The latest in a series of IMO maritime security workshops took place this week in Djibouti under the EU-funded Regional Programme for Maritime Security in the Red Sea Area (‘Red Sea Project’).
The Red Sea Project aims to assist participating countries in the Southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to enhance maritime security and safety in the Red Sea Area, in line with the 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy.
The workshop, which ran from 20 to 22 February, trained representatives of the Designated Authority and port facility security officers on how to conduct a port facility security assessment (PFSA).
The PFSA is a mandatory requirement for Contracting Governments to the SOLAS Convention, and an essential part of developing or updating the port facility security plan through a risk analysis of all aspects of a port facility’s operations to determine which parts of it are more susceptible to be the subject of an attack.
Through this process, threats against critical assets in ports are identified, their likelihood is established and the vulnerability to these threats is evaluated. Gaps related to physical security, structural integrity, personnel protection systems, procedural policies, telecommunications systems, relevant infrastructure, utilities and other areas that pose a risk to persons, property or operations within the port facility are assessed. Countermeasures are designed to ensure that the most effective security measures are employed to reduce the vulnerability of a port facility or ship/port interface to the possible threats.
The Red Sea Project, funded by the European Union, is delivered by IMO, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).