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The claim that in today’s information age, with open source media instantly available via mobile devices or at the desk, the ability to identify and analyse security threats before a voyage is considered should not be taken for granted, as explained by maritime intelligence company Dryad Maritime.

There are numerous issues to consider including what are the right information to use, its relevance and credibility.

According to Dryad, the ability to access this information can also lead to the danger of the “instant expert” and even automated systems can lead to the wrong analysis.

Dryad Maritime believes in segmenting operations – those considered normal, those at risk and those in crisis.

“Whilst developing a company level plan to determine what voyages constitute normal operations versus an at risk operation may be relatively straight forward, the ability for chartering teams, operations team and the CSO to identify and analyse security threats may not be as easy. Without an obvious trigger point, companies may be reliant on experience alone to initiate risk assessment processes rather than definable checks and controls. But is it realistic for everyone in the company to understand the impact that a last minute change of voyage orders will have on security arrangements or what security information is relevant before fixing a voyage?,” the company inquired.

There is also the issue of monitoring events – the vessel may be operating in significantly different time-zones to the operations team ashore; teams who may not have the resources to monitor the masses of open-media information available to them on a 24/7 basis.

Nevertheless, there are some advantages of the information age. According to Dryad, by using IT systems combined with dedicated, 24/7 operations teams with both security and maritime experience, a set of protocols can be developed which can trigger internal processes, risk assessments or initiate security provisions without the reliance on experience to determine any requirements.

“Whilst it is difficult to build an automated system to give the end-user the right overall analysis– it is possible to build architecture, which can be linked to the owner’s own systems, which can trigger the thought processes required by the companies established policies. Such systems can also include other services such as weather monitoring and optimisation as an integrated voyage management system,”the intelligence company added.

However, Dryad maintains that the skilled mariner in the loop can offer competitive advantage in both normal operations and during operations at risk.

“With such systems, operations in crisis may be averted,” Dryad concluded.