UKMTO Weekly Piracy Report #piracy #marsec

1. UKMTO have issued no Warnings and one Advisory this week, see page 3 for details.

2. On 01 Mar 2018 a Merchant Vessel in the Bab el Mandeb Straits was approached by 4 skiffs to within 0.5nm, each with up to 5 POB onboard with potential sighting of ladders reported. The ship took measures in line with BMP4 and skiffs aborted their approach. See Advisory 001/MAR/2018 for further details. Vessel and crew are SAFE.

3. A study of maritime security conducted by Cardiff University has resulted in a new toolkit being released. This is not meant to be a “blueprint” as best practices have to be adjusted to specific situations but does advocate international cooperation. More details in article (a).

4. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the international cooperation against Somalian piracy. Article (b) discusses how successful the investment made in the region has been in reducing the piracy threat.

5. Kenya have received six boats from the US to assist with maritime security operations, see article (c) for more details. Kenya are also looking to increase the powers of the coastguard in order to counter piracy and other criminal activity, article (d) expands.

Download full report here