Eu Navfor Operational Headquarters News

The headquarters of the EU’s anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia will be moved from the UK to Spain next year as EU leaders revealed the latest consequence of Brexit."EU NAVFOR confirms that following the decision from the Council of the European Union the mandate of Operation ATALANTA will continue until 31 December 2020," said a press release. EU NAVFOR Somalia, also known as Operation Atalanta, is a current counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first undertaken by the European Union Naval Force.The mandate extension signals the EU’s commitment to continuing counter-piracy operations off the Somali coast.

On 14 October 2010, EU NAVFOR Operational Headquarters (Northwood, UK) welcomed maritime industry representatives to provide them with an update on the current piracy threat in the Horn of Africa. A variety of topics were covered throughout the meeting, but of particular note were the possible ways to improve the military support to merchant vessels and the challenges for masters of vessels transiting the area. “The pirates’ business model has not evolved: they simply look for easy targets, that is to say low freeboard and slow vessels.