Ships visiting Syria must tighten security

Ships visiting Syria must tighten security The U.S. Coast Guard said it will impose conditions of entry on vessels arriving from Syria, because ports there are not maintaining effective antiterrorism measures.
   The conditions are effective March 20, the agency said in a notice published in the Wednesday's Federal Register.
   While in Syria vessels must implement measures per the ship’s security plan equivalent to “security level 2,' place guards at each entry point and make sure guards have total visibility of the ship while the vessel is in port. They have to attempt to execute a declaration of security while in the Syrian port and report all security actions in the ship’s log,
   Major ports in Syria include Latakia and Tartus.
   When coming to the United States, ships must report actions to the Captain of the Port prior to arrival into U.S. waters, and place armed, private security guards at the access points to the ship when in U.S. ports. The number and position of the guards has to be acceptable to the Captain of the Port.
   Ships calling a half-dozen other countries already must maintain similar procedures. They are: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Liberia and Mauritania.