A new state of the art global anti-piracy centre has been unveiled in Portsmouth, helping Shipowners and Charterers to save hundreds of thousands of pounds on Maritime Security. The centre opens one week before senior representatives from around the world arrive in the UK to discuss breaking the piracy business model in Somalia.
“We expect the threat from piracy to continue and we are investing heavily in infrastructure and technology to give our clients an outsourced operations centre that rivals any naval force. Utilising analysis led Maritime Intelligence can save on average 3-4 days for a vessel in transit with related savings to Charterers and Shipowners on Bunkers, hire and the employment of physical security teams amounting to around $90,000 – $220,000 per transit.” – Karen Jacques, Chief Operating Officer, Dryad Maritime
Home to some impressive, state of the art technology, the centre is pivotal in monitoring and analysing the movements, assaults and trends of pirate action groups around the world. To seafarers, the centre is a lifeline. It tells them where the pirates are, where they are headed and what they look like. When too close for comfort, the centre warns ships and they are diverted to safer waters. Manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by a team of ex-Royal Navy warfare specialists and intelligence experts.
“Our new Operations Centre is a great asset to Dryad and to our clients in the shipping, super yacht and energy industries. Not only does the new technology help with the scalability of our operations but it gives the Centre a true futuristic feel, something that people always associate with intelligence.” – Graeme Gibbon Brooks, Managing Director of Dryad Maritime
The 24/7 operations room is a hub of activity. Intelligence Analysts and Operations Officers work around the clock handling and processing near real-time information collected from intelligence sources all over the world and beamed to vessels to help fight global maritime piracy and terrorism.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , February 16, 2012; Image: Dyrad Maritime