Security

The Round Table of international shipping associations plus the OCIMF representing the global shipping and oil industry have announced that the geographic boundaries of the 'High Risk Area' for piracy in the Indian Ocean have been reduced. The regional UKHO Maritime Security Chart, Q6099 will be updated by Notice to Mariners and a new version will be produced to reflect these changes which will take effect from 1 May 2019.  

UKHO has published its 5th version of the Q6099 chart which includes the reduction in the size of the 'High Risk' area as agreed by the countries involved in the setting of limits.

Steps to combat hijacking of ships The Government has taken following steps to combat the incidents of piracy of ships/vessels.(i) The Directorate General of Shipping has issued various advisories to ships/vessels transiting through Gulf of Aden providing information relating to piracy in the area and also providing details of patrol convoy timing followed by the Indian Naval vessel patrolling in the region.(ii)Advisories and information obtained from various international forces present in the area are regularly forwarded to the Indian shipping fraternity.(iii)An Indian Navy warship has been deployed in the area from 23.10.2008 to escort Indian ships and other ships seeking assistance.(iv)The Indian delegation made intervention in the 101st Council meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London in November, 2008 and proposed a UN Task Force under a unified command to prevent the ever increasing piracy attacks off the Somali coast.Till date only one Indian seafarer is reported to have been killed by pirates and the flag state is Panama. The death and injury compensation is the responsibility of ship owners who obtain insurance cover through Protection and Indemnity Club.Government of India has also raised the matter at various international fora including the International Maritime Organization in order to invoke...

Maritime security and anti-piracy operations are high priority missions of the Indian Navy The Naval Commanders Conference for 2011 started at New Delhi . Over the next four days Commanders of the Indian Navy will discuss issues of operational relevance and future plans of the Indian Navy.This biannual forum also provides an opportunity for the Chief of the NavalStaff to examine the operational readiness of the Indian Navy, assess the progress made in key projects and initiate functional, organisational and administrative steps necessary to further enhance the Indian Navy's readiness for current and emerging challenges.Speaking on the subject of operational readiness, he pointed out "with the security situation being fluid, we need to maintain the organisational ability to deploy ships, submarines and aircraft at 'immediate' notice". He also acknowledged the yeomen efforts put in by all naval personnel as they spent longer hours at work and many more days at sea owing to the increasing demands of maritime security.He drew the attention of the Commanders to the fact that maintainence of war fighting abilities remains as the top most priority despite the fact that we have a large number of peacetime commitments at hand.Talking about Coastal Security, the CNS commended...

Money matter The owner of the hijacked Saudi ship for which Somali pirates are demanding a ransom of $20 million has said that it was the vessels insurance company that received the ransom demand and that he himself had engaged in no direct contact with the pirates.All contact has gone through the Saudi insurance company via its head office in Jeddah, and the negotiation process is continuing for want of any other solution, said Kamal Muhammed Al-Urri, owner of the Al-Nisr Al-Saudi vessel.The priority at the moment is the safety of the crew of 13 Sri Lankans and their Greek captain. The hijackers have allowed them to speak to their families by satellite phone, and they assured them that they were in good health despite the distressing situation, Al-Urri said.The specialist in trading and investment. Al-Urri said he hoped to see international action to confront piracy on the high seas which, he said, was raising insurance premiums.Al-Nisr Al-Saudi is a relatively small fuel oil carrier and was empty of cargo when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in the first days of March. Officials said it was not registered with maritime authorities and was outside the designated route...

New boundaries for the HRA - further practical measures for implementation BIMCO advised that the co-sponsors of BMP 4 have agreed to a revised definition of the High Risk Area. The High Risk Area is now defined as being bounded by:In the Red Sea: Latitude 15oNIn the Gulf of Oman: Latitude 22oNEastern limit: Longitude 065oESouthern limit: Latitude 5oSAmendment to section 2 of BMP 4, accompanying guidance on the revision's impact and further practical measures for implementation in the context of company and shipboard planning as described in sections 6 and 7 of BMP 4.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, includingwww.bimco.org, as well as NATO Shipping Centre (www.shipping.nato.int) and MSCHOA (www.mschoa.org).It is not anticipated that there will be a need to publish a fully revised version of...

Increasing threats to security AS smaller craft, below the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) Code threshold, pose increasing threats to security as bomb carriers, the European Commission has appointed Sentinel Maritime to assess the impact of extending security measures to down to very small boats.The Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport-commissioned study will focus on the impact, including financial consequences, of extending security measures to ships which currently do not fall within the scope of Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter XI/2 and the ISPS Code.The study named "Project Secure Seas" is, in part, a response to the growing concern that such ships may present as serious, or more serious, a threat than ships currently within the scope of the ISPS Code.Apart from the terrorist attacks carried out by small craft on warship USS Cole and the tanker Limburg, smaller non-ISPS ships are frequently used in human trafficking as well as smuggling drugs and contraband.First, the company will determine the state of play of EU member states, then collate information on degree of compliance with Safety of Life (SOLAS) registry regulations. The study will also examine the possibility of introducing a computerised ship registry, which might include recreational/pleasure craft...

SAFETY4SEA remembers the hijacking of the cruise ship ‘Achille Lauro’ in 1985 by four heavily armed Palestinian militants who posed as passengers, resulting to the brutal murder of one passenger. The attack lasted only two days but spurred a global concern over the shaping dimensions of maritime terrorism.

Although IMB figures indicated a decrease in the number of incidents for the first nine months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, piracy in terms of crew kidnappings reached another record high this year, pushing shipping to rethink its approach on maritime security.

The Standard Club reports that according to the amended Pooling Agreement of the International Group, P&I cover in respect of fines for smuggling and breach of customs regulations will no longer provided as of right, but only on a discretionary basis.