Operation Atalanta has been conducting counter-piracy tasks and protecting World Food Programme Shipping since December 2008, during that time, the architecture of information sharing has continued to evolve and EU NAVFOR has ensured that its systems remain robust enough to deal with updates and changes.
The Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) is an integral part of EU NAVFOR, sitting functionally within the Operational Headquarters and staffed by military and civilian EU NAVFOR personnel. For maritime users there has been a significant upgrade of capability in the www.mschoa.org portal.
The new key features include:
The MSCHOA provides a service to mariners in the Gulf of Aden, the Somali Basin and off the Horn of Africa. It is a Coordination Centre dedicated to safeguarding legitimate freedom of navigation in light of the risk of attack against merchant shipping in the region, in support of the UN Security Council’s Resolutions (UNSCR) 1816 and subsequent reviews.
EU NAVFOR and CMF are committed to ensuring that mariners have the most up to date regular threat assessments and incident specific bulletins, published by the MSCHOA. Through close dialogue with shipping companies, ships’ masters and other interested parties, MSCHOA builds up a picture of vulnerable shipping in these waters and their approaches.
The MSCHOA can then act as a focal point sharing information to provide support and protection to maritime traffic. There is a clear need to protect ships and their crews from illegitimate and dangerous attacks, safeguarding a key global trade route.
The Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) is an integral part of EU NAVFOR, sitting functionally within the Operational Headquarters and staffed by military and civilian EU NAVFOR personnel. For maritime users there has been a significant upgrade of capability in the www.mschoa.org portal.
The new key features include:
- Improved information sharing for mariners and operators of vessels in registering their vessels’ transits with MSCHOA in keeping with Industry Guidance BMP5.
- New content structure enabling easy navigation and relevant content.
- MSCHOA analysis of data for:
- Private Armed Security Team usage.
- Routing of vessels.
- BMP5 compliance.
- Maritime Domain Awareness added:
- Live examples of attacks in the last 12 months.
- Lessons identified about timely reporting of incidents.
- Information about military responses to incidents.
The MSCHOA provides a service to mariners in the Gulf of Aden, the Somali Basin and off the Horn of Africa. It is a Coordination Centre dedicated to safeguarding legitimate freedom of navigation in light of the risk of attack against merchant shipping in the region, in support of the UN Security Council’s Resolutions (UNSCR) 1816 and subsequent reviews.
EU NAVFOR and CMF are committed to ensuring that mariners have the most up to date regular threat assessments and incident specific bulletins, published by the MSCHOA. Through close dialogue with shipping companies, ships’ masters and other interested parties, MSCHOA builds up a picture of vulnerable shipping in these waters and their approaches.
The MSCHOA can then act as a focal point sharing information to provide support and protection to maritime traffic. There is a clear need to protect ships and their crews from illegitimate and dangerous attacks, safeguarding a key global trade route.