Piracy Prevention and Commercial Navigation in Insecure Waters

Between 2014 and 2018, over 1000 pirate attacks and armed robberies targeting ships were reported. ESA-backed PROTECT aims to exploit space- based assets to provide cost-effective services that improve situational awareness of both on board and shore-based stakeholders.

Source: International Chamber of Commerce

The PROTECT project aims to exploit existing systems and infrastructure in conjunction with applicable space based assets to provide cost-effective added-value technology centred services that provide improved situational awareness to both on-board and shore based stakeholders. The target users will include the following: Maritime security organisations; International shipping organisations; Maritime safety; Marine insurers; Maritime advisory authorities. The space assets that have been used are: Satellite communication - For sending and receiving applicable situational awareness data in near-real-time aggregated from various on-board and shore based sources/providers; Satellite navigation and satellite AIS - For geo-localising vessels and activity patterns in support of distinguishing suspect vessels or boats; Earth observation imagery - To support identification of pirate mother ships, skiffs and boats as well as on-land piracy activity.