Bmp News

An area of the Indian Ocean near Somalia—once known as a piracy hotbed—has been removed from the shipping industry's list of high-risk areas following more than a decade of military, political, civil society and the industry measures to secure the waters. No piracy attacks against merchant ships have occurred off Somalia since 2018.On Monday, shipping industry groups International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO, International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), INTERCARGO…

The art of drawing lines on maps is fraught with contention. Sir Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot are likely unfamiliar to many, but their names and actions live on. Their role in carving up the Ottoman Empire toward the end of the of World War I created artificial borders in the Middle East—determined arbitrarily with a ruler and with no regard to ethnic or sectarian characteristics—highlights the unintended cartographic consequences that can arise when applying rigid models of expression to inherently dynamic areas.Designated areas of maritime risk…

The stranding of a container ship in the Suez Canal has created disruptions in the global shipping industry that could take weeks and possibly months to clear, top container shipping lines said.Around 30% of the world’s shipping container volume - including goods like sofas, consumer electronics, apparel and shoes - moves through the 193 km (120 miles) Suez Canal daily. Empty containers, which Asian factories need to ship goods, are also caught up in the backlog.“Even when the canal gets reopened…

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…

Operation Atalanta Operation Headquarters (OHQ) welcomed a visit from Phillip Belcher, Marine Director at the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO), as part of key EU NAVFOR relations with the shipping industry at a strategic level.Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, said in a press release that Belcher visited to hold a meeting regarding the latest developments in counter-piracy operations and the last incidents in the Indian Ocean.The meeting was chaired by Operation Atalanta’s Deputy Commander, Rear Admiral Giovanni Battista Piegaja. Also in the meeting were Operation Atalanta’s Political Advisors…

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…

Piracy increased on the world’s seas in 2018, with a marked rise in attacks against ships and crews around West Africa, the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest annual piracy report reveals.Worldwide, the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) recorded 201 incidents of maritime piracy and armed robbery in 2018, up from 180 in 2017.The Gulf of Guinea remains increasingly dangerous for seafarers. Reports of attacks in waters between the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo more than doubled in 2018, accounting for all six hijackings worldwide, 13 of the 18 ships fired upon, 130 of the 141 hostages taken globally, and 78 of 83 seafarers kidnapped for ransom.The region saw a significant new spike in violence in the last quarter of 2018.

Due to the application of BMP protection measures by the Master, his crew and the private security team, the piracy attack was thwarted and the crew and vessel remained safe.The Master had already evacuated the crew to the citadel when the embarked Armed Security Team (PAST) responded to the attack. There was a sustained exchange of fire before the skiff with several armed people on board broke off and changed course away from the MV.Following the collective advice of industry and military counter-piracy operations, as written down in Best Management practices 5 (link here), the Master’s actions and the on board security team’s reaction…

Security guards aboard a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship repelled an attack by pirates in a gunbattle off Somalia's coast this week, the European naval force in the region said on Friday.It was only the second reported attempt by Somali pirates to seize a commercial ship this year, after a resurgence of attacks in 2017 following years of relative calm brought about by regular patrols of the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVOR).On Tuesday, pirates approached and opened fire at the Hong Kong-flagged MV KSL Sydney freighter 340 nautical miles off Somalia, but private security guards aboard the ship acted quickly to foil the attack, EUNAVOR said in a statement."Due to the application of BMP (best management practices) protection measures by the master…

In response to the threats arising from the conflict in Yemen, BIMCO, ICS and INTERTANKO have published interim guidance on maritime security in the southern Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb. Shipowners and operators should be aware of new threat patterns in the area. The European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) and the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) have advised that a range of threats other than piracy, such as sea mines and water-borne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs), are potential risks in the area. “We’ve been advised that these threats are real, and therefore decided to provide guidance for ships operating in the area. We have seen two incidents in January…

In response to the threats arising from the conflict in Yemen, BIMCO, ICS and INTERTANKO have published interim guidance on maritime security in the southern Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb. Shipowners and operators should be aware of new threat patterns in the area. The European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) and the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) have advised that a range of threats other than piracy, such as sea mines and water-borne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs), are potential risks in the area. “We’ve been advised that these threats are real, and therefore decided to provide guidance for ships operating in the area. We have seen two incidents in January…

A European Union counter-piracy patrol helped thwart a piracy attack close to Somalia’s east coast on April 22. Late on Saturday evening, EU NAVFOR’s Spanish flagship, ESPS Galicia, received a SOS distress call from the master of Sierra Leone flagged merchant tanker vessel MT Costina to say that his vessel was being attacked by a number of armed pirates in a fast-moving skiff. ESPS Galicia, which was 14 nautical miles away, then launched a SH-3D Sea King helicopter and sailed full speed toward MT Costina.

In the wake of the recent hijacking of tanker Aris 13 off Puntland, Somalia, International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim urged the shipping industry to be vigilant and apply diligently IMO guidance and best management practices to avert possible piracy attacks. “While we have seen a very welcome decline in piracy off Somalia since the last reported hijack by Somali pirates in 2012, the reality is that piracy off the coast of Somalia has not been eradicated and the underlying conditions have not changed,” Lim said.

