BIMCO develops vessel security planning tool

BIMCO develops vessel security planning tool    International shipping association BIMCO said last week it has partnered with private security consultants Aegis and the International Maritime Bureau to develop a system that allows vessels to predetermine security threats posed throughout a proposed voyage.
   The system, called Automated Voyage Risk Assessment (AVRA), is an automated system that relays intelligence to a Web-enabled system that ship masters can access when planning a voyage. BIMCO said the system is aimed at more than just piracy, providing information about risk from stowaways, people or drug smuggling, to the level of crime and robbery in ports and at anchor and the problems of corruption that may arise in some parts of the world.
   BIMCO Chief Maritime Security Officer Giles Noakes said the system will help ships more effectively fulfill the responsibilities required by the International Ship and Port Facility Code, and 'goes far beyond the publicly available intelligence information that an owner has hitherto depended upon. AVRA picks up all the hazards which may affect the safe prosecution of the voyage, and provides all the information that is needed to make proper judgments on all security issues.”