Category: All Armed at Sea

Headlines.

Here is a news headline from Lloyd’s List:- Is the maritime security bubble about to burst?

This was because the Lymington-based Gulf of Aden Group Transits (GoAGT) has just gone bust.

It was also reported that all the work of GoAGT): – ‘ would now be carried out on their behalf by Sea Marshals, another Private Management Security Company (PMSC).

On August 6th  Seanews came up with the headline:-

‘GoAGT failure sparks worries other shipboard guard firms will go bust.’

While Malta Today reported:–

‘A Malta-based, industry-leading and highly profitable maritime security company – Gulf of Aden Group Transits (GoAGT) – abruptly closed its doors this week and went into administration, leaving hundreds of employees across the globe in the lurch, some literally at sea.’

Missing Information.

What is currently happening with GoAGT is wide open to speculation as all content has been taken of the company website.     http://goagt.org/

Ditto – There is nothing about them on Facebook, but you can still find a Facebook page for the GOAGT Galle Maritime Security Training Centre.

The webpage for the GoAGT Maltese subsidiary company Maritime Guard Group has also been removed.

Though you can still find something about them on LinkedIn .

Speculation.

What exactly has happened with GoAGT must remain a matter of speculation for the moment.

What this might mean for the future of all the other companies which provide armed guards at sea is very much an open question.

It’s all going to be a matter of wait at sea.

Update.

On Friday Aug 8th World Maritime News published the following news story:-

Workers Left High and Dry as GoAGT Goes Insolvent.

This news story gives an account of the GoAGT company finances, and what another maritime guards company, Sea Marshals, describes as ‘a marketing opportunity for our services.’

SIPRI  ( The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute )
has just published a article entitled: –

Combating Blackbeard:
how to reduce maritime piracy in Somalia.

This article looks at some of the reasons as to why piracy exists off
the coast of Somalia, and just what might be done about it.

While Taylor & Francis have just published the following works:-

The Price of Modern Maritime Piracy.

&

Privatizing the struggle against Somali piracy.

Both of these are expensive publications, and so best accessed via your local library.

BIMCO is an International shipping association which exists to facilitate the commercial operations of its membership organisations.

BIMCO is now about to offer an associate membership to private
maritime security companies which achieve the International
Standards Organisation’s PAS 28007.

The good news is that the UK Chamber of Shipping has rejected the
idea of having private security firms as a part of the organisation.

The Security Association for the Maritime Industry international
certification programme is an scheme run by SAMI
( The Security Association for the Maritime Industry ).

Referring to these Standards & Certification,
SAMI states that they have introduced:
‘a level of compliance and scrutiny to ensure that the maritime
industry can easily identify reputable private maritime security
companies.’

One of the companies which has gained this certification is the Trident Group.

It is also one of the 30 membership companies which makes up SAMI.

During may Lloyd’s List identified some Trident armed guards in a video shooting at a pirate skiff  .

Here are two quotes from the newspaper story: –

‘ The International Association of Maritime Security Professionals
issued a statement on its website stating that the PMSC in the
video had employed a questionable use of force … ’

While SAMI stated that it: –
“clearly demonstrates that clarification on the rules for the use of
force is needed”

Clearly the activities of  Trident,
and worth of  the SAMI certificate,
do need to be very closely examined.