Pirates off the coast of Somalia, who hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, are demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel, the EU Naval Force said. The pirates seized the Comoros-flagged Aris 13 tanker on Monday, the first such hijacking in the region since 2012, and took it to the port of Alula in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland. "The EU Naval Force ... has received positive confirmation from the master of ... Aris 13, that his ship and crew are currently being held captive by a number of suspected armed pirates in an anchorage off the north coast of Puntland, close to Alula," the force said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The sVGP and recent ballast water treatment system approvals create another headache for small vessel owners. Steve Candito provides a primer. The long delayed Small Vessel General Permit (sVGP) legislation is scheduled to come into force on December 18, 2017. Despite some confusion and inconsistencies on this issue generally, there is currently no serious effort to delay the sVGP requirement. Thus, vessel owners should be preparing now for compliance. Although the deadline is still months away…

The Government proposes to develop new sea routes and shipping services connecting with various countries. These services are reviewed and restructured as per the viability study, giving due regard to the availability of cargo for a given port-pair at desired freight levels, transit time and other such considerations which impact the service schedule and profitability. New sea routes are considered with a view to enhance regional connectivity from the strategic and trade perspectives, and also to enhance maritime cooperation with neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. i. Guidelines for anti-piracy measures to be implemented on Indian Ships through issue of Merchant Shipping Notice No.

In October a number of trade bodies released a joint press release to formally announce a reduction of the High Risk Area (HRA). Insurance companies have said the reduction may not result in reduced insurance costs due to the assessment of insurance risk being dependent on such a wide and varying range of factors. "The Joint War Committee's (JWC) insurance notification area has always been different from the BMP/HRA and remains separate and unchanged for now. The JWC is scheduled to meet in December and will be mindful of the roundtable actions. It is impossible to say what action they will take, if any," said Neil Roberts from Lloyds Market association.

Dryad Maritime released its Q3 trends and analysis of global maritime crime showing a stark rise of 38% of incidents across Southeast Asia, when figures are compared to the first nine months of 2014. The apparent impunity of maritime gangs operating in the region has led Dryad to call upon the three nations surrounding the Singapore Strait, in particular, to provide a permanent security presence to deter criminals and protect maritime trade. The number of reported incidents has jumped from 140 on the same nine-month period in 2014 to 194 in 2015. The main focus for criminal gangs in the region has been the petty theft of ships stores as gangs look to steal engine parts and high value machinery for resale on the black market.

The new mandatory code for ships fuelled by gases or other low-flashpoint fuels was adopted by IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), when it met at the Organization's London headquarters for its 95th session from June 3-12, 2015. The Committee also placed unsafe mixed migration by sea on its agenda and considered cyber security matters and passenger ship safety. It adopted new ships’ routing measures and approved a number of circulars arising from items put forward by the subcommittees.

Following a spate of six attacks in the Singapore Straight over the weekend, maritime security provider MAST is calling for shipping companies to strengthen their approach to maritime security in South East Asia. “Shipping companies need to look at Best Management Practices (BMP) 4 applied in the Indian Ocean and now adapt it to counter the threat posed by local criminals in SE Asia,” said Gerry Northwood OBE, COO of MAST. BMP4 has been effective in providing a framework for passive security measures, such as watch-keeping and enhanced vigilance, and hardening vessels transiting through the Indian Ocean so that even an unarmed merchant ship, while by no means impregnable to an attack by pirates, is now much harder to capture.

Organisations representing the global shipping and oil industry have announced that the size of the ‘High Risk Area’ for piracy in the Indian Ocean has been reduced and issued new advice to merchant ship operators. This reduction to the High Risk Area is in response to the ongoing containment of pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean, but a group of shipping and oil industry organisations (BIMCO, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Intercargo, INTERTANKO and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) stressed that a serious threat remains and that correct reporting and vigilance remains crucial. The reduction of the High Risk Area takes full account of recent shipping industry experience…

BIMCO says that the co-sponsors of BMP 4 have agreed to a revised definition of the High Risk Area. The revisions are effective and will formally apply as of 1 December 2015, in order to give shipping companies and crews time to adapt to them. It is strongly recommended that the revisions are taken into account as soon as possible for voyages through the VRA and HRA for which risk assessments are yet to be conducted, as the changes may have implications for charter party and insurance agreements as well as ship security. The revisions will be provided on industry websites, including www.bimco.org, as well as NATO Shipping Centre (www.shipping.nato.int) and MSCHOA (www.mschoa.org).

The International bodies have agreed to India’s efforts to push back the High Risk Area (HRA) from 78 degrees East longitude to the 65 degrees East longitude. This will result in huge savings for India’s EXIM trade and consumers on account of reduced insurance premium and consequently freight costs. Piracy off the coast of Somalia / in the Gulf of Aden / Horn of Africa (East Africa) had surged very significantly from 2008 to 2012, leading to innumerable attacks and hijackings of merchant vessels and their crew. As a part of its counter-piracy measures, the global shipping industry, represented at international confederation levels by bodies such as BIMCO…