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Gray Page News

03 Aug 2011

Maritime Safety Committee Releases New Interim Guidance

Gray Page, a maritime intelligence, investigation and crisis management company, advised that the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee’s (MSC) recently-approved interim guidance on the employment of privately-contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) to combat piracy underlines the requirement for independent vetting of private armed maritime security providers (AMSP). The MSC guidance, issued in May, incorporates recommendations for flag States confirming that it is the responsibility of individual flag States to ordain the carriage of security personnel and their firearms onboard ships sailing under their flags. Further interim guidance for shipowners, ship operators and shipmasters, seeks to address the difficulties faced in selecting an appropriate provider of armed security services.

25 Mar 2011

Shipping Industry Needs to Leave Comfort Zone to Reduce Piracy

Reducing the number of ships that are hijacked by Somali pirates is a realistic prospect in the near‐term if shipowners and operators are willing to adopt a security posture onboard their ships that is directly and robustly proportional to the threat, an industry forum heard on March 24. attending an event hosted jointly by Gray Page and Protection Vessels International. They heard that merchant shipping faced a more widespread threat from Somali pirates than at any time over the past three years*, with a fall in incidents in the Gulf of Aden notably offset by an increase in attacks and hijackings in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, where pirates roam on “mother ships” largely unchallenged by naval forces.