New solutions are needed to the tackle the continuing piracy problem in the Gulf of Aden. Ship Security Reporting System (SSRS) uses the existing mandatory Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) to vastly improve the response time of naval forces to reported pirate attacks.

By using SSRS, ships under attack will be directly connected to Task Forces via the relevant Naval Coordination Centres, so enabling the possibility of deployment of a rapid, coordinated response.

MATS College of Technology, ISSG Holdings and Evolutionary Security Management are pleased to announce that they have reached a significant milestone in their efforts to support the seafarer community's anti-piracy efforts through specialized practical anti-piracy training. The product of several months' research and development, this training will provide seafarers with training that is specifically designed to meet this rising global challenge.

Americans uniformly praised the astonishing rescue of Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama by U.S. Navy Seals. But what marked the dramatically successful culmination of a frightening hostage incident on the high seas also signaled the beginning of a more meaningful policy review by the Obama Administration and the Congress of how the United States should confront this serious national security challenge.

Always at the leading edge of addressing maritime security concerns and offering the latest high-tech solutions, the Maritime Security Expo this year will augment its internationally acclaimed program for interfacing public- and private-sector leaders by highlighting two current hot topics − anti-piracy and unmanned persistent surveillance vehicles.

The U.S. government and the petroleum industry have two options available for transporting the billions of cubic feet of natural gas that is available on Alaska's North Slope. The first is to build a relatively short pipeline to Valdez, where it can be loaded on ships and delivered to the lower 48. The second is to construct a $30 billion, 1,700-mile pipeline through the wilderness of Alaska and Canada to the Midwestern United States. In this opinion piece, Joseph Keefe, Editor in Chief of THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE, presents his arguments in favor of the Valdez plan and against the transcontinental pipeline option.

Acutrek Systems LLC of New York and Harbour Mastery, Inc. of Tampa announced today their alliance partnership agreement aimed at drawing a tighter web of surveillance and security management around seaports and airports as intermodal nexuses for the movement of people, cargo and vehicles (ships, aircraft, rail and trucking).

Naval escorts and armed security details aren't the only options for combating maritime pirate attacks. And in this piece, Eric Basu, founder and President of Sentek Consulting, presents the concept of implementing command and control systems that leverage the power of available Internet technologies in order to protect commercial shippers from the scourge of modern day piracy.

K&M Global Security Solutions, Kneeland Consulting, d.o.o., and Evolutionary Security Management have teamed up to offer the shipping industry a solution based approach to security that maximizes the capability of the organization as a whole, and is effective across all operating environments.

In this article, Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, examines the potential exploitation of small vessels by terrorists, and smugglers of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics, illegal aliens and other contraband. The article was cited by Mr. M. Robert Gauvin, Technical Advisor in the USCG Office of Vessel Activities during his featured presentation, "Implementing the Small Vessel Security Strategy", at the IDGA 7th Annual Maritime Homeland Security Summit in April 2009.

This is reprinted here from U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) Proceedings with permission; Copyright © 2008 U.S. Naval Institute at www.usni.org.

Voda LLC announced on May 7 an alliance with Tampa's Harbour Mastery, Inc. to integrate Voda's sensor and WiFi network offerings with Harbour Mastery's i-Greenports™ and i-Seaports™ management software.