Maritime Security Culture Shock

With the introduction of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) of 2002, it has become increasingly difficult to manage costs associated with security compliance. In addition to the cost burden, the vast majority of the affected industry lacks expertise in security making them vulnerable to regulatory penalties. While International Maritime facilities and shipping interests struggle with the ISPS Code, United States Maritime Interests must keep up with not just MTSA but also the Safety and Security of Every Port (SafePort) Act and the Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC).

The ability to manage this new challenge increasingly falls to those individuals within these companies that already wear many other hats. The effects of this burden are at the very least a loss of productivity and an increased risk of a security failure or regulatory non-compliance. Tasked with maritime security training, security plan administration, and assessment oversight, Company, Vessel, Ship, and Facility Security Officers are in need of effective solutions to assist them in reducing maritime security workloads to manageable collateral duties.

Most maritime industries already use third party compliance management programs for safety and environmental management issues. The cost of hiring a full time maritime security compliance manager working for the company, or of establishing a whole division of maritime security specialists for larger operations is significantly more expensive than if an industry used a third party to manage their Maritime Security compliance program. When a company adds the requirement for independent annual audits that require a degree of separation from the security operation and the costs of training all employees to the levels that are required, development of any in house program can become prohibitive.

With the arrival of mandatory Standards for Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) endorsements for Ship and Vessel Security Officers the effort to design, build, and certify this training is exponentially increased. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is at present working on this same mandatory requirement for Company Security Officers, Facility Security Officers, and persons with and without security duties required by the ISPS Code. MTSA is expected to follow with mandatory certified training provision in the near future making it more difficult for companies that are not in the maritime security business to manage these programs. If a company must look to external third party training certifications the idea of hiring third-party compliance management companies becomes a viable alternative and a more cost effective solution.

When you add the costs of a compliance management program with the costs of certified training development it is easy to determine cost savings using a specialized company to assist you with compliance. However, buyers beware and insure those third party vendors are using programs designed by maritime professionals. When searching for such a solution companies must be careful to ensure not only that a training program gives their employees certification but that the end result is their employees actually gain the knowledge required to perform their regulatory functions. Third party training associated with major maritime academies will alleviate this burden in most cases. The most significant benefit of such a program is a standardized process that significantly helps owners and operators change the security culture within their companies resulting in measurable loss prevention, and protection of their critical infrastructure.

Compliance management assistance utilizing the proper risk assessment model will allow these owners and operators to quantify potential losses in real dollars and may reduce a company’s insurance liability. If a company can find a vendor that has a process to produce actuary measurement that is acceptable to their insurance underwriters then cost savings will be a measurable benefit. This is another way owners and operators can ensure a vendor is familiar with maritime intermodal systems because of the logistics required to ensure such relationships with insurance underwriters and the Protection and Indemnity groups. Large companies can also benefit from such a program because this process will ensure a standardized program that is easily managed with limited person-hours and reduced costs in employee benefits. Remember your goal as a company is to minimize impact on your bottom line by removing the burden of constant management utilizing a professional maritime specific third party security partner.

Maritime companies familiar with the International Convention to Prevent Maritime Pollution (MARPOL) and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 understand such programs and have saved substantial amounts of money in recent years using specialized third party vendors. Many of these companies have even outsourced their Qualified Individual (QI). However since Maritime Security rules do not allow companies, to become that far removed from responsibility the need for a third party vendor who can become an extension of the Company, Ship, Vessel, and Facility Security Officer becomes even more important. The relationship with these individuals must be one of immediate availability to advise these security officers on all issues pertaining to maritime security and to assist them in developing healthy relationships with the regulatory bodies that oversee enforcement of the rules. In this all hazards environment it is wise to choose not only the security expertise but also to ensure your choice includes a third party vendor that can assist you with the Incident management of security incidents and ensure continuity of operations after such an event.

For Chief Financial Officers searching for effective solutions to Maritime Security the best advice would be to view a third party vendors training programs for expertise, content, delivery, and quality ensuring they have the industry perspective allowing your company to focus on its primary business and not attempt to turn your employees into counter intelligence specialists. So be sure to remember security is not measured by how much money you spent but how wisely you spent it.