From Algorithms to Action: Disrupting Wildlife Trafficking in Maritime Supply Chains

Posted on January, 27 2025

An Innovative Technology Solution for Detecting Undeclared and Misdeclared Wildlife Products in Cargo Bookings
Illegal wildlife trade is a global crisis that threatens biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and sustainable development. It generates significant profits for transnational organized crime networks, which fuel corruption and undermine law enforcement and governance. Air freight and air passenger are the means of transport that have formed the bulk of seizure records of illegal wildlife trade over the years. However, maritime supply chains play a crucial but detrimentally overlooked role in this illicit trade. It is estimated that 80-90% of the total volume of international trade in goods is carried by sea. The largest container ships can carry more than 24,000 containers. Meanwhile, under 2% of containers are inspected at entry/exit points. Vast and complex, maritime shipping networks facilitate the movement of goods worldwide, making them an attractive avenue for wildlife smugglers to transport endangered species, and their parts and products. The sheer volume of containerized cargo, limited capacity for inspections, and the difficulty of monitoring vast ocean routes, creates significant challenges in preventing, detecting and disrupting illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife traffickers take advantage of existing loopholes and challenges to exploit legitimate international shipping services to move illegal wildlife products internationally. Addressing wildlife trafficking within maritime supply chains is therefore critical to curb wildlife trafficking and protect endangered species. 

Container booking processes remain a significant vulnerability for many types of illegal trades. Traffickers can often complete bookings for cargo space with little scrutiny, making it difficult to keep trade flows and supply chains free from illegally exploited wildlife. While technology solutions have significant potential to strengthen port screening and control, there is currently no industry-wide universal tool for cargo screening to identify illegal wildlife shipments. 

WWF’s Asia Pacific Counter-Illegal Wildlife Trade Hub is leading a collaborative project that aims to address this issue on a global scale. The project is creating a Proof of Concept (POC) technology solution to screen bookings and shipping documentation for misdeclared or undeclared wildlife products. WWF is advancing the project with financial support from Swire Shipping and WWF’s Innovation Fund. 

“At Swire Shipping, we are committed to safeguarding our ecosystems and conserving species diversity. Shipping plays a vital role in preventing the transportation of illegal wildlife products, and we are proud to be partnering with the WWF on a technological solution for the identification of suspicious cargo. By combining our expertise in maritime logistics with the WWF’s wildlife and conservation knowledge, we strive to make a difference in the fight against wildlife trafficking and create a more sustainable future for our planet."
- Susana Germino, General Manager for Sustainability and Decarbonisation, Swire Shipping 

The NCB's software, Hazcheck Detect, is a proven and well-established cargo screening tool for the detection of misdeclared and undeclared dangerous goods. NCB is a not-for-profit organisation with a mission of ‘safety of life and cargo at sea.’ NCB is working closely with WWF by providing the adaptive algorithms for the technology solution and expanding their libraries for the real-time detection of illegal wildlife shipments. The POC stage is focused on two heavily trafficked wildlife products: elephant ivory and pangolin scales. 

With a powerful combination of WWF, TRAFFIC, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)  research and data inputs, which includes historical seizure incident data and suspect lists for these two types of heavily trafficked wildlife products. The team is using this data to create a set of "rules" that identify wildlife trafficking patterns in bookings. Carriers screen their bookings against the set of rules in the library, which then flags carriers when a booking is likely to be illegal wildlife trade. We aim to increase the resilience of maritime supply chains while securing business continuity by only identifying the highest-risk shipments for illegal wildlife trade.

