June 6, 2016 - 14:43:18 UTC

MTISC-GoG, West Africa Reporting Centre, Announces it is to Close in June

MTISC-GoG, the West Africa reporting centre for maritime incidents, will close following the successful conclusion of the Pilot Project before the end of June 2016 it was announced on the organization's website. It will be replaced by a Anglo-French reporting programme with the aim to operate under the Yaoundé process.

The role of MTISC-GoG was to provide the regional principle point of contact for the mariner off the coast of West Africa. This included :

Operates a “Voluntary Reporting Area”
Provides Maritime Security advice and guidance to the mariner operating in the Voluntary Reporting Area
Receives reports and information on suspicious incidents from merchant shipping and shares that information with its regional and national contacts

Over the past months, states the announcement, together with key stakeholders, OCIMF has been carefully reviewing the outcomes of the MTISC-GoG pilot project with the aim of establishing a sustainable reporting programme. French and UK authorities, taking into account their own experience and the role of MTISC-GoG in the region, have decided to offer a new contribution to the maritime information network in the Gulf of Guinea. This will support the Yaoundé process and be in place by the end of June. The MTISC-GOG will close and its Centre in Accra will cease operations but its mission and its network will survive by supporting FR-UK cooperation and reinforcing its insertion into the Yaoundé process.

MTISC-GoG WEBSITE

It is anticipated that contact details for the new FR/UK arrangement will be provided on the MTISC-GoG website in mid-June.

The MTISC-GoG website will be withdrawn towards the end of June and replaced with a holding page providing all the necessary contact details.

Maritime Security Guidance (MSG)

MSG will no longer be supported and withdrawn after the closure of MTISC-GoG.

Emails to MTISC-GoG to be forwarded to the new FR/UK structure for a Short Period
To assist with the transition of reporting to the new FR/UK structure MTISC-GoG will forward copies of all Reporting emails from vessels to officials of France and the United Kingdom for a period from 08:00GMT on 14th June until the end of June (or until MTISC-GoG closes).

If companies do not give permission for their emails to be forwarded they are requested to advise MTISC-GoG by 08:00 on 10th June.

France and the United Kingdom have confirmed that all emails forwarded to them during this period will not be forwarded out of the respective centres and will be deleted by mid July 2016.

Data Security

MTISC-GoG can advise that all data provided to the Centre during the course of its operations will be deleted within 2 weeks of its closure.

The above information will also be provided to all email addresses sending messages to MTISC-GoG and to all email addresses contacts currently in the MTISC-GoG database.

MTISC-GoG would like to thank all those who have reported to it for their support over the last 2 years.

MTISC-GoG recently won the SeaTrade Award for Counter Piracy. See video below. It established that it can build trust with mariners and develop a working relationship with Navies and other agencies in the region to carefully share valuable information. It has the potential to deliver even greater success in the future, states the OCIMF report.