Industry | Security & Safety |
---|---|
Predecessor | Samir Farajallah |
Successor | William H Watson |
Founded | 2009 |
Founder | Samir Farajallah |
Headquarters | Herndon, Virginia, USA |
Number of locations
|
17 offices in 16 countries |
Area served
|
Horn of Africa,Indian Ocean, Far East, Red Sea, Arabia Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman |
Key people
|
Ahmed Farajallah aka (Al Farajallah) Acting President |
Services | Security Solutions in High Risk Areas |
Revenue | 21,000,000USD |
Number of employees
|
100 |
Divisions | 2 |
Website | advanfort |
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.
In October 2013 Indian government agencies impounded AdvanFort's MV Seaman Guard Ohio and arrested the crew and 25 guards aboard for entering Indian waters without a permit while carrying large quantities of arms, and for illegally obtaining subsidized fuel.
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 Ohio, 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.