“As stewards of our planet, we have a responsibility to protect wildlife from the devastating and intricate impacts of illegal wildlife trade. By enhancing detection in maritime supply chains through the cargo screening tool, we can obstruct one of the most significant avenues for illegal wildlife trade. This collaborative and innovative project represents a critical step in safeguarding our biodiversity, and I am proud to support this important initiative.”
Ms. Nicole Wong, Chief Executive Officer, WWF-Hong Kong

WWF has supported the NCB Hazcheck solution in screening individual bookings that have been flagged as potential wildlife trafficking activity using an initial set of criteria. Individual booking data include the commodity name, commodity code, customs description, details on the description of goods, origin, transit, and destination ports, and parties, including the consignee and shipper, among other information. A booking may have been flagged for a combination of reasons, such as a high-risk declared cover commodity, routing, and/or an entity named in adverse media/ negative news. Throughout this process, the WWF team reviews the details on the individual bookings, checks which factor(s) triggered the hit, and investigates whether this is a likely booking for illegal wildlife trade. 

Investigating the individual bookings involves looking into the parties and determining whether the companies are high-profile, reputable, well-established third-party logistics organisations; whether the cargo descriptions were consistent throughout the booking process; and if the routing is indeed high-risk for ivory and pangolin scales. Throughout the case review, shipments were labelled as a container that is indeed very high-risk and would be a good candidate to be opened for physical inspection, or if it is in fact not likely to be illegal wildlife trade. In the latter case, the team develops ideas on how to refine and fine-tune the hits to avoid false hits better. 

Through enhanced detection capabilities, the library supported the identification of numerous high-risk shipments, bolstering efforts to combat wildlife trafficking. The library has completed 7.3 million screenings with hits on 25,531 bookings (a 0.34% hit rate).

To provide an example of refinements that will help narrow the daily number of hits in the library, WWF has identified that bookings that are declared as a certain agricultural commodity are at high risk for illegal wildlife trade. This declared commodity is also commonly legitimately traded along a high-risk route for wildlife trafficking. To better refine these hits, the team has identified reputable companies that can be whitelisted/ excluded from the rules, which will lower the number of hits relating to that agricultural commodity and make the remaining hits more accurate for potential suspicious activity. The rule refinement process is ongoing, and the tool's accuracy is continuously improving.

“At NCB, we are dedicated to developing  an industry cargo screening solution to enhance efforts to identify and disrupt wildlife trafficking in maritime trade. We are thrilled to partner with WWF in this groundbreaking initiative, which will amplify our collective impact on a global scale. This collaboration embodies our shared commitment to innovation, progress, and sustainability, driving transformative change that resonates throughout the industry.”
– Mr. Murat Köksel, Director, Liner Activities, National Cargo Bureau
 

Knowledge Dissemination


The project team delivered invited presentations on the project to various teams and events, contributing to widespread engagement and knowledge sharing. This included audiences of law enforcement, customs, and intelligence agencies, private sector maritime organisations, academia, non-governmental organisations, and inter-governmental organisations. Notably, the team presented the tool to the following groups: the 2024 Annual Meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Passenger and Cargo Control Programme (PCCP) (11-15 November 2024); the 2024 United for Wildlife (UfW) Annual Summit and the UfW Taskforce Showcase during “Wildlife Week” in Cape Town, South Africa (5 November 2024); the World Customs Organization (WCO) Asia/Pacific Regional High-level Roundtable on Enhancement of Data/Intelligence Analysis and Regional Cooperation Network in Tokyo, Japan (7-8 February 2024); and a brief overview was provided at the forty-eighth session of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Facilitation Committee (FAL 48) at IMO Headquarters in London (8-12 April 2024). Presentations were also given to members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat and the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC); Canadian Regulatory Intelligence Group (RIG); as well as attendees of WWF Oceans Practice’s Virtual Ocean Week, the WWF Annual Innovation Festival, and the Hong Kong Seminar on Crime Convergence and Illegal Wildlife Trade Cargo Screening, among others.

