Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Vizag port adopts hi-tech security

By Shakeel M. Rasheed

VISAKHAPATNAM, JUNE 22. What have bomb suppression blankets and bullet-proof vests got to do with the Vizag port? These security items form part of the armoury that the Visakhapatnam Port Trust is equipping itself with in tune with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS ) code, a new comprehensive security regime for international shipping set to come into force next month.

"We have become ISPS-compliant. Only a formal certificate by the Director General of Shipping is awaited. From July 1, we shall be operating with the new maritime security measures," an official source said. Acquisition of multilayered bomb suppression blankets, offering cover from ballistic material and protection against steel fragments at 400 m a second, and bullet-proof jackets, effective at a bullet velocity of 900 m/sec for a range of 10 m with respect to 7.62mm SLRs or AK-47s, reflect the heightened and high-profile security at the Vizag port.

The ISPS code incorporates a series of measures to strengthen maritime security and prevent acts of terrorism, and is an offshoot of a conference of 108 contracting Governments in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, convened in December, 2002, by the London-based International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The measures represent the work done by IMO's Maritime Safety Committee and its Intersessional Working Group since the terrorist attacks against the United States in September 2001.

The code calls for detailed security-related requirements of Governments, port authorities and shipping companies for providing a standardised framework for evaluating risk. It attempts to enable Governments to offset changes in threat with changes in vulnerability for ships and port facilities, taking the line, "as threat increases, the only logical counteraction is to reduce vulnerability."

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