Location: The North Sea
Client: Major Oil Producer
Outline: Decommissioning a giant oil rig is always a risky operation. Delays and accidents can damage the environment, a client’s reputation and balance sheet. Our client was determined to avoid the t...more
Ground Truth
With over 3,000 ports around the world, 13 million containers and more than 90% of the world's trade in goods transported by sea, the global maritime system is the lifeblood of the world's economy. It is not surprising, then, that the maritime domain is an ideal target for terrorists and criminals.
Prior to the events of 9/11, the main threats to maritime security encompassed human trafficking, smuggling, piracy, and the movement of illicit materials such as narcotics, weapons and other items. However, since 9/11, the threats to the world's maritime system and border integrity have increased exponentially, especially in regions such as West Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Malacca Straits, as terrorist activities have expanded in scope and sophistication and criminal threats have steadily increased. At the same time, ports are facing additional pressures as current economic demand exceeds capacity. With increased maritime traffic and ever-increasing threats, the pressures on ports to improve their capacity and their security programmes are immense.
Threats to maritime security take many forms. In 2002, port police in Italy found an Al Qaeda operative in a cargo ship bound for Canada. The operative had managed to board the container with full provisions and equipment including a laptop, cell phones and money. Ships were also used to help supply the explosives used to blow up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. In addition, Trans-national drug trafficking organisations have exploited countries like Kenya in areas with intense regional conflict and corruption by using them as transfer points in the movement of drugs from Asia into Europe and the United States. Today, in some developing countries, a significant amount of natural resources are smuggled out aboard cargo ships or other maritime transport, depleting economic resources and endangering ongoing economic and political development.
One of the most concerning maritime environments today lies in the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan). Somalia, for example, has an extremely long and vulnerable border and is located at the gateway to the Middle East and the rest of Africa. The security situation in Somalia is delicate; the likelihood of future conflict remains high and the country remains a hot spot in terms of international terrorism and lawlessness.
Businesses also face risks from breaches in maritime security. Recently, ships owned by a major Colombian exporter have been used by drug traffickers to transport drugs, unbeknownst to company officials, exposing the company to hefty fines which have increased transportation costs, put upward pressure on inflation and discouraged foreign and domestic private investment. Elsewhere, there have been several instances of oil and natural gas tankers being attacked by terrorists. These examples underscore the threats posed by criminality and terrorism to a country's long-term maritime and border security. States rely on the maritime sector to grow their economies and to help develop the right conditions for continued political stability. This makes securing the maritime domain all the more essential not only for individual countries but for the overall health of the world economy.
The challenges that governments and businesses face in the maritime domain is in identifying the full range of vulnerabilities and threats and developing and implementing an integrated programme to mitigate those threats. Global Strategies Group (GLOBAL)has developed a suite of solutions aimed at assisting governments and businesses in developing maritime security capacity in today's complex threat environment. Our solutions are based on in-depth analyses of the threats across the maritime domain, the identification of integrated solutions to mitigate those threats and programme implementation within a technology and security management framework. To find out more, please contact us at any one of our international locations.
1World Shipping Council, "Liner Ship Facts and Figures" 2005
2Weiner, Tim. "U.S. Law Puts Ports on Notice," The New York Times March 24, 2004.
3Lee, Mathew. "Corruption Makes Kenya Top Target for Terrorism, Drugs." Agence France Presses, November 10, 2006.