Maritime Security and Safeguarding Global Supply Chains

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This is part of the essay series: Sagarmanthan Edit 2025.

This year, maritime security and the safeguarding of global maritime trade routes were back on the agenda of the UN Security Council. At a high-level debate convened by Greece in May 2025, Secretary-General, António Guterres, warned that oceans face mounting threats: piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, trafficking in the Mediterranean, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, and renewed instability off Somalia. Similarly, in August, the IMO Secretary-General, Arsenio Dominguez, at an open debate called by Panama, commented that “threats to shipping are ever-present.”

Since the end of 2023, over 200 missile and drone attacks have been launched against shipping in the Red Sea, reducing transits by 50 percent and causing estimated monthly economic losses of US$800 million to Egypt. In 2024 alone, nearly 150 piracy and armed robbery incidents were recorded, and 126 seafarers were taken hostage, often used as ‘political bargaining chips’. Organised crime, piracy, arms trafficking, non-state armed groups, interstate tensions, trafficking in persons, and migrant smuggling continue to converge on the maritime domain and concentrate around some of the world’s most vital shipping lanes.

It has been reported that the maritime sector is facing an increasing number of serious cyberattacks and incidents, stemming from a range of actors, state and non-state.

In addition to physical threats, it has been reported that the maritime sector is facing an increasing number of serious cyberattacks and incidents, stemming from a range of actors, state and non-state. It has been suggested that the average costs of a cyberattack on a maritime organisation exceed US$550,000. There is an expectation amongst professionals in the maritime sector that the number of cyber incidents will continue to rise and multiply. These physical and cyber threats, compounded by regional conflicts and geopolitical rivalries, directly impact global trade, raising costs, disrupting logistics, and weakening supply chains.

Even though the maritime sector is labelled as being resilient, the two UN Security Council meetings introduced a sense of unease. In the minds of policymakers, shipowners and governments, the equation is simple: without maritime security, there cannot be global security and stability. After all, nearly 90 percent of international trade moves by sea, with an estimated 110,000 ships and more than two million seafarers keeping the world economy running. In sum, if maritime routes are insecure, global supply chains risk grinding to a halt.

The fact that maritime security is again being discussed at the UN Security Council is a welcome development. The commitment of Governments to address the risks is important and much needed. Despite tensions between some states—over the South China Sea, Red Sea, or Black Sea—there is broad agreement on the scale of threats, the urgency of response, and the need for collective action. An important array of recommendations was made during these UN sessions, with governments calling for greater international cooperation, improved coordination between law enforcement agencies, targeted capacity building, exchange of best practices and better integration of new technologies.

Public partnerships with the buy-in notably of shipowners, cargo owners, flag states, international organisations, insurers and private security actors will also be needed to move words into impactful deeds.

High-level commitments to countering the myriad threats and plugging any vulnerabilities in the maritime sector are insufficient unless they are followed through with effective implementation. This will naturally require concerted action by governments and their security forces. Public partnerships with the buy-in notably of shipowners, cargo owners, flag states, international organisations, insurers and private security actors will also be needed to move words into impactful deeds. The focus now must be on concrete strategies to secure key shipping lanes and safeguard the arteries of global commerce.

Risk mitigation must be multidimensional and internationally coordinated, with a multi-layered security and defence response. Naval patrols, regional agreements, private escort vessels, and stronger port security must combine with enhanced monitoring, improved governance and contingency planning. Deeper research into the drivers of insecurity, be they social, economic or criminal, should be encouraged, and expert organisations should be supported in this regard.

Will there be a role for private security? Absolutely. A decade ago, private maritime security companies were central to protecting ships transiting the Gulf of Aden. Vessel protection teams and armed escorts helped drive down hijackings off Somalia. Today, these companies have the potential to support security in the same high-risk lanes where naval coverage remains stretched. Their role, however, must be carefully defined. International standards, oversight, and contractual conditions must shape their deployment. The International Code of Conduct Association’s (ICoCA) certification and monitoring system provides a framework for ensuring private maritime security companies adhere to the law, respect human rights, and maintain grievance mechanisms. Training, vetting, use-of-force rules, and governance of floating armouries are baseline requirements. But the conversation must extend further.

Seafarers and security personnel onboard vessels must benefit from good working conditions, with regular contracts and fair treatment.

Any security response must be human-centred. Seafarers and security personnel onboard vessels must benefit from good working conditions, with regular contracts and fair treatment. Just as the Maritime Labour Convention established protections for seafarers, equivalent principles must be applied to private guards. Recognition of their legal status, fair employment practices, health and safety standards, and access to grievance procedures are not optional—they are essential. Protecting the people who secure trade is inseparable from protecting the trade itself.

The UN debates made one thing clear: threats to maritime security are real, complex, and unavoidable. But the strategies for addressing them are also within reach. By focusing on securing the world’s most crucial shipping lanes, the international community can build economic resilience into global supply chains.

Whilst maritime security is legal, technical, and geopolitical, it is above all, human. It is about protecting lives, sustaining trade, and keeping the arteries of the global economy open. With foresight, cooperation, and the responsible integration of private security, the world’s most critical shipping lanes can be secured, and global supply chains made resilient against the rising tide of risk.

Jamie A. Williamson is Executive Director at the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA).

• Maritime Security
• Indian Ocean Trade Regimes
• India
• global maritime industry
• global maritime piracy
• global maritime sector
• global maritime security
• global maritime trade routes
• maritime shipping routes
• panama open debate
• un security council maritime security

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