Ship security challenges in high-risk areas: manageable or insurmountable?

Abstract

Piracy can lead to risks so high that they, according to the International Maritime Organization, are tolerable only if risk reduction is not practicable or is disproportionate to the benefits achieved. Therefore, there is a need for reducing ship security risks in relation to antagonistic threats such as piracy.The aim of this study is to identify challenges for ship operators when developing their ship security management. Furthermore, this study also investigates two central aspects in the analysis; understanding the threat and understanding how a security threat affects the crew and operation of the ship.It is clear from the analysis that the importance of subjective aspects beyond a ship operators' direct control is high. This seems to be the fact for all aspects of the risk management process. The situation is also dynamic as the security risk, as well as the risk perception, can change dramatically even though there are no actual operational changes. As a result, the ship security management process is highly iterative and depends on situations on board as well as conditions out of the ship operator's control.In order to make ship security manageable the risk management has to put particular focus on methodological understanding, relevant system understanding and well defined risk acceptance criteria as well as on including all levels of the organization in the risk reduction implementation and on a continuous monitoring.

New Maritime Alliances and Competition in a New Economic Environment

“…They adapt to technological advances and equipment. New industrial areas are created to generate greater yields in cargoes regarding ports, and environmental and security measures are strengthened [9,10]. This is because, on the one hand, the port reforms, which should re-define the port areas, favour the presence of private companies and concentrate most on the next industrial activities in urban areas [11]; then, the port authorities feel forced to carry out a planned and negotiated action for port uses.…”

Piracy off West Africa from 2010 to 2014: an analysis

“…A frequently discussed maritime security case is piracy off Somalia (Pristrom et al 2013), where the number of attacks was particularly high from 2008 to 2012 (Liwång et al 2015). However, piracy off Somalia should not be used to define how piracy is understood and which anti-piracy measures to use.…”

“…However, piracy off Somalia should not be used to define how piracy is understood and which anti-piracy measures to use. For example, piracy in other areas is more diverse (Liwång et al 2015;Pristrom et al 2016), more successful (Coggins 2012) and more violent and dangerous (Pristrom et al 2013;Wong and Yip 2012;Pristrom et al 2016). These regional differences cannot be ignored (Bateman 2010), and there is thus a need to further investigate piracy and anti-piracy measures in different regions.…”

“…This criminal activity has at least three different intents: armed robbery, cargo theft and kidnapping (Pristrom et al 2016). However, authors who discuss West African piracy in more general terms, such as Liwång et al (2015); Pristrom et al (2013); Pristrom et al (2016), do not give any quantitative data to further the understanding of the intents and modus operandi. Therefore, the aim of this study is to more closely analyse piracy off West Africa during the years 2010 to 2014 to identify the operational conditions that shape the piracy as well as effective measures.…”

“…However, in the context of security risks, the situation can change dramatically, although there are no changes in ship operations. Therefore, maritime security must consider interdependencies between the situation on board and the political, economic and social situations in the areas transited and visited (Liwång et al 2015).…”