Neptune P2P Group is an international security risk management and maritime security market leader that has been successfully completing operations for clients since 2009. Group Managing Director Carl Sykes reviewed the company's extensive portfolio of security services, in conversation with Phil Nicholls.
Global security issues remain at the forefront of the daily news cycle. Security of commercial assets is a particular concern for the maritime industry.
“Sadly, the world is a violent place,” explained Group Managing Director Carl Sykes. “As such, people and their assets will always need protecting. In many maritime areas, robbery has replaced piracy, as one door is closed to the criminals, they open a new one.”
Neptune P2P Group is owned and operated by British and French former Special Forces. Entering its 15th year of trading,
Neptune P2P’s extensive portfolio of services includes:
• Security Risk Management
• Risk Analysis
• Risk Consulting
• Intelligence Services
• Maritime Security
• Counterterrorism
• Crisis Management
the company has successfully navigated Covid, Brexit (and a variety of trading challenges) to consolidate its position in the top tier of Maritime Security providers. In the past year, the company restructured to diversify its operations to include more Land Security Risk Management. This restructuring also increased the workforce to generate business and manage new opportunities as they arise.
“We are a small to medium enterprise (SME) with 25 permanent staff working from offices in the UK, UAE and France,” Mr Sykes said. “This ‘French Connection’ enables us to operate in a post-Brexit European market. We are the only Anglo/ French maritime security company openly operating as such, which brings benefits in coordinating activity across the
so-called Anglophone and Francophone parts of Africa.
“From our pool of security operatives, we can deploy highly skilled multi-lingual teams around the globe to meet our clients’ requirements. Last year saw Neptune P2P Group team members working in places as diverse as Senegal, the Gulf of Guinea , the Gulf of Aden, Brazil, Scandinavia and the Qatar FIFA World Cup.”
The company’s mission is to safeguard people, businesses and their assets, within high-risk maritime and land-based environments, across the world.
Protecting marine assets
Within the broad scope of Neptune P2P’s capabilities, the company has a particular focus on the maritime industry.
The company remains alert to both the evolving nature of global risks to shipping and the potential for technology to help protect marine assets.
“The presence of physical guards (armed or unarmed) onboard a vessel remains the best deterrent against all forms of maritime crime,” explained Mr Sykes, “but the future may involve a combination of armed and unarmed guards, plus advisors complemented with a digital overwatch.
“This will provide vessels large and small with the security and reassurance needed to protect crews and assets in High-Risk areas around the world. For commercial operators, this is a vital service, and an essential requirement when considering
the duty of care to mariners and the company’s more fixed assets.”
The company motto of ‘Prevention by Protection’ involves more than deploying armed guards. Neptune P2P provides risk assessments of critical assets, identifying any threats or vulnerabilities, then constructing a plan to reduce any risk to an acceptable level.
“ It is an oft-quoted fact that no vessel with an embarked armed security team has been successfully boarded by pirates,” Mr Sykes continued, “but what about those ship that don’t carry guards? As part of our ‘Prevention’ service, we offer ships security risk assessments which assist in identifying the weak areas in a vessel’s
superstructure and provides guidance on the use of preventative measures such as barriers, razor wire and the like.”
Secure ports and terminals
Neptune P2P also provides security services to ports and terminals, helping port operators identify threats and vulnerabilities to their assets. This enables the operators to develop plans and procedures to deal with a variety of scenarios such as theft, stowaways, narcotics smuggling and terrorism.
The port must have contingency plans in place to deal with any situation that may threaten its ability to function. Such a plan should mitigate the impact on the port’s output and subsequent income. This is where Neptune P2P Group works with organisations to create the Business Continuity Plan to best suit the individual operator.
“For example, we provided on-the-ground security consultancy services for an onshore/ offshore LNG project in Cabo
Delgado, Mozambique,” Mr Sykes recalled. “This Risk Assessment included strategic consultancy on their regional security management, using risk intelligence and analysis to build travel plans and implement security procedures. This enabled the client to develop and finalise their operational strategy and country-level security plans.”
An agile future
Alongside a broad portfolio of services, Neptune P2P benefits from being an agile SME with an Anglo-French heritage. The company is able to adapt to emerging threats while offering a holistic and bespoke service to clients.
“Neptune P2P Group has developed a Business Continuity Plan that has helped us stay ahead of the competition,” Mr Sykes said. “Security risk management is not all about armed guard; you must be able to think strategically and move with changes in global security risks and threats.
“At Neptune P2P Group, we take great pride in the values we project to our clients. Leaning heavily on our former-military ethos, we instil in our workforce the requirement to do the right thing. We base our work on UK company principles developed with the client, noting their cultural, environmental and resource differences. The result is a hybrid approach that delivers the appropriate standards in a way that suits the client.”
The company is determined to maintain these high standards while staying competitive on price, avoiding ‘a race to the bottom’. However, unpredictability in the maritime security market remains Neptune P2P’s biggest challenge.
In 2022, the overall the number of global maritime criminal incidents rose. The increase in incidents is largely down to criminals diversifying their activities away from kidnapping for ransom to robbery of commodities, ships’ stores and equipment, illegal oil/fuel bunkering operations, and smuggling.
“At Neptune P2P Group, we take great pride in the values we project to our clients, leaning heavily on our formermilitary ethos”
Neptune P2P is ready to face these evolving challenges. The company aims to continue to be a market leader in marine security, SRM and BCR provision, intending to evolve and grow its training delivery through an online academy which also includes cyber security awareness training.
Mr Sykes shared his enthusiasm for working in such an unpredictable sector. “I am excited by the challenge of maintaining our position as a global leader in maritime security,” he concluded. “Each day brings different challenges, ranging from managing 24/7 security operations and dealing with unanticipated crises to planning and implementing new business ideas.
“Above all, though, I enjoy working as part of a dynamic, hardworking team with shared values and the determination to succeed.”
