Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

Combating Piracy Week London 2011 October 22, 2011

I am currently flying back from London on Delta after returning from Piracy Week.  While we will provide a more in-depth update later I wanted to capture some comments.  Overall the event was well worth the investment and was a very well attended event.  Hanson Wade did a great job of managing the event and encouraging networking.  I have spoken at well over 100 events in the past 10 years and I would say this was in the top 5%.  Marie, James, Jethro, Sara, David, Miles and crew at HW did a great job.

The lineup of speakers was impressive as were the attendees.  All speakers showed and provided some very good information.  Some of the speakers included representatives from the Somali Government, as well as the UN, UKPTO, and IMO, among others.  Of course, I (Chris Mark) was a speaker at the event.  Even competitors such PVI, and Salama Fakira had speakers, as did other companies such as Rubicon advisors. Both Conrad and Dom provided very valuable information.

Attendees included numerous shipping companies and representatives.  The overall view was that armed security is an important component of the overall security strategy.  Numerous speakers confirmed that no armed vessels have been hijacked to date.

Overall, I would suggest that any ship owner or other stakeholder with a real interest in security may want to consider attending a Piracy Week event hosted by Hanson Wade.  The hosts are great, the speakers are good and the attendees are bright and committed.