Maritime Security Working Group News

Enhanced cooperation and implementation of best practices are needed to avoid, deter and report attacks threatening ships and crew in the world's top piracy hotspot, says the United Nations' (UN) maritime agencyKitack Lim, Secretary-General of the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) expressed his deep concern about the escalation in the number and severity of attacks on ships and crew in the Gulf of Guinea region, and insisted on the need for a collaborative approach…

European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA)’s Maritime Security Working Group met with the EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation Atalanta at their operation headquarters in Rota, Spain. Representing the European shipping industry, the ECSA delegation met with the EU NAVFOR's team to discuss the current state of piracy off the coast of Somalia. The delegation also visited the naval assets participating in Operation Atalanta.For the past ten years, EU NAVFOR has deterred and prevented acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia, protected vessels of the World Food Programme (WFP) and African Union Mission Somalia (AMISOM), and monitored acts of illegal fishing."While it is true that today the number of attacks is minimal…

European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA)'s Maritime Security Working Group recently had an exchange of views with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in Warsaw on maritime security issues. The Shipping industry is directly affected by challenges, such as migrants at sea. Whereas the number of migrants rescued from the sea has gone down from the peak-year of 2015, merchant vessels are still often involved in the Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in central, western and eastern Mediterranean. Concerning the “Operation Triton” of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, in 2016, out of all 1629 incidents, 4% involved merchant vessels assistance while in 2017 out of 470 so far the share is 12%.

Thousands of migrants seeking refuge have lost their lives attempting to make their way across the Mediterranean Sea in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats. The United Nations estimates that as many as 850,000 refugees may attempt to make the trip between 2015 and 2016. Although most of the rescues have been handled by Coast Guard agencies in the region, merchant vessels often are being brought in to assist. Between 2014 and 2015, an estimated 1,200-plus merchant vessels were diverted to assist in the rescue of thousands of migrants making a desperate bid to reach Europe.

European shipowners have widened the scope of the former European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) Piracy Working Group, now renamed ECSA Maritime Security Working Group in a move aiming to keep the European shipping industry abreast of maritime developments. According to ECSA, topics under the remit of the new working group range from piracy and armed robbery at sea to cyber security, as well as the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, where European shipowners have taken center stage in the efforts to rescue migrants at sea.

The master of a ship can be designated as the Ship Security Officer (SSO) in implementing the provisions of the mandatory International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, IMO's Flag State Implementation (FSI) Sub-Committee has unanimously decided to recommend to the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC). The FSI Sub-Committee, which meets this week at IMO's London Headquarters, considered the issue following concerns raised by Contracting Governments to the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and by the shipping industry as to whether the ISPS Code, as drafted, would prevent the master of the ship being designated as the SSO. The ISPS Code will become mandatory in July of this year under amendments to SOLAS adopted in December 2002.

TSAC – meeting Two working groups of the Towing Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC), sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard, will meet in Arlington, Virginia to discuss issues related to towing vessel safety. The Regulatory Review Working Group will meet on April 27 to discuss travel time for towing vessel officers. The Maritime Security Working Group will meet on April 28 to discuss implementation of security plan regulations and development of timely feedback to the Coast Guard. 69 Fed. Reg. 21148 (HK Law)

DC. Thursday, September 12, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to discuss working group progress on ongoing TSAC projects. The formal meeting will take place on Friday, September 13, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the Port Security Assessment Program. All meetings are open to the public. room for Thursday's session is TBD. TSAC will meet in Room 2415, U.S. headquarters, 2100 Second Street, SW, Washington, DC.

The International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) along with the American Association of Port Authorities and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association brought together the ports of the Caribbean June 25-27, 2003, in Jamaica, to discuss the implementation of new international security requirements. The workshop provided an in-depth overview of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, as required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by July 2004. The ISPS Code provides a standard global security framework that will enable ports, shipping companies and governments to operate on equal preparedness and response levels. The IMO developed the ISPS Code to implement maritime and port security regulations in response to heightened security issues since Sept.