Maritime Security Status Conference

It seems that I have got the chance to participate in the Maritime Security Status Conference - a conference in Copenhagen setting out to gauge the new post-911 maritime threats.

Maritime anti-terror security is quite a large sector, however it doesn't really recieve too much attention in the mainstream security litterature compared to, say, the threat from MANPAD's against commercial aircrafts.

This misrepresentation has a lot to do with the symbolic status of shipping vs. airtravel. The subjective feeling of risk is heightened by the fact that it might be a transportation that you actually have some experience with and would choose a couple of times a year - whereas an oiltanker in the Red Sea is quite an abstract concept to most people. However, the terroristic gain when talking about money is clearly to be found in attacks against shipping.

It will be interesting to see if the conference will give any estimates on the possible ripple effects of a succesful terrorist attack on a maritime vessel.