Promising Developments on the Horizon


A major milestone was achieved for the project in April 2024, when IMO FAL 48 adopted a resolution for updated guidelines on the prevention and suppression of the smuggling of wildlife on ships engaged in international maritime traffic, submitted by Belgium, Kenya, South Africa, the Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS), and WWF. Specifically, as a key measure for security strengthening and risk reduction, companies in the maritime sector are now encouraged to “implement cargo screening tools to facilitate detection of suspicious consignments.” This new and noteworthy resolution supports the more universal adoption of our cargo screening tool by the shipping industry to more effectively mitigate illegal wildlife trade on a global scale. Another key agenda item discussed at FAL 48 was the joint industry guidelines led by World Shipping Council (WSC), and co-sponsored by Belgium, WWF, and BIC - Bureau International des Containers. The guidelines aim to promote the uptake of the new industry guidelines, titled “Combatting illegal wildlife trade – a shared responsibility,” by providing specific and actionable guidance for all supply chain participants. Both the resolution and the new industry guidelines were adopted with strong support from member states and are key tools for enhancing the capacity of the maritime sector to prevent and suppress illegal wildlife trade. 

NCB, in collaboration with global cargo carriers and partners, is working to create a standardized approach to cargo screening and develop a truly industry-wide solution for detecting misdeclared, undeclared, and illicit cargo. Hazcheck Detect already has major carriers involved, representing over 30% of global container volumes, and onboarding discussions are underway with additional carriers to adopt the system. This creates a strong foundation for the growth of illegal wildlife screening as the program advances with WWF’s support. As a result, we are seeing great momentum and even greater potential for the impact of our POC tool on illegal wildlife trade. Hazcheck and WWF teams agree that this marks an exciting opportunity for the wider adoption of the illegal wildlife trade screening library.

“Addressing illegal wildlife trade within maritime supply chains is not just a regulatory obligation but a moral imperative. At Hapag-Lloyd, our commitment to safeguarding our planet’s natural heritage is integral to our operations. By adopting the use of the cargo screening library for illegal wildlife trade, we are ensuring that our industry contributes to a sustainable and ethical future for wildlife.”
 Mr. Ralph Schubert, Global Special Cargo, Hapag-Lloyd

​​“The Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association (HKLSA) strives to uphold the highest standards of environmental responsibility in global maritime supply chains. As a key contributor to maintaining Hong Kong's status as a leading international maritime center, our member lines are dedicated to upholding robust policies and practices that ensure the port's safety and efficiency, which aligns with the Hong Kong Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address, reflecting the government's strategic vision of leveraging technology to enhance the city’s long-term competitiveness. Our commitment includes implementing stringent measures to mitigate risks and prevent and detect the trafficking of endangered species. We believe that combating illegal wildlife trade through the implementation of cargo screening tools, as encouraged by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is crucial for preserving our planet's biodiversity.” 
Mr. Roberto Giannetta, Chairman, Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association (HKLSA)

Association (HKLSA)The ultimate goal of the POC is disruptive innovation: we aim to create powerful, transformative changes to cargo screening that will make engaging in illegal wildlife trade through maritime supply chains less appealing for traffickers. Illegal wildlife trade rules for an expanding number of species will continue to be adopted, tested, and refined with current and emerging partners from the maritime and technology sectors. Once widely implemented and adopted by shipping companies, the cargo-screening tool is expected to have a strong impact as traffickers are more likely to avoid shipments that are likely to be inspected. Therefore, this tool will disrupt traffickers' modi operandi and, ultimately, make the illegal wildlife trade a higher-risk activity.
Customs officials in Suvarnabhumi discover a shipment of African elephant tusks from Mozambique.
© WWF, James Morgan
Confiscated pangolin scales.
© Andy Isaacson / WWF-US
Illustrates the number of unique hits (orange line) compared to the total number of bookings (black bars) and screenings (light blue bars) between March and September 2024 for one of the carriers involved in the project.
© WWF-Hong Kong
African elephant (Loxodonta africana) calf facing herd in savanna, Kenya, Africa.
© naturepl.com / Klein & Huber / WWF