UKMTO Weekly Piracy Report #piracy #marsec #ukmto

1. There are no significant events to report this week.

2. The multi-national nature of the combined military response to the continuing threat to regional maritime security, is highlighted this week.

3. In the light of the attack by Houthi rebels on a Saudi warship on 3 Feb 17, the U.S. Navy has increased its presence off the coast of Yemen with the deployment of USS Cole to patrol the Southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (a), however despite the threat of spill over from the Yemen conflict into the merchant maritime domain, the Canadian Commander of CTF-150 (Maritime Security and Counter Terrorism) comments that he has seen no evidence of change to merchant shipping movements in the region

(b). Elsewhere the Spanish warship ESPS Relampago operating as part of EUNAVFOR’s ‘Operation Atalanta’, conducted training with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) marine unit off the coast of Somalia in a drive to strengthen cooperation and increase the capability of regional maritime forces to help seafarers stay safe (c).

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