WAY POINT - Issue 3

It’s not all about piracy Outside of the risk of piracy, another major security concern is that of stowaways. The management of stowaways gets more and more difficult as soon as the vessel is at sea, which may place the owner in a difficult situation. Therefore, it is essential that the vessels make robust preparations when they are approaching and situated in high-risk areas including West Africa and, due to recent political events, in North Africa, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. It is essential to have a system in place such as ShipSure, V.Group’s digital ship management platform, that can alert vessels when they are approaching high risk areas and remind them of the security measures needed before they even arrive in port. Recent events of stowaways breaching a vessel’s security measures and threatening crew highlights the need to ensure that prior to leaving any port, a comprehensive and coordinated search must be undertaken of the entire ship as stowaways can hide in some very unusual spaces. However, if the vessel sails from a port with stowaways on board, the security measures have failed. How to prevent access to vessels: : Vigilance is top priority : Frequent rounds (employment of shore security to increase monitoring of vessel) Frequent checks for signs of unauthorised access (e.g. broken seals on doors) : Access restrictions to shore personnel : Effective stowaway checks prior to sailing

TOP 10 STOWAWAYAREAS BYCOUNTRY 76 MOROCCO 36 NIGERIA

35 GUINEA 29 TURKEY

22 GHANA 28 TOGO 33 ALGERIA 21 DJIBOUTI

23 TUNISIA 22 DOMINICAN REP

Maintenance program for barriers such as grids across opening to the rudder compartment

It is widely thought that the root causes of piracy in these regions is allowing pirate networks to grow and operate with freedom of movement and it is highly likely to change in the next five to ten years. It is also widely accepted that the pirates will continue to adapt to changes in their operational environment and continue with attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Guinea and beyond as long as this lucrative industry represents more gain than risk to them. As we have seen recently in the Gulf of Guinea, if piracy and indeed the wider issue of maritime security continues to evolve, it is our role as an industry to work together to combat it.

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WAY POINT // ISSUE 3

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