Navy Shipping Management

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Under Marine shipping line refers to the cooperation between naval and merchant shipping to protect merchant vessels against threats.

Today's naval shipping control organization is primarily shaped by the experiences of the Allies in World War II and the organization of NATO during the Cold War . There are also national and multinational bodies that deal with protecting merchant shipping and fisheries against threats in crises and wars.

history

World wars

Convoy in the Baltic Sea

While the guidance of merchant ships by warships is one of the traditional tasks of naval forces, this task became considerably more important with the use of a larger number of submarines in World War I. Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare , which prompted the opponents of the war to build up a comprehensive convoy system.

During the Second World War, too, the western allies made considerable efforts to counter the threat posed by German submarines, including a system of convoys and far-reaching protective measures .

Cold War

After the Western Allies and many Western European nations had severely disarmed after the end of the war in 1945, they increasingly saw a threat in the Soviet Union , to which they responded by founding NATO in 1949 . Associated with this was the establishment of an organization that was supposed to prepare the protection of merchant shipping in a possible war in peace. For this purpose, the Planning Board for Ocean Shipping (PBOS) was established in May 1950 as a governing body for the Naval Control of Shipping Organization ( NCSOrg ).

Tanker convoy during the so-called tank war in the Persian Gulf in 1987

Today's organization of NATO

After the end of the east-west confrontation, NATO's naval shipping command was transformed from a mandatory to a cooperative system, which is designed for voluntary cooperation and is called Naval Co-operation and Guidance for Shipping ( NCAGS ). NCAGS procedures and organization have been published in the regulations NCAGS Manual ATP-2 Vol. II and NCAGS Organization, Publications, and Documents AAP-8 .

assignment

The NCAGS process supports military leaders and merchant shipping in times of peace, tension, crises and war through guidance, advice, assistance and, if necessary, supervision. It also provides military guidance, advice, and assistance related to the global merchant shipping interests of participating nations in order to enhance the safety of merchant ships and support military operations.

NCAGS facilities

Ensuring of vessel traffic and the supply by sea in crisis and war is the responsibility of the main committee for civil defense planning (Senior Civil Emergency Planning Committee; SCEPC) with the downstream PBOS , which is responsible for maritime issues.

The NATO Shipping Center (NSC), which is based at the Allied Maritime Command Headquarters Northwood near London , is responsible for coordinating protective measures on the military side . It collects data and uses it to compile a picture of the shipping situation for selected sea areas. It also supports military NCAGS operations and advises civil shipping agencies.

An NCAGS Commander (NCAGS CDR) is used for military NCAGS tasks in a sea area . This is usually the leader of a naval unit deployed to protect merchant shipping as an officer in Tactical Command . When ships are formally grouped into a convoy, a military or nautical officer is used as the convoy commodore . As a rule, he reports to the NCAGS commander.

Shipping Cooperation Points (SCP) serve as contacts for shipping . These can be national agencies or allied naval commanders. NCAGS liaison officers ( NCAGS Liaison Officers (NCAGS LO)) advise captains of merchant ships on board in all NCAGS issues.

NCAGS procedure

strategic planning

The PBOS is responsible for the allied shipping planning in crisis and war. In doing so, it coordinates with the civil shipping authorities of NATO member states and of nations in the NATO Partnership for Peace program . Responsibility for national emergency planning remains with the nations.

Advice and observation

The NCAGS organization offers shipping companies and masters, on a voluntary basis, preventive advice on the nature and extent of hazards in certain sea areas. This service is also offered to the fishing industry . In return, the NCAGS organizations expect information from the ships participating in the consultation about their positions and movements in order to be able to build up a picture of the situation that is as complete as possible.

Protection of shipping

The signal flag "X" as a sign of a convoy commodore

If the threat is lower, merchant ships can be accompanied by warships on recommended routes ( accompaniment , escort ). In the event of a greater threat, convoys can be formed that are more tightly organized under the guidance of a convoy commodore than with a simple escort.

In the event of a mine threat , merchant ships can be guided through mine-free channels by anti-mine vehicles ( lead through ).

In the event of a threat to ships in the port, an emergency transfer ( dispersal , emergency movement ) can be initiated in cooperation with the port authorities . Either berths are changed or the port is evacuated.

Personnel and training

The NCAGS organization relies heavily on reserve officers who are civilian involved in merchant shipping. Many reservists in the NCAGS organization hold nautical patents . They are prepared for their NCAGS tasks in military exercises and can serve in national naval shipping control centers and in NATO agencies. In managing convoys , NCAGS officers can be deployed on board ships as convoy commodors or convoy operations officers .

