Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping

 Naval control of shipping is a wartime concept, officially defined by the US Department of Defense and by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as “the control exercised by naval authorities of movement, routing, reporting, convoy organization, and tactical diversion of allied merchant shipping.”  It does not include the employment or active protection of such shipping.   This concept is largely meaningless in peacetime, when the military has almost no capability of exercising “control” over commercial shipping.  The peacetime equivalent is known as Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS).  The US Navy, in cooperation with the US Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD), and allied forces assist the commercial maritime sector in identifying threats and taking steps to minimize risks presented by those threats.  While the Navy is continually preparing for possible military conflicts, the major role of NCAGS these days relates to countering the Somali pirates and, more recently, coordinating commercial maritime activity involved in the Haitian earthquake relief effort.  A convoy system has been established for group transits through the Gulf of Aden.  A reporting protocol has been established for merchant vessels operating in the high-threat area of the Indian Ocean, designed to provide naval forces with a common operating picture so that military assets can be deployed most effectively.  The difference between the World War II naval control of shipping and the NCAGS concept is that in World War II, the Navy exercised actual control and issued orders, whereas NCAGS issues guidance and makes recommendations.    While adoption and implementation of the naval guidance provided to the merchant marine in the Indian Ocean area is optional, records show that ships operating independently or contrary to the recommended best management practices have a much higher risk of suffering a hijacking by Somali pirates.