WELCOME TO AMBREY SECURITY

Prevention is always better than cure. Resilience is a mindset we can help you to build with your staff and crew.

We help our clients to make sure their vessels are ready for anything, by offering support with security preparation and planning. We deploy highly experienced consultants to assess maritime security measures on a wide variety of vessel types. These consultants conduct a thorough ship-security assessment over the course of approximately two days, producing a detailed report on their findings and recommended actions.

We always recommend that vessels are audited in port, before they enter a high-risk area, making sure that there’s sufficient time to put any recommended mitigation measures into action. Vessel security audits are a key part of our maritime security services.

1000+ guards currently work for Ambrey, trained in-house to an international standard and employed from all major ports around the Indian Ocean.

Our guards are deployed in teams that are blended to meet the requirements of the task and the needs of our client. We meet our client’s requirements for any team-size or qualifications, subject to our risk assessment of your voyage. Our size and experience means we are well aware of the specific demands of individual flag states and major charterers. The large number of guards we have deployed on any given day combined with our broad location coverage also allows us to respond quickly to requests at short notice. Our fastest time from request to embarkation of a team is just under three hours – an industry benchmark.

In addition to the extensive military experience required of our guards, they each undergo specialised maritime security and emergency response training. The teams are always re-tested on their weapons safety handling and Rules for the Use of Force at the beginning of every transit and, as we own all of our own firearms and equipment, each of our transfer vessels has a resident armourer to conduct routine maintenance and to check that the firearms are in peak condition when our guards are deployed. To keep advice up to date, we give our guards access to our in-house intelligence team who provides advice and incident notices to assist them in their advice to Masters.

In West Africa and Southeast Asia, where local regulations do not allow us to use our own guards and firearms, we deploy host nation forces.

The guards are vetted in accordance with their national requirements and selected for their role through the host nation recruitment process. Our contract is with our local partner, whose operating procedures and licences are always fully vetted by Ambrey, and is approved via an MOU with the particular authorities responsible for that country’s national security. Individual Due Diligence can be provided on request for each operation.

Before the guards embark a client vessel they receive a comprehensive briefing from Ambrey, via their base command. Once they are on board, our regional Operations Management remain in contact with the Master to monitor and ensure their performance. To enhance command and control of the on-board team, we can also provide an Ambrey Liaison Officer on board to act as the link between the Master, Ambrey and the onshore authorities.

Due to the scale of our operations we have our own local staff and infrastructure in both West Africa and Southeast Asia, which not only allows us a greater measure of control over the deployment of host nation forces but also means that we are on hand to resolve any problems that arise. Our local teams are available for support 24/7 and have clear contingency plans in place.

When local laws prohibit armed guards from being placed on board vessels, we ensure the safety and security of our clients by providing armed security escort vessels (SEVs).

Ambrey can provide SEVs, with armed guards onboard, in each of the main piracy areas globally. However, West Africa, and in particular Nigeria, is where we provide this service most frequently. Offering SEVs in this region has historically been a challenge, due to a combination of extremely high costs and issues of poor performance and reliability. Ambrey’s market differentiator and strong advantage in Nigeria is our investment in a fleet of SEVs that provide consistent reliability at a manageable cost.

Each of our SEVs are deployed in compliance with state requirements, with a team of Local Naval Armed Guards and a Liaison Officer. We have excellent local relationships and suppliers, who work hard to guarantee our performance and quality levels, and our experienced team of Operations Managers based in Nigeria personally sea-trial every vessel before deployment to ensure it can perform as necessary. All SEVs are fully equipped with the navigation and communications equipment needed to allow them to safely undertake all types of offshore security tasks – including escorting, field protection and rapid response/intervention.

Ambrey are unique in the PMSC market as, unlike other maritime security providers, we operate and control a fleet of our own transfer vessels. covering all of the main locations of entry/ exit. Owning vessels, licensed by the UK Government to operate as floating armouries, gives us complete control over our supply chain – from the vessels themselves to the people and equipment on board. This allows us to offer our clients a certainty about the quality and consistency of our services that is unique in our industry.

Our Transfer Vessel Fleet is managed and controlled from our inhouse marine team based at our shipyard in Southampton, UK. The owned fleet, now consisting of 10 vessels in all has been a major focus of our investment over the last few years, ensuring we have a robust, reliable and above all safe environment in which to accommodate our teams and transfer them to your vessels in all conditions, 24/7.

VBA Capabilities

Our extensive experience in developing and delivering accredited training programmes for our own staff means that we’re ideally positioned to build bespoke, compliance-led training in other areas of security.

We can work with our clients to offer training services to their personnel in a wide range of areas, from ‘Security Operations’ and ‘Crisis Management’ to ‘CCTV and Operations Room Management’ and ‘Crime Scene and Investigation Management’. Together we identify what they want to achieve and where the gaps in their own knowledge and staff expertise lie, then we develop learning outcomes to meet the identified key objectives. The courses are all delivered by a small group of specialist trainers, supported by our team of dedicated in-house analysts who specialise in understanding the context in which the training will be executed.

Further information

Whatever your marine or offshore venture, we have experience in developing individual security offerings for numerous different projects.

From seismic surveys and cable laying to marine salvage, dredging and heavy lift, we’ve gained extensive experience of providing security services to complex marine and offshore projects all over the world. Typically these projects involve the provision of security to valuable, technical and slow-moving assets with high numbers of skilled crew, which consequently have a high-risk profile – both in regard to pirates on the high seas as well as levels of danger for personnel when they’re ashore or transiting through a port.

Where possible we actively engage with clients early on in their gap analysis, supporting them through a Project Security Risk Assessment and identifying risk exposure. This allows us to explore both opportunities and constraints, quantifying a proportionate response to specific threats. We also work closely with our local contacts to determine key legal requirements and contextual challenges. We can then write a bespoke security plan, covering all the areas of risk.

Then we deploy a specially selected security team to deliver the physical security service on the project itself, supported 24/7 by our operations management staff in the head office. Those security services could involve anything from providing armed security on board or hiring and managing local armed guards, to offering unarmed guarding and management of the vessel and/or the cargo as it’s brought ashore. We’re also experienced at providing post-incident support, such as security audits on vessels post-hijack, assistance to ransom deliveries, or protection of fisheries.