A thorn in the sides of pirates – new intelligence centre opens in the UK as London prepares to host 2012 conference on Somalia
Dryad Maritime Operations Centre
A new state of the art global anti-piracy centre has been unveiled in Portsmouth, one week before senior representatives from around the world arrive in the UK to discuss breaking the piracy business model in Somalia.
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.
“We expect the threat from piracy to continue, 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
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.
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Notes to Editors:
• On 23 February 12 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be hold the London Somali Conference. Senior representatives from over 40 governments and multi-lateral organisations will meet in London with the aim of delivering a new international approach to Somalia. They will discuss how the international community can step-up its efforts to tackle both the root causes and effects of the problems in the country.
• Dryad Maritime is a specialist maritime intelligence company helping seafarers to quantify, mitigate and manage the threats from piracy, terrorism and other waterborne threat and crime. The predictive nature and practical application of Dryad’s intelligence enables seafarers to make planning and operational decisions that safeguard their safety as well as their commercial operations.
• Different from news aggregators, Dryad Maritime sources the most accurate information from their extensive and privileged network around the world; applies methodical, strategic analysis using subject matter experts and produces predictive forecasts which inform seafarers where the risks are and how to mitigate them.
A thorn in the side of pirates - new global maritime operations centre opens in UK