New SIM Card Connects Absent Seafarers
G2 Crew Services, the J/V between Griffin and GAC, teams with iVitta to provide a cell phone SIM that covers more than 1,000 ports worldwide. "Web access on board vessels remains the exception rather than the rule and most crew rely on text messages and phone calls to stay in touch while away from home," said Simon Morse, Executive Chairman of Griffin. "Currently their choice is to either to carry a bag full of different SIMS each with a separate telephone number and credit balance or pay âroaming chargesâ of up to $5 per minute ex Europe. iVittamobile offers a single SIM supported by 650 local carriers so crew can make that same call for as little as 9 cents per minute," he said.
GAC Maritime Security to Provide P-Trap
Award-winning technology adds to GAC's range of vessel protection solutions. GAC Maritime Security has added the award winning P-trap anti-boarding device to its range of non-lethal vessel protection solutions. A winner at the 5th Safety at Sea International Awards and a finalist in the Seatrade Awards and Lloyd's List Awards in 2011, P-trap is an engine blocking system that creates a security zone around the ship to prevent other vessels from approaching too close and attempting to board.
GAC Maritime Security to Provide PirateFence
GAC Maritime Security has entered into a strategic partnership with Mobile Defense Systems LLC to provide PirateFence anti-grapple razor wire to protect vessels from attacks by sea criminals. This marks the latest addition to GAC Maritime Security's expanding portfolio of protective solutions for vessel owners and operators seeking to put in place a non-lethal, multi-layered risk mitigation system. PirateFence is a modular-based perimeter protection system with an innovative anti-climb and grapple-resistant component.
Calls for New Approach to Sea Crime
GAC Protective Solutions has published a new position paper calling for ship owners and operators to adopt a more systematic approach to sea defense that is based upon a multi-layered model of non-lethal risk mitigation measures, rather than automatically relying on armed guards for vessel protection. The position paper entitled 'Sea Crime: Replacing The Fear' has been published by GAC Protective Solutions, a partnership between global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC and maritime intelligence agency AKE. GAC Protective Solutions argues for an alternative approach to sea defence, replacing an undue reliance of armed guards on vessels travelling through high-risk areas with a more systematic approach based on the concept of the Maritime Risk Management Onion.
Non-Lethal Measures are Key to Combating Sea Crime
The current focus on armed support for vessels transiting high risk areas should not become the norm, GAC Solutions' Christer Sjödoff has told delegates from the shipping and offshore industries who gathered in London to debate long-term, effective ways to tackle the threat of sea crime. Speaking at the 'Lunch and Learn' event hosted by GAC Protective Solutions, Sjödoff said that sole reliance on private maritime security companies is not a long-term solution to maritime security threats around the world. GAC Protective Solutions - a strategic partnership between global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC and maritime intelligence agency AKE - detailed recent developments in sea crime across East and West Africa.
GAC's New Counter Piracy Partnerships
GAC Protective Solutions, Powered by AKE, has entered into two new strategic partnerships with the innovators of anti-piracy technologies to help protect vessels, cargoes and seafarers: Unifire's SEASERPENT Anti-Pirate Water Cannon System and Intelligent Engineering's (IE) SPS Citadel Access Protection. Unifire's SEASERPENT Water Cannon System is a unique, non-lethal protective measure using high-volume, remote control water cannons to rapidly flood pirate skiffs. By delivering a jet of up to 80 litres of water per second from a range of 80 metresâŚ
Are Weapons the Answer to Counter Piracy?
This article is intended to help inform the debate on the use of arms, in particular, armed Sea Marshals, in the protection of vessels conducting commercial business. At the outset AKE acknowledges an interest through its support to GAC Solutions in the provision of maritime security services and support to maritime clients. This paper provides objective analysis of the situation confronting the maritime industry in respect of piracy, its growing effect on business, and the arming of ships.
