Maritime Security Services

 

 

Maritime Security Services: ISPS Port Security Training in the DRC

Harbor Security Training; Democratic Republic of the Congo

In 2005 Omega won the contract that was offered by the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to upgrade the security functions that were executed at the different ports on the Congo River. The requirement was that these ports had to reach the level where they could be evaluated and receive an International Ships and Port Security (ISPS) approved rating. All the Ports were international harbours.

The contracting part was the National Transport Authority (ONATRA). The Ports that had to be upgraded was:

• Matadi
• Bomo
• Banana

Omega utilized its subsidiary Omega Security Solutions sprl to execute the task. The focus was:

• Training of the current security work force to an acceptable level of security knowledge.
• Developing a Train the Trainer program so that local trainers could be trained to the required level.
• Utilizing the local training staff to train security work force on the prescripts of the ISPS Code. This was done due the language barriers that were experienced.

Whilst the training was executed the ports were audited to ascertain the current situation and to make recommendations what actions had to be executed to ensure that the ISPS Code standards could be attained. The ports were constantly audited to ensure that the required standards were being attained

Maritime Security Services: Frequently Asked Questions

What does maritime security do?

Maritime security protects ports, harbours, vessels, cargo and the people who work in them, and is largely shaped by the ISPS Code. In 2005 Omega won a contract with the DRC National Transport Authority (ONATRA) to bring the international ports of Matadi, Bomo and Banana on the Congo River up to a level where they could be evaluated for ISPS approval. The work covered training the existing security workforce, a train-the-trainer programme for local instructors, and continuous audits of each port against the ISPS Code.