Maritime Security

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was faced with the issue of maritime security against terrorist incidents. Accordingly, it adopted the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) in December 2002 as part of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 1974- as amended) in order to increase maritime security through fulfilling its regulations by Contracting Governments. This Code, entered into force on 1 July 2004, provides a set of regulations for ship and port facility security. The first part of this paper focuses on the introduction and analysis of the key regulations of the ISPS Code. The second part of this paper focuses on the successful practices of two Contracting Governments, namely Malaysia and South Korea. Accordingly, this paper evaluates the enforcement of the regulations of the ISPS Code by concentrating on these two countries in East Asia in order to measure the effectiveness of the Code in enhancing maritime security of these two countries. This paper concludes that to achieve the objectives of the ISPS Code, all Contracting Countries should fully implement its regulations and for achieving a higher standards in maintaining maritime security they are advised to take advantage of the experiences and practices of such successful countries as Malaysia and South Korea in fulfilling the regulations of the ISPS Code. The research method applied in this paper is based on the descriptive - analytical method.