BIMCO launches AVRA

An Automated Voyage Risk Assessment tool (AVRA), which provides users with a ship and voyage specific preview of security threats that may be encountered throughout a proposed voyage has been made available by the maritime organisation BIMCO.

This unique, web-enabled and fully automated system has been developed in conjunction with the private security consultants Aegis and the International Maritime Bureau to assess the level of all sorts of non-navigational risk that need to be considered during the full extent of a voyage.

While concerns about piracy might be high on the present agenda, AVRA considers all other types of illegal activity which may be met with, from the risk of stowaways, people or drug smuggling, to the level of crime and robbery in port and at anchor and the problems of corruption which may arise in some parts of the world.

According to BIMCO?s Chief Maritime Security Officer Giles Noakes nobody to date has produced a web-enabled and fully automated system that will provide such a range of useful guidance that will enable a BIMCO member to ascertain the level of risk a vessel is likely to encounter throughout a proposed voyage.

He continues “Effectively a “one-stop shop”, it enables an owner to stay abreast of potential hazards, to fulfil more meaningfully the responsibilities required by the International Ship and Port Facility Code, and goes far beyond the publicly available intelligence information that an owner has hitherto depended upon”. It simplifies the ship planning process providing owners and operators with a pre-planning tool to enhance crew, ship and cargo safety and security through an automated web based service.

Foreknowledge of such risks enables proper precautions to be taken and AVRA can also be a valuable commercial tool when negotiating charter parties or contemplating different routes. Simple and quick to use, the tool employs the best possible intelligence to provide an up to date and ongoing picture of the risk realities, but most importantly as they apply to that particular ship on the specific voyage that is being assessed.

Says BIMCO?s Chief Maritime Security Officer Giles Noakes: “AVRA picks up all the hazards which may affect the safe prosecution of the voyage, and provides all the information that is needed to make proper judgements on all security issues.” It will ensure that masters get the most detailed and risk based voyage instructions to operate safely and effectively.