What is an ESAC?
An Enhanced Security Assessment Certificate (ESAC) is a private, voyage-specific security assessment and digital certificate for a proposed maritime shipment. Within the Scylla & Charybdis platform, an authorized independent Persian Gulf Security Agency (PGSA) reviews the applicant, cargo, vessel, route, transit window, supporting evidence and other relevant information; may request modifications; and decides whether to grant or deny an application. When a certificate is issued, its public verification record can be used to check its cryptographic integrity, current platform status and recorded voyage details.
The ESAC architecture separates assessment, custody and authentication. This preserves professional independence while allowing counterparties to verify that a presented certificate is genuine and unaltered.
Why it matters
Modern commodity trading increasingly takes place in an environment shaped by geopolitical instability, armed conflict, piracy, sanctions, terrorism, sabotage, organised crime and disruptions to critical maritime infrastructure. In many regions, these risks can be as significant as price, quality and delivery terms.
ESAC complements—rather than replaces—commercial due diligence, insurance, sanctions screening, vessel vetting and regulatory compliance.
Arm’s-length architecture
An authorized independent PGSA conducts the assessment and remains responsible for its methodology, evidence and conclusions. The Scylla & Charybdis platform records the application, communications, decision, certificate status and public verification data while preserving the institutional separation between applicant, assessor and validator. Regional specialists may contribute detailed knowledge of political dynamics, maritime conditions, commercial practice, criminal activity, armed groups, naval operations and port security.
Within the Scylla & Charybdis system, “PGSA” means an independent Persian Gulf Security Agency operating as a passive security-intelligence assessment body. It collates lawful information from an ecosystem of intelligence specialists but has no military, law-enforcement, intelligence-operational, interdiction or other operative capacity.
No association with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority: The ESAC system and its PGSA are unrelated to, and are not endorsed by or acting for, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority at pgsa.agency. They are not an agency or representative of any state or sovereign authority. Scylla & Charybdis respects all sovereign and lawful authorities; an ESAC does not replace any governmental authorization.
The ESAC system remains at arm’s length from sovereign authorities and from organisations with operative capacity. It must not be controlled by, act for, provide material support to, or coordinate operations with any sanctioned person or entity, proscribed terrorist organisation or other unlawful actor. Its role is limited to passive analysis, assessment and certificate administration.
The platform records the voyage particulars before the PGSA decision. If an ESAC is issued and activated, its verification layer can be used to confirm cryptographic integrity, current platform status and the voyage details recorded for that certificate. The confidential assessment material remains restricted to the authorized workflow.
Application, issuance and verification
An ESAC is assessed against the voyage particulars supplied in the application. The certificate and its verification record remain specific to the recorded applicant, cargo, vessel, route and transit window.
1. Apply
The customer submits the applicant, cargo, vessel, route, transit window and supporting evidence.
2. Assess
The authorized PGSA reviews the application, may request modifications and records its decision.
3. Issue
When the workflow requirements are satisfied, the platform creates the voyage-matched certificate and records its current status.
4. Verify
The public verification record checks cryptographic integrity, platform status and recorded voyage details.
An ESAC is not a governmental permit, safe-conduct, immunity, command, guarantee of safe passage, sanctions clearance, insurance approval or substitute for any authorization required by a competent authority.
Integrity and authentication
Authentic issuer
Confirms that the ESAC carries the digital signature of an agency authorised at the time of issuance.
Document integrity
Checks the certificate’s cryptographic fingerprint to detect alteration after issuance.
Voyage requirements
Confirms that the uploaded voyage particulars satisfy the protected conditions embedded in the certificate.
Current status
Checks issuer-controlled status information for validity, expiry, supersession or revocation where supported.
Validation authenticates the certificate and determines whether the submitted voyage particulars meet its embedded requirements. It does not independently re-perform the assessment or endorse the accuracy of the issuing agency’s substantive conclusions.
Assessment scope
Route environment
Conflict zones, piracy exposure, chokepoints and recent maritime incidents.
Ports and terminals
Local security conditions, access, infrastructure resilience and operational disruption.
Actors and threats
State, non-state, criminal and terrorist capabilities relevant to the voyage.
Mitigation
Practical controls, monitoring requirements and conditions affecting the assessment.
Voyage-specific conclusion
The assessment supports an evidence-based conclusion about the proposed voyage at the time it is conducted. Where appropriate, an ESAC confirms that the shipment has undergone enhanced security evaluation. It is not a guarantee that a voyage will remain free of disruption, and changing conditions may require reassessment.
Demo ESAC certificate
This demonstration certificate shows how an independently issued ESAC may present its holder, voyage reference, issuing-agency signature, cryptographic fingerprint and Scylla validation layer. It is an illustrative specimen only and has no validity.
Validation service and fee
Scylla & Charybdis provides the proprietary authentication, activation and processing service for certificates issued under the ESAC system. A trade utilising an activated ESAC is subject to an ESAC Processing Service Fee equal to 0.75% of the cargo price. This fee covers authentication of the certificate, validation of its current status and verification of the voyage particulars against its embedded requirements. It does not pay for, prepare or endorse the underlying PGSA assessment.
From the customer's perspective, the payment architecture is intended to operate as conditional settlement. Before the ESAC-covered transit begins, the applicable processing fee is calculated and secured through an approved banking or settlement arrangement. The customer selects an available settlement currency and channel—for example, a USD or RMB banking channel—and receives confirmation that the required fee has been secured. The secured amount is not treated as earned or released to Scylla & Charybdis at that stage.
During the voyage, the activated ESAC remains associated with the approved vessel, cargo, route and other relevant particulars. Once the vessel has safely passed through the region covered by the ESAC and successful completion has been validated, that completion event provides the contractual trigger for the secured processing fee to be released through the applicable settlement channel to Scylla & Charybdis. The resulting settlement can then be recorded against the ESAC transaction for the customer's audit and reconciliation purposes.
Customer sequence: ESAC activated → processing fee calculated → payment secured through the selected banking/settlement channel → vessel completes the ESAC-covered transit → successful completion validated → secured fee released and settlement recorded.
The ESAC Processing Service Fee is entirely separate from any assessment or security fee charged by and paid directly to the PGSA. A PGSA fee is not collected or held by Scylla & Charybdis as part of the ESAC processing-fee settlement architecture.
Initial currency arrangement: The processing fee is initially calculated and denominated in USD. Received USD funds are converted to AUD under the launch-stage settlement arrangement. This is temporary. Future lawful payment ecosystems may support additional fiat currencies, CBDCs and other digital currencies, subject to applicable banking, sanctions, anti-money-laundering, counter-terrorism-financing, tax and regulatory requirements.
Use of revenue: Scylla & Charybdis intends that the majority of ESAC-system revenue will be directed to humanitarian efforts in war-torn regions, advocacy against policies that lead to war and conflict, and related lawful political and humanitarian initiatives.
DAP-ESAC contracts
DAP-ESAC combines a Delivered at Place commercial structure with independently assessed security assurance. Conventional DAP responsibilities remain governed by the parties’ contract and the stated Incoterms® rule; the ESAC component adds a defined security-assessment layer for the proposed shipment.