This year’s MARCOM maritime security symposium took place in November in London and focused on a number of high impact issues relevant to marine insurance.
Participants had the opportunity to hear a summary of the MARCOM approach to the Black Sea situation more than 19 months since the start of the war in Ukraine. They heard of its consequences on shipping activities and the various attacks which took place against identified merchant ships. This conflict has shown an increasing use of drones which have become a very common weapon used not only by official military forces but also by any terrorist group against any ships whilst under commercial operation; by air or underwater. The availability of such devices on the open market together with their many uses is posing a clear challenge to conventional forces trying to protect maritime trade.
A very comprehensive presentation was made by INTERTANKO to introduce the latest guide issued by OCIMF titled “How to protect ships against loitering munitions”. This will certainly become a central tool for shipowners to help them develop a risk prevention policy to protect, as far as possible, their crew and vessels.
MARCOM also reminded delegates about Operation Sea Guardian (agreed during the Warsaw summit in 2016) to maintain a safe and secure maritime environment in the Mediterranean Sea through three main tasks: maritime security capacity-building, situational awareness and counter-terrorism. This also benefits non-NATO states.
The exchange of information within this framework is key to the success and efficiency of such an operation and, as such, has enabled MARCOM to secure a genuine foothold in the maritime community, especially in the north African countries.
The symposium was also an opportunity to inform attendees that NATO is turning its attention to the security of critical undersea equipment through a newly created MARCOM team. This group will study and share best practice to protect subsea structures against terrorist attack and work closely with all NATO members as well as the private sector involved in the design and construction of such facilities. The formation of this team is largely the result of the explosion of the Nord Stream offshore gas infrastructure.
Delegates discussed, at length, the ongoing conflict in Israel with many questions left open regarding the consequences of the situation in some other Middle East countries and the potential effects on the freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf and off the Yemen coastline for tanker activities.
In summary, the MARCOM symposium was a significant opportunity to consider seriously how the industry might be exposed to these new risks and to describe and highlight MARCOM’s work to date. The organisation actively cooperates with member states as well as the private shipping sector to debate and discover the optimum response and solutions to protect NATO members against these maritime threats.
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