For further training of the NCAGS organization and the personnel deployed there, exercises take place at sea on a regular basis. B. Every two years the NATO exercises “Bold Master” and “NCAGS EX” and the German exercises “Free Fairway” and “GECONVEX”.

National and multinational organizations

International organizations

The International Maritime Organization ( Engl. : International Maritime Organization , IMO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), based in London , whose duties include ship safety and the safety of navigation to improve overall. The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code , which came into force in 2004, is one of the most important instruments of the IMO for improving security against threats at sea . It provides uniform guidelines for prevention and behavior by shipping.

The International Maritime Bureau ( IMB ) is a specialized department for crime at sea of the International Chamber of Commerce (International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)), based in London . It operates a piracy reporting center in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur .

The European Union has set up a Maritime Security Center Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) for Operation Atalanta . It is located at Northwood Operational Headquarters and is collocated with the NATO Shipping Center.

National naval shipping management organizations

The NATO NCAGS procedure is based on national bodies in the member states and in other cooperating nations. In addition to states in the NATO Partnership for Peace program, these include Australia and New Zealand as cooperation partners outside of Europe . Other US-allied nations were also involved in NCAGS exercises. The cooperation takes place with their civil shipping authorities ( National Shipping Authority , NSA) and military departments.

Association badge

Naval shipping management organization in Germany

Organization in the Cold War

When the Federal Navy was established from 1956 onwards, a German naval shipping control organization corresponding to the NATO procedure was set up. Four naval shipping control centers (MSLtSt) were set up in Kiel, Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Emden . The MSLtSt Kiel was initially subordinate to the fleet command , the others to the Commander of the Naval Forces of the North Sea (BSN). In 1981, all MSLtSt were organizationally integrated into the BSN staff, which was now centrally responsible for matters relating to naval shipping management.

Today's organization

After the end of the Cold War, the German naval shipping control organization was adapted. The BSN staff and the MSLtSt Kiel and Emden were dissolved, and the MSLtSt in Hamburg and Bremerhaven were directly subordinate to the fleet command. With the reorganization of the Navy in October 2012, the fleet command was dissolved and the tasks were reduced to an MSLtSt in Hamburg. She is subordinate to the department head of operations in the naval command in Rostock . The operations center of the naval command, which until further notice is located at the seat of the previous fleet command , is called Shipping Cooperation Center Gluecksburg in this organization , the naval shipping control center has the status of an SCP . One of the focal points of the work of the German naval shipping control organization is the training of merchant ship officers for tasks in the civilian part of the NCAGS organization and as reserve officers of the Navy for military shipping control tasks .

Current activities

Since the increased emergence of piracy off the Somali coast , NATO, along with other institutions and individual states, has also been involved in combating it. From March 2009 she carried out Operation Allied Protector , which was replaced by Operation Ocean Shield in August 2009 . The NATO Shipping Center serves as a point of contact for shipping, provides information on current developments and the protection offers of NATO and gives instructions on how to behave for merchant ships.

Merchant ships are offered protection for the passage of the Gulf of Aden . In addition to advice on behavior in the danger zone, protection at sea is provided in the form of so-called group transits . The assembled groups of ships are not always accompanied directly by warships, but the recommended route, known as the International Recommended Transit Corridor , is secured over a large area. Nations that do not belong to NATO or use its procedures also protect their merchant ships. Warships from Russia, Japan, India and China operate in the Horn of Africa .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Communiqué of the NATO Council
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Naval Co-operation and Guidance for Shipping Manual (NCAGS) ATP-2B Vol. II ( Memento of February 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b c NCAGS Organization, Publications, and Documents AAP-8 (F)
  4. ↑ NATO Logistics Handbook, Chapter 11
  5. ↑ a b c homepage of the NATO Shipping Center ( memento of the original from February 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / shipping.manw.nato.int
  6. ↑ US Fleet Anti-Submarine and Escort of Convoy Instructions
  7. ↑ Flag guidance
  8. ↑ a b Reports and information on Naval Shipping Management 3/2007 (PDF)
  9. ↑ Homepage of the MSCHOA ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mschoa.org
  10. ↑ Report on the Bell Buoy 00 exercise on globalsecurity.org
  11. ↑ Federal Archives / Military Archives Stock BM 11
  12. ↑ Axel Schimpf. The naval command in Rostock - the navy on course for the future . In: Marineforum 1 / 2-2013, p. 22 ff.
  13. ^ Homepage of the German NCAGS organization ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ^ Piracy information of the NSC ( Memento from March 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive )