Counter-piracy: BIMCO's GUARDCON Contract INTERTANKO Endorsed

INTERTANKO’s Documentary Committee endorses BIMCO's newly published standard contract for Private Armed Guards (GUARDCON).

GUARDCON has now been in use for some months. During this time the Documentary Committee has reviewed the GUARDCON wording and, as the use of private armed guards has proliferated, has considered it against a backdrop of other contracts for the use of private armed guards. The Committee found that private armed guard contracts vary in content and standard, with some being unclear and/or unfavourable to owners. In some, legal rights and obligations of the parties are ill-defined.

At the second Documentary Committee meeting of 2012, which took place in London on 12 September 2012 under the chairmanship of David Chapman of OSG Tankers UK Ltd, the Committee, on behalf of INTERTANKO, endorsed GUARDCON as a model contract for use by shipowners who engage private armed guards.

BIMCO’s Chief Officer for Legal and Contractual Affairs, Grant Hunter, said “We are delighted that INTERTANKO’s Documentary Committee has given its official endorsement of GUARDCON as a model contract for the employment by owners of maritime security guards. INTERTANKO’s support will certainly help keep GUARDCON foremost in the minds of tanker operators when engaging on board security teams.”

BIMCO hope that with INTERTANKO support, GUARDCON can continue its move towards becoming an industry standard.