Coast Guard adds security to ships from Seychelles

    The Coast Guard will require ships arriving from ports in the Seychelles to include an additional layer of security during their time in U.S. ports.
   On April 2, 2018, the agency found that Seychelles’ ports “failed to maintain effective anti-terrorism measures” and that their port access and cargo control measures, as well as facility monitoring, were “deficient.”
   After pointing out these deficiencies, the Coast Guard said the Seychelles government failed to adequately bolster its port security.
   Effective April 12, when a ship arrives at a U.S. port from the Seychelles, it must implement a “Security Level 2” plan, which is defined in the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention’s International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. 
   The ship must report that it is prepared to take these measures to the Coast Guard prior to arrival in U.S. waters.
   While in U.S. ports, all access points to the ship will be guarded and any security actions must be documented in the ship’s security records.   
   Based on the Coast Guard’s examination of the ship’s security measures, the agency may require the ship be guarded by armed, private security guards during its time a U.S. port. 
   Seychelles joins a group of 20 other countries that the Coast Guard has determined to have deficient anti-terrorism measures in their ports. Those countries are Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Micronesia, Nauru, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Syria, Timor-Leste, Venezuela, and Yemen.