by
MarineEducationTextbooks | Friday, June 13, 2014 |
CSO Alliance has been launched in an effort to provide a “real
time”, coordinated approach to the progressively complex fight against maritime
crime.
A global digital network devoted to serving Company Security
Officers (CSOs), CSO Alliance is designed to use the latest interactive and
online tools to give maritime CSOs the ability to share market intelligence,
meet in person to discuss issues, and assess mutual risks that their assets and
crews face daily in multiple regions.The Alliance shares valuable human insight, then transposes it within a
secure, private platform, giving over 12,000 CSOs (who manage the security of
120,000 maritime assets) the ability to interact.
Incidents and attacks from around the world are documented using
geospatial mapping, and then aligned with an intuitive database. Next, CSOs (in addition to over thirty
regular sources) provide reports, which are then verified by an expert team,
each member of which is credited and vetted.
Says Mark Sutcliffe, Director of the Alliance, “The uniqueness of
the Alliance lies in its increasing number of users, leveraging the suite of
tools that accompany geospatial mapping to share intelligence, ideas and
comments in a “real time” forum. While Captains rely on VHF to protect one
another, CSOs now have their own web-based tool to instantly pick up on issues.
Vitally, Captains relaying an incident via their CSO and the Alliance can
inform an entire region in an instant. This communication feed is constantly
qualified by the CSO peer group review and referenced with the relevant
military sources. There are numerous intuitive forums dedicated to specific
topics to share and develop learning and innovations within groups. This saves
CSOs time, their companies’ money, and – potentially – lives. Combined, these
elements form a global community of CSO professionals who can now achieve
security through community.”
Alliance member, Benny Low, Group Security Manager of Thome Ship
Management in Singapore, asserts, “We hope that the CSO Alliance, other than
providing an international platform for CSO(s) around the globe to share Best
Management Practices and communicate among themselves, will eventually flourish
with sufficient memberships to push ahead unity and acts as the Main ‘Security
Body’ to present the Merchant Maritime Security Regime to provide a ‘clear
voice’ in the IMO Security Conventions. Ultimately, becoming a body to enrich,
self-actuate and regulate for the common objective to keep the world safer for
the International Seafaring Career.”
As piracy and maritime crime continue to escalate, the CSO
Alliance is yet another valuable tool for keeping maritime workers and assets
safe, and for discouraging the continued growth of piracy and violence.