Coast Guard flags 17 countries as port security risks

Coast Guard flags 17 countries as port security risks    The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a port security advisory naming 17 countries that have 'failed to communicate to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or to the Coast Guard all information regarding port facility security' as required by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS), or the U.S. Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA).'
   Failure to submit the required information 'indicates noncompliance with the port facility requirements of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and leads us to believe there are inadequate antiterrorism measures in place at port facilities in these countries,' the Coast Guard said in a statement.
   The cited countries are Albania, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nauru, Nigeria, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, and Suriname.
   'Vessels that have visited a country listed above during their last five port calls will be subject to increased port state control actions upon arrival at a U.S. port,' the Coast Guard said in a statement.
   The Coast Guard advised ships from such ports to improve their 'security posture' by setting a higher security level, prepare a declaration of security, log all security actions in the vessel's log, and report such actions to a Coast Guard captain of the port prior to arrival in the United States.
   The Coast Guard's next port security advisory, to be issued Nov. 9, will warn ships arriving in U.S. ports from non-compliant countries of additional port state control measures that will be imposed.