Safety and Security

Classification society Bureau Veritas has joined forces with French maritime security consultantcy Securymind to provide an auditing and verification service for companies providing armed guards to protect ships against piracy. Security companies offering services to shipping will be audited against the requireme ...

Bergen Risk Solutions, the Norwegian based specialist in political, maritime and security risk assessments that puts a special focus on Nigeria and the Niger Delta, has identified a worrying new trend in Nigerian piracy - the use of mother ships and skiffs in a similar manner to Somali Pirate Action Groups. Bergen Risk Solut ...

Oslo-headquartered P&I and defense insurance mutual Skuld is offering a reduction in rates for Maritime Kidnap & Ransom insurance. Skuld has now been offering competitive pricing and tailored wordings in this area for nearly two years and says it has become a mature market. The insurer says that piracy still presents a high risk, parti ...

An electrical fire on a Coast Guard cutter in Wilmington, N.C., has delayed its departure for a multi-mission patrol to the Caribbean. While preparing to leave at approximately 9 a.m.,Thursday, the Coast Guard Cutter Diligence's general emergency alarm began to sound, alerting the crew to a fire in the engine r ...

BIMCO has published a standard contract for the employment of security guards on vessels. This new contract -- GUARDCON -- has been developed to provide shipowners and private maritime security companies (PMSC) with a clearly worded and comprehensive standard contract to govern the employment and use of security guards, with or withou ...

GAC Protective Solutions reports that a maritime security alert has been issued after a merchant vessel was reported hijacked in position 0700N 06949E approximately 305 NM northwest of Male, Maldives on March 26. The vessel was last reported to be stationary in position 0713N 06947E. No further details were available at the time of writing. ...

InterManager President Alastair Evitt says that any move by governments to ban the payment of ransoms to pirates would have a "massively detrimental effect on the risk to the world's seafarers and the global economy." Speaking at the opening session of this year's Connecticut Marit ...

The UK P&I Club has issued a loss prevention bulletin on the dangers of pressing up ballast tanks. In a recent case, says the bulletin, an entered vessel pressed up its ballast tanks in order to optimize trim and to satisfy mandatory stability criteria. The operation resulted in the unexpected flooding of a cargo hold ...