Source: Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain plans to create a new maritime security agency to spot and ward off any threats to its ports and shipping, the government said on Monday.
Announcing plans for a National Maritime Information Centre, Security Minister Lord West said a 2008 seaborne attack by militants on the Indian city of Mumbai had increased fears about marine security. The 2012 London Olympics, with its south coast sailing events, also posed particular problems.
The centre will bring together data about all UK-related maritime activity by coordinating and sharing information across government about dangers such as terrorism, piracy and drug smuggling. This would allow better and faster decision-making.
The centre, to be based at the Defence Ministry joint headquarters in Northwood, Middlesex, is due to begin work towards the end of 2010.
The British economy is highly dependent on sea ports: More than 90 percent of all freight by tonnage enters or leaves the nation by sea, according to the British Ports Association industry association.
"The UK is reliant on the sea for its security and prosperity," an official statement said. "The continued rise of piracy incidents off the Horn of Africa and the terrorist events in Mumbai in autumn 2008 have indicated the capacity and intent to exploit the sea to export terror and unlawful activity."
"There are also vast ungoverned spaces of the world's oceans where unlawful activity continues to destabilise states and regions, from narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean to piracy off the Horn of Africa," the statement said.
In the Mumbai attack, ten men entered the port city in small boats and struck targets including the main railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, killing 166 people.
India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militants and broke off a peace initiative with Pakistan until Islamabad punished those it said had planned the assault.
While most militant attacks around the world happen on land, the spread of piracy off Africa may encourage more use of the sea by politically inspired armed groups, especially if counter-terrorism measures on land improve, analysts say.
The U.S. government this month warned ships sailing off Yemen's coast of the risk of al Qaeda attacks similar to a militant suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in Aden in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Two years later an al Qaeda attack damaged the French supertanker Limburg in the Gulf of Aden.
Announcing plans for a National Maritime Information Centre, Security Minister Lord West said a 2008 seaborne attack by militants on the Indian city of Mumbai had increased fears about marine security. The 2012 London Olympics, with its south coast sailing events, also posed particular problems.
The centre will bring together data about all UK-related maritime activity by coordinating and sharing information across government about dangers such as terrorism, piracy and drug smuggling. This would allow better and faster decision-making.
The centre, to be based at the Defence Ministry joint headquarters in Northwood, Middlesex, is due to begin work towards the end of 2010.
The British economy is highly dependent on sea ports: More than 90 percent of all freight by tonnage enters or leaves the nation by sea, according to the British Ports Association industry association.
"The UK is reliant on the sea for its security and prosperity," an official statement said. "The continued rise of piracy incidents off the Horn of Africa and the terrorist events in Mumbai in autumn 2008 have indicated the capacity and intent to exploit the sea to export terror and unlawful activity."
"There are also vast ungoverned spaces of the world's oceans where unlawful activity continues to destabilise states and regions, from narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean to piracy off the Horn of Africa," the statement said.
In the Mumbai attack, ten men entered the port city in small boats and struck targets including the main railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, killing 166 people.
India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militants and broke off a peace initiative with Pakistan until Islamabad punished those it said had planned the assault.
While most militant attacks around the world happen on land, the spread of piracy off Africa may encourage more use of the sea by politically inspired armed groups, especially if counter-terrorism measures on land improve, analysts say.
The U.S. government this month warned ships sailing off Yemen's coast of the risk of al Qaeda attacks similar to a militant suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in Aden in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Two years later an al Qaeda attack damaged the French supertanker Limburg in the Gulf of Aden.
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