Subscribe to our Mailing Lists (It's free!)
Saturday, May 24, 2025
SAFETY4SEA
  • Home
  • Safety
    • All
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
    seafarer

    CMCF: 86% of employers report difficulty recruiting

    NTSB

    NTSB Investigation: Unattended helm leads to grounding

    containership Norway

    Norwegian man wakes up to grounded containership in his garden

    NCSR 12

    IMO NCSR 12: Key outcomes

  • SEAFiT
    • All
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: How to avoid a climate disaster

    mental health

    MOL takes step to enhance the mental health of its crew

    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: The Art Of War

    relax

    In the calm lies the cure: Exploring the parasympathetic nervous system

  • Green
    • All
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
    car carrier methanol

    World’s largest car carrier powered by methanol gets launched

    Pacific Environment

    Pacific Environment: IMO’s carbon levy is a progress but more steps are needed

    Dutch-Canadian deal sees the establishment of green corridor

    Dutch-Canadian deal sees the establishment of green corridor

    US energy

    IGU World LNG Report: LNG trade grew by 2.4% in 2024

  • Smart
    • All
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
    cyber security

    CyberOwl raises alarm on phising and malware campaign

    Hong Kong

    Hong Kong launches smart port system for interconnectivity

    Port call optimization software gets nod by BV

    Port call optimization software gets nod by BV

    Cyberattacks

    Marlink: Stronger policy and user awareness against cyber threats

  • Risk
    • All
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
    Malaysia

    Malaysia detains container ship for illegal anchoring

    estonia green retrofitting

    Estonia redirects maritime traffic following tanker detention by Russia

    PSC

    Black Sea MoU Annual Report: 4,587 inspections in 2024

    RISK4SEA unveils updated editions featuring worldwide data from the last 36M

    RISK4SEA unveils updated editions featuring worldwide data from the last 36M

  • Others
    • All
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
    DCSA eBL

    Watch: Why is shipping adopting eBLs?

    Baltic Exchange

    Baltic Exchange: Maritime market highlights 19-23 May

    Trump tariffs

    Xeneta: How the tariffs truce impacts transpacific shipping

    ocean economy

    Sustainable ocean economy could create 51 million jobs by 2050

  • Columns
    bulk carrier

    Practical tips on the use of bulk carriers for transporting general cargo

    enclosed space

    IOMSR: Why urgent action is needed to improve enclosed space safety

    soft skills

    Soft skills training and development: Bridging the competency gap on the human element

    Trending Tags

    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • Events
  • Plus
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Safety
    • All
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
    seafarer

    CMCF: 86% of employers report difficulty recruiting

    NTSB

    NTSB Investigation: Unattended helm leads to grounding

    containership Norway

    Norwegian man wakes up to grounded containership in his garden

    NCSR 12

    IMO NCSR 12: Key outcomes

  • SEAFiT
    • All
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: How to avoid a climate disaster

    mental health

    MOL takes step to enhance the mental health of its crew

    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: The Art Of War

    relax

    In the calm lies the cure: Exploring the parasympathetic nervous system

  • Green
    • All
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
    car carrier methanol

    World’s largest car carrier powered by methanol gets launched

    Pacific Environment

    Pacific Environment: IMO’s carbon levy is a progress but more steps are needed

    Dutch-Canadian deal sees the establishment of green corridor

    Dutch-Canadian deal sees the establishment of green corridor

    US energy

    IGU World LNG Report: LNG trade grew by 2.4% in 2024

  • Smart
    • All
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
    cyber security

    CyberOwl raises alarm on phising and malware campaign

    Hong Kong

    Hong Kong launches smart port system for interconnectivity

    Port call optimization software gets nod by BV

    Port call optimization software gets nod by BV

    Cyberattacks

    Marlink: Stronger policy and user awareness against cyber threats

  • Risk
    • All
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
    Malaysia

    Malaysia detains container ship for illegal anchoring

    estonia green retrofitting

    Estonia redirects maritime traffic following tanker detention by Russia

    PSC

    Black Sea MoU Annual Report: 4,587 inspections in 2024

    RISK4SEA unveils updated editions featuring worldwide data from the last 36M

    RISK4SEA unveils updated editions featuring worldwide data from the last 36M

  • Others
    • All
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
    DCSA eBL

    Watch: Why is shipping adopting eBLs?

    Baltic Exchange

    Baltic Exchange: Maritime market highlights 19-23 May

    Trump tariffs

    Xeneta: How the tariffs truce impacts transpacific shipping

    ocean economy

    Sustainable ocean economy could create 51 million jobs by 2050

  • Columns
    bulk carrier

    Practical tips on the use of bulk carriers for transporting general cargo

    enclosed space

    IOMSR: Why urgent action is needed to improve enclosed space safety

    soft skills

    Soft skills training and development: Bridging the competency gap on the human element

    Trending Tags

    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • Events
  • Plus
No Result
View All Result
SAFETY4SEA

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

by The Editorial Team
March 17, 2020
in Opinions, Security
piracy

Above image is used for illustration purposes only / Credit: Shutterstock

FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin

During the 2020 SAFETY4SEA London Forum, Philip Diacon, Owner/ Director, Dryad Global, discussed key maritime security issues and illustrated the changing environment in the Indian Ocean 2011-2019.

We have all grown accustomed to the Indian Ocean security situation, the HRA and the security implications that have been going on since before 2008 but it’s worth a quick recap. What we’re looking at is the Indian Ocean and its current environment versus the history that led up to it.

In 2008, the first UN resolution was passed: It took a while and negotiations covered several definitions on what constitutes a risk area and what it should entail before the HRA was established in 2010.

In 2010- HRA established: Since then, we’ve had significant reductions of risk.

