US Congressman meets with Skye Maritime to learn of factors inhibiting US private maritime security businesses.
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), a Marine combat veteran and member for the House Armed Services Committee, met with senior executives at Skye Maritime, a California based, veteran owned and operated private maritime security company today to discuss the challenges facing U.S maritime security firms.
"Congressman Hunter is concerned about the rising threat of Somali piracy and cut straight to the issues at hand. He wanted to know what challenges we face and how he could help – he wanted to understand the nuts and bolts of how we operate our business," said Mike Slattery, CEO and Co-Founder of Skye Maritime.
He added: ""There are certain trade controls that were not meant to apply to us that directly inhibit our ability to conduct maritime security operations in the Indian Ocean – we want to be able to address these issues to allow us to best support our clients, and, ultimately, U.S. foreign policy."
While the U.S. State Department officially supports the use of private maritime security companies (PMSC) by the shipping industry to protect their vessels transiting the Indian Ocean war risk region, the PMSC industry remains highly unregulated with the quality of security provider varying greatly.
In recent months Skye Maritime secured a contract with a prominent U.S. shipping company in the Indian Ocean and is preparing for further anti-piracy training and education courses that will enable them to meet the growing demand for a security company that will act with professionalism, discipline and restraint.
Skye Maritime is currently planning on expanding operations to support other clients in the U.S. and overseas. They feel that their meeting with the Congressman was a positive step towards dealing with the issues raised at the meeting.