Differences from west to east in Africa

Elinor Dautlich and William MacLachlan, of Holman Fenwick Willan, look at adapting Guardcon for west Africa

Guardcon, the contract published by BIMCO (The Baltic and International Maritime Council) has rapidly gained traction in the past 18 months, quickly becoming the shipping industry’s standard contract for the employment of armed and unarmed guards at sea. In particular, the standard form has been widely used to cover the use of private military security companies (PMSCs) on board vessels transiting the high risk area off the Somali Coast and in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.