RelatedNews

Shortlisted nominees announced for the 2025 SAFETY4SEA Awards

Britannia Club: Stowaway incidents remain high

Best Management Practice (BMP) has served a valuable purpose and has led to a much greater understanding of threats and how to counter them in an operating environment that was not at all familiar for most operators out there until BMP started to be implemented. Also, the compliance of BMP has had a huge benefit and an understanding in the industry of who to deal with this particular type of security.

Last summer, from May onwards, we also saw a change in the dynamic in the Indian Ocean regions, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz and the expansion as a result of the JWC areas.

Now the Indian Ocean operations incur some of the highest security and related costs in the world.

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

The picture above shows a significant reduction over time in MARSEC incidents and non-MARSEC incidents as reported through official channels. We see  a dramatic drop-in activity in the region 2011-2019.

To understand the scale of the drop we can see time-slices of activity below and it is worth noting  the shrinking of the reach of criminal activity.

We start with reminding ourselves how active it was back in 2011 ( and that was not the peak) below

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

Things have moved on as shown in the picture below for 2017.

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

In 2017, we see a significant drop and also a restriction in the activity back towards the coastal areas. No longer as far up to sea as they were previously.

In 2019, we were left with almost a residual activity level, while also in comparison to 2011, we see a 95% fall in MARSEC incidents.

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

There is a perception of a significant security risk in the region and I ask you to look at this and make you own assessment based on the numbers of incidents alone.

Let’s look at what happened in 2019 – a year that brought the region back into the news and raising awareness of risks.  Firstly in the choke point or the GoA and Bab-al-Mandeb ; here we observe 6 incidents there but none of them were MARSEC. The remaining incidents throughout the region were mostly robberies at anchor.

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

And the  of interest, the one that caught everyone’s attention last year were these:

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

The events of May-Jul 19 resulted in the extension of the JWC area into the Persian Gulf.

One of the most notable was the incident involving the Stena Impero. Do we call it hijacking? State action? We call it boarding here, but it could equally be a seizure. It doesn’t have an clean MARSEC  definition that we can use at this point because essentially it lies outside the definition of maritime crime

What do we know about this?

  • This is state action not piracy.
  • They’re outside the HRA.
  • They are in a JWC area.
  • Incidents not effectively combated by Anti-piracy measures.
  • Risk profile more defined than piracy: generally, there are logical and well thought out methodologies and intent that you can retranslate to risk profiles. Piracy/crime tends to be less discriminating.
  • Maritime Security Intrinsically linked to proxy wars in region.

The extension of the JWC area into the Persian Gulf adds to an already large area as seen below.  The (reduced) HRA sits within it

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?

What are the principle security costs?

  • Application of BMP (hardware, process and training): this arguably lasts the test of time and can be carried on and applied in the region regardless and in any region where there is this type of threat.
  • Increase premiums (JWC)
  • Armed security teams.

With the trends and understanding illustrated above, one of the things that we’ve been asking the industry to question is ‘are these costs justified within the current threat understanding?’

We believe that there is a tendency for people and organizations to experience an incorrect perception (or memory) of threat that is no longer the case . Our understanding needs to evolve  to reflect the current reality yet the  chain of events that lead to an understanding of the threat and also how the industry responds is very slow. One reason is that as a species we are very poor at assessing threats outside immediate response environments and no one likes to ‘take the seatbelt off’. Human instinct is powerful and will ignore or distort facts and information.

Above text is an edited version of Mr. Philip Diacon’s presentation during the 2020 SAFETY4SEA London Forum.

You may view his presentation herebelow

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.


About Philip Diacon, Owner/ Director, Dryad Global

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?Phil studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Bath before he joined the Royal Air Force serving as a fighter pilot with operational experience throughout the world.  As a senior officer in the military he delivered operational planning and crew training in complex environments. Phil was always keen to do more and since leaving the military has accumulated vast experience in forming and leading small and medium sized businesses in various sectors including retail, franchise, services and logistics.  Dryad global was established to serve the maritime community with actionable and impartial security recommendations to inform commercial and operational decisions.  Phil has brought into the business the rigour of aviation processes and built a team who have real-world intelligence experience.

Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?
Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?Should the Indian Ocean HRA be sustained?
Tags: Londonmaritime piracymaritime securitySAFETY4SEAshipping industry
Previous Post

UAE bans MSC container ship over violation of fuel carriage ban

Next Post

Port Fourchon now accommodates shore power installation

Related News

un maritime security
Security

UN Sec-Gen: Without maritime security, there can be no global security

May 22, 2025
Dryad Global
Security

Dryad Global: Maritime militarisation and hybrid threats are growing

May 21, 2025
piracy armed robbery
Security

ReCAAP ISC: Three incidents of armed robbery 13-19 May

May 20, 2025
libya tripoli
Alerts

Tripoli port operations suspended due to escalating violence

May 20, 2025
Kenya
Security

Kenya focuses on advancing maritime security legal framework

May 20, 2025
soft skills
Opinions

Soft skills training and development: Bridging the competency gap on the human element

May 19, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Explore more

No Result
View All Result
MARITIME EVENTS

Explore

  • Safety
  • SEAFiT
  • Green
  • Smart
  • Risk
  • Others
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

Useful Links

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Editorial Policies
  • Advertising
  • Content Marketing
  • Contact

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA

No Result
View All Result
  • Safety
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
  • SEAFiT
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
  • Green
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
  • Smart
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
  • Risk
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Case Studies
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
  • Others
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
  • Columns
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Opinions
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Tip of the day
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA

Manage your privacy
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • Safety
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
  • SEAFiT
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
  • Green
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
  • Smart
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
  • Risk
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Case Studies
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
  • Others
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
  • Columns
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Opinions
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Tip of the day
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA