NYK tightens maritime security

NYK tightens maritime security    Tokyo-based Nippon Yusen Kaisha said it has set up an in-house liaison committee to discuss maritime anti-terrorism policies, and enhanced its security measures on ships and on land.
   Security measures range from briefing sessions by ship security managers (captains) for crew members to actions such as emergency drills on the assumption of actual terrorist attacks.
   NYK mentioned measures including an increase in the number of patrolling officers under a round-the-clock system, patrolling no-entry zones, prohibiting outsiders, in principle, from entering ships, employing more security officers from outside, carrying out security checks twice a day under the initiative of ship security managers, inspecting marine equipment and foodstuffs more strictly when they are carried into ships, and confirming dangerous cargoes and their locations more strictly.
   NYK said it has defined and implemented its own security guidelines.
   Besides voluntary, company-specific measures, the International Maritime Organization’s International Ship and Port Facility Security code and related national maritime security rules, requiring vessel operators to develop and implement compliant vessel security plans, must be implemented by July 1.