AdvanFort is a US private maritime security company founded in 2009 and headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It focuses on defense and homeland security products, technologies and services. Currently it has more than 100 employees and 200 contractors. In addition to groups of security teams working in several areas of the world and a fleet of operator support vessels in the Indian Ocean, the company has both a mission operations center and a threat analysis center. Until July 2013, it published weekly global piracy threat analysis, available without charge on its website.
On 11 October 2013, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio, a floating armory operated by AdvanFort, was captured by the Indian Coast Guard while anchored 3.8 nautical miles within their sovereign waters.
Company
AdvanFort is a US private maritime security company. It is a signatory with the International Code of Conduct (ICoC) for Pirate Security Providers, and certified with the International Maritime Law Enforcement Academy (IMLEA) The company also belongs to the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI). It is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and also has offices in Turkey, Japan and South Korea, among other countries. AdvanFort is a corporate sponsor of Piracy Daily and sponsors "white papers" on anti-piracy issues.
AdvanFort specializes in maritime security including training, intelligence operations, and information security, and has a focus on providing armed security personnel and fleet assets in high-risk environments. Its fleet of Offshore Supported Vessels (OSVs) allows the company to operate outside a sovereign nation's borders. Most PMSCs must go through the port security of the countries their clients embark from before escorting their clients on their trade route. AdvanFort has six OSVs: , MV Seaman Guard Virginia, MV Seaman Guard Oklahoma, MV Seaman Guard Alaska, MV Seaman Guard Texas, and MV Seaman Guard Arizona. These vessels operate in the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and off the Eastern and Western coasts of Africa. In February 2013, the Panama Maritime Authority approved AdvanFort's counter-piracy operations for the world's largest ship registry. Previously almost entirely staffed by veterans of the US military, the company has attracted naval personnel from other countries, in particular Estonia, some of whom said in 2011 that they were not paid or were insufficiently armed. Also in 2011, the company pleaded guilty in a US district court to "Aiding and Abetting the Making of a False Statement During the Acquisition of Firearms" in connection with a purchase from a supplier who did not secure the correct export license, for which it paid a fine and began serving two years' probation in spring 2013.
AdvanFort is owned by US-based Arab billionaire Samir Farajallah, who was also previously its president. William H. Watson became president and COO of the company in August 2012. the company's advisory board included Charles Dragonette, a retired Senior Commercial Maritime Operations Analyst at the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral Joel Whitehead (USCG-Ret), John A.C. Cartner, a master mariner and maritime and admiralty attorney, and Michael Crye, an attorney and retired Coast Guard Captain. In January 2014 it was announced that Watson and Cartner had both left the company, amid rumors that it was financially shaky; vice chairman Ahmed Farajallah was appointed acting president and the company is being restructured.
2013 Seaman Guard Ohio incident
On 12 October 2013, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio was detained in international waters by ICGS Naiki Devi and escorted to VOC Chidambaranar Port in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin). The ship had been close to a protected maritime conservation zone, the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, a Biosphere Reserve, but wasn't inside. The ship was apparently spotted via satellite while refuelling. Defense personnel claimed that the interception occurred as the Seaman Guard Ohio was anchored barely 3.8 nautical miles from the baseline from which Indian territorial waters commence. This corresponds to 10.75 nautical miles off Vilangushuli Island. The base line drawn on the out of date sea chart by the authorities was drawn by an incompetent witness, a radio operator in fact in pencil.
While in port, the crew were denied access to welfare facilities offered by The Mission to Seafarers. Also they were denied consular access and a lawyer.