of the challenges seafarers face during port calls. A central pillar of this work is the MACN HelpDesk, a unique support mechanism that combines prevention, operational assistance, and learning from real-world experiences to help crews mitigate corruption risks more confidently and safely. More than 7,000 vessels have already participated, reflecting the industry’s trust in and value of MACN’s approach.
The MACN HelpDesk is built around a simple but powerful process. Before arriving in port, captains can send a Pre-Arrival Notification (PAN) by email containing basic voyage information such as vessel details, destination, and arrival dates. Within minutes, they receive country-specific corruption risks and guidance designed to help captains prepare for their upcoming port call. In certain countries, including India, Egypt, Nigeria, and Ukraine, the HelpDesk can also provide real-time local assistance if a vessel encounters unethical demands while in port. After departure, captains receive a Post-Departure Survey (PDS) that captures their experience and any challenges they encountered. Together, PANs and PDS responses create a continuous learning loop that strengthens both prevention and response efforts.
Historically, email has been the communication backbone of shipping. This free-text format was one of MACN’s biggest challenges in scaling its support to seafarers globally. Captains come from diverse nationalities and operational backgrounds. Emails often contain maritime jargon, abbreviations, spelling mistakes, inconsistent formatting, reused templates, and lengthy email chains. While humans can usually interpret the intent behind these messages, traditional software struggles to do so reliably. Asking frontline seafarers to abandon email and complete structured digital forms would create friction and significantly reduce participation. MACN has therefore deliberately maintained a low-friction, email-based approach that meets seafarers where they already work.
This is where business-confidential AI (Large Language Models) has now allowed MACN to accurately interpret free-text emails, identify key voyage information, recognise ports despite spelling variations, classify the purpose of incoming messages, and distinguish between new notifications, updates, questions, and survey responses. What previously required continuous manual effort can now be handled automatically while preserving the simplicity of a single email from the captain.
Beyond processing emails, AI also enables MACN to unlock the value of its growing knowledge base. Over the years, thousands of anonymous incident reports, post-departure survey responses, and communications with the maritime industry have created a unique source of operational intelligence on corruption risks, port practices, and effective mitigation strategies. As HelpDesk adoption grows and more captains share their port experience, MACN will be able to use AI to analyse and synthesise these fragmented sources, identify recurring local patterns, and generate increasingly precise operational intelligence. Over time, this will support a gradual shift from today’s country-level guidance towards accurate port-level guidance on corruption risks and effective mitigation measures.
In this way, one captain’s experience will help the next captain prepare for the same port, making future calls safer for seafarers and mitigating costly delays for the industry.
Words by Kasper Nielsen, Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) Photo Credit: Unsplash.com
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