Disorganized maritime industry putting lives and assets at risk

Recognizing that maritime security and asset protection is more vital than ever, the need for quick and effective solutions is in high demand. It’s an evolving arena with still as yet to be defined terminology, legal issues and costs. Far too often companies must learn how to respond to hijackers’ demands “on the fly” or decide upon the best P & I policy after the fact.

The lure of contractor dollar signs provoked by the Somali piracy crisis has created a feeding frenzy of security firms anxious to grab a piece of the action. Unfortunately, too many of these firms advocate a “one size fits all” approach to maritime security, employing tactics unsuited for the maritime industry. What was effective for convoy protection against IEDs in Iraq is completely useless for a tanker in the ocean.

The distrust among companies and organizations only serves to hinder the most efficient solutions. For legitimate reasons, companies are not willing to share information that could be useful to the industry as a whole, opting to keep their risk assessments in house. However, the down side of this “cover your behind” policy is that more lives and assets are at risk.

With an estimated less than one-percent of vessel attacks reported in Nigeria, surely there are lots of lessons learned there but are never shared.