The maritime industry is drowning in AI buzzwords—LLMs, AI agents, agentic workflows—but what do they actually mean for your day-to-day work? If you’re screening vessels for sanctions, reviewing cargo documentation, or building intelligence reports, understanding the difference between these technologies isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about knowing which tool fits the task at hand.
Let’s break it down.
**LLMs: The Foundation, Not the Finisher**
Large Language Models (LLMs) are the building blocks of modern AI. They’re trained on massive amounts of general text data, so they can summarize reports, draft emails, or explain legal clauses. But here’s the catch: LLMs are generalists. They’re not built for the nuances of maritime operations—port regulations, vessel behavior patterns, or evolving sanctions regimes. Their broad training means they often miss the mark when it comes to industry-specific details.
To make LLMs work for maritime, you need to layer on domain-specific context. That’s where vertical AI agents come in.
**Vertical AI Agents: The Specialists**
Vertical AI agents are built on top of LLMs but are fine-tuned for specific tasks. They combine the capabilities of an LLM with context engineering—feeding them the right background, rules, and knowledge. This means they can:
* Understand maritime-specific terminology, regulations, and data sources
* Follow multi-step processes without forgetting earlier steps
* Adjust outputs as new information becomes available
In practice, this means a vertical AI agent can automate vessel screening across documents, watchlists, and registries. It can monitor fleet behavior for compliance issues in near real time. It can generate daily operations briefings with key insights already highlighted. Think of them as tireless team members who remove friction, cut through noise, and give you more time for higher-value decisions—without replacing your judgment or expertise.
**Agentic Workflows: The Full Orchestra**
An agentic workflow is a coordinated system of multiple vertical agents, each with its own role, memory, and context. These workflows enable organizations to automate complex, intricate processes across time, not just one-off tasks.
In maritime operations, this means chaining together agents that each handle part of the workflow: one agent pulls vessel ownership records, another cross-references sanctions lists, a third compiles a risk summary, and a fourth prepares a report. Each agent is given just the right context to move its step forward, and hands off the results to the next.
Agentic workflows bring three key benefits to maritime teams:
* **Orchestration**: Instead of managing isolated AI outputs, you get a coordinated flow that mirrors your real operational process.
* **Focus and consistency**: Each agent has a defined job, input, and output, reducing drift and noise.
* **Scalability**: Once designed, these agentic workflows can run across fleets, trades, or ports, helping teams cover more ground without adding headcount.
Think of it like building an AI-powered operations center: every agent plays a role, every step builds on the last, and every output is ready for human decision-making. With clear thresholds, validation points, and oversight, agentic workflows don’t take decisions out of your hands—they give you faster, smarter tools to stay ahead of risks.
**Why This Matters for Maritime Leaders**
The maritime ecosystem is navigating a new era of complexity, from volatile trade routes and expanding sanctions to mounting pressure for real-time decisions and risk mitigation. Adopting AI isn’t about chasing trends—it’s about layering the right capabilities to accelerate decision-making without sacrificing control.
AI can help you get there, but only if you match the right layer to the right task:
* **LLMs** can help you cut through complexity, summarize advisories, generate emails, and review legal clauses.
* **Vertical AI agents** enable structured workflows that automate repetitive tasks, like clarifying vessel behavior, facilitating screening, and surfacing key information right when you need it.
* **Agentic workflows** scale this across fleets, trades, or teams, empowering organizations to move faster, stay focused, and act with confidence.
**How Windward Brings Vertical AI Agents and Workflows to Maritime Operations**
At Windward, AI is deeply embedded into how we help maritime organizations operate with speed, accuracy, and control. By combining powerful LLMs with real-time maritime data, behavioral risk models, and structured logic, we deliver vertical Gen AI agents and agentic workflows that reflect how maritime professionals actually work.
MAI Expert™, our Gen AI-powered virtual subject matter expert, is a vertical AI agent that surfaces risk insights, analyzes vessel behavior, and supports time-sensitive decisions, all while maintaining context across steps. Moving forward, agentic workflow automation connects the dots: scanning documents, tracking fleet movement, monitoring risk signals, and preparing reports, reducing manual overhead and keeping teams focused on what matters