Cso Alliance News

Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan reflects on the global trade association’s hectic year of involvement in three key areas of concern.Readers with long memories will have a strong sense of déjà vu when I say that safety, security and the environment are at the forefront of Interferry’s networking and lobbying mission right now. I highlighted the very same issues in this column last January, so let me explain why I’m not entirely repeating myself.It’s a fact of life that a lot can happen in a short space of time.

Wärtsilä is partnering with the cyber security company Templar Executives to establish a cyber academy in Singapore. The academy will offer courses designed to support and enhance the collective cyber maturity of the wider shipping community, notably operators and owners.“We believe this is a first for the maritime industry; a center of excellence including a cyber academy, combining threat intelligence and cyber education designed to support collaboration for our customers and the wider maritime community…

Global trade association Interferry has launched a call for papers on safety, security and the environment ahead of its 43rd annual conference taking place in Cancun, Mexico, this October. CEO Mike Corrigan stresses: “The core themes of this year’s conference are issues of ever-increasing importance not just to the worldwide ferry industry but across society as a whole. Two keynote speakers have already been confirmed – Robin Silvester, president and CEO of industry-leading environmental sustainability pioneer the Port of Vancouver…

Ships exposed through GPS systems, have limited back-up; cyber insurance typically doesn't cover jamming, property damage. Shipping companies grappling with the threat of cyber attacks on vessels are finding insurance policies often fall short, officials involved in both industries say, a risk that could feed through into global prices. Digitalisation means electricity networks, emergency services, industry and agriculture are all vulnerable to hacking by criminal gangs for extortion or, for political reasons, by militant groups or foreign states. But ships are also exposed to interference through electronic navigation devices such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and lack the backup systems airliners have to prevent crashes.

North P&I Club has partnered with CSO Alliance, an online community of maritime company security officers (CSOs), to encourage its members to join and take part in security-related information sharing. In a first for the P&I sector, all CSOs in North’s 131 million GT owned fleet will receive a 20 percent reduction in membership fees for the first year and North will subsidies a further 40 percent. Founded in the U.K. in 2012, the CSO Alliance has more than 380 members responsible for security on more than 6,000 ships worldwide. Members have access to a comprehensive and authoritative real-time incident and attack database and can share information, opinions and best practice.

With the threats facing shipping become ever more complex and diverse,  Dryad Maritime's COO, Ian Millen speaks to CSO Alliance, a global digital network dedicated to serving Company Security Officers (CSOs),  about the big threats CSOs should be focusing their attention on in 2016 and what regions they should be most concerned about from a security perspective. Maritime terrorism is obviously something that needs to be continually accessed at the moment. Currently, we [Dryad] are not as concerned as some media commentators, but this is not to say our evaluation of the threat won’t change. "We know that terrorists use maritime routes for logistical purposes – moving fighters and weapons – so there is an obvious maritime link there that needs to be closely monitored," he says.

Dryad Maritime's COO, Ian Millen says that when looking at the volume of maritime crime and piracy events, the numbers drive you toward Southeast Asia. With a 10% rise in 2015 incidents, when compared to 2014, the area leads the crime league table. It’s worth noting that much of the reported crime is of the less serious type (eg. theft of ships’ stores etc), but this does sit alongside more serious vessel hijack for the purposes of refined product cargo theft – and we saw a spate of this last year. The good news is that much of the more serious criminal activity occurred in the first three quarters of 2015, with the final quarter showing crime levels falling back to the levels of 2009.

BIMCO’s breakfast brief, titled “The Future Of Maritime Security” is aimed at CEOs and Directors who will have an opportunity to hear more on the latest threats facing merchant vessels operating in risk prone areas, how this threat is calculated by the military, and what the industry should be doing to ensure their fleets are best equipped to face any future threats. Giles Noakes, Head of Security at BIMCO said; “With the probability of a reduced military force in the High Risk Area beyond 2016, now is the ideal time to look at all security options to ensure piracy does not return to the levels experienced between 2010 and 2012. “We…

Network will facilitate a coordinated response to a major problem, utilizing the latest interactive web-based tools to offer the maritime sector “security through community”. CSO Alliance, a global digital network dedicated to serving Company Security Officers (CSOs), has been launched to provide a ‘real time’ coordinated approach to the increasingly multi-faceted fight against maritime crime. The community is designed to utilize the latest online and interactive tools to enable maritime CSOs to meet, share market intelligence, and assess the mutual risks their crews and assets face on a daily basis in multiple regions. CSO Alliance shares valuable human insight and transposes it within a private and secure platform where over 12…

Shiprepair and conversion specialist A&P Aberdeen has successfully completed the first contract at its newly opened Aberdeen workshop for Coflexip Stena Offshore. A&P worked on Coflexip's construction vessels CSO Orelia and CSO Alliance, which required equipment to be fabricated and delivered within a short timeframe. A&P's new facility, which opened its doors the beginning of June, was able to comply with these deadlines via a mobile workforce to fabricate the items; seafastening frames for CSO Orelia, delivered to Aberdeen and two lifting beams for CSO Alliance, delivered to Immingham.