The Club’s local correspondent in Beirut, Lebanon, advises that there has recently been an increase in the number of stowaway cases involving ships at berth at Beirut Port.

In a recent case, two stowaways were discovered on board a container vessel that had just sailed from the Port. The stowaways were apparently able to gain access to the ship disguised as stevedores.

Members who have ships calling at Beirut are encouraged to take appropriate steps to ensure that adequate security measures are in place. Any attempt to board the ship by unauthorised or illegal persons should be discovered immediately and the local authorities alerted accordingly.

It should be noted that, once on board, it will be extremely difficult to obtain approval from the local authorities for the removal of stowaways.

Club Loss Prevention guidance on ship security, and controlling access, can be found on-line using the following link:

www.ukpandi.com/ukpandi/infopool.nsf/HTML/LPNews20044

Source of information:

Jean Baroudi, Baroudi & Associates Beirut, Lebanon Tel: + 961 1 428777/8 Email: baroudi@baroudilegal.com