This Lecture of Opportunity took place on January 17, 2024.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

Synopsis:
The global maritime domain is aflame with maritime security threats to merchant shipping with the ongoing attacks by Houthis from Yemen against ships in the southern Red Sea, Iranian seizures of vessels in the Arabian Gulf, and interference with shipping in the Black Sea. This has created a crisis of confidence in the freedom of navigation not seen since the Suez Crisis in 1956. Adding to this complexity is the reemergence of Somali pirates hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and more seafarers being abducted from ships off West Africa. Global navies from a multitude of nations are once again being put under unprecedented pressure to restore that confidence and the relationship with the international shipping industry lies at the heart of that effort. As the former shipping industry advisor for the EU NAVAL Force Somalia, I will share my own direct experiences in this field and will unpack how this security relationship is misunderstood and explain the difficulties that lay ahead.

Speaker Bio:
Simon Church is the special advisor to the cochairs of the Gulf of Guinea maritime collaboration forum – SHADE. He was appointed to this position by the G7 ++ Friends Of Gulf of Guinea (FOGG) forum as part of their objectives under the chairmanship of the UK and Senegal in 2021. Prior to this Simon was EU Naval Force’s (EUNAVFOR) special advisor for industry relations in the strategic and operational headquarters for EUNAVFOR’s counter piracy operation off Somalia. He was the director of their Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) and was instrumental in its creation and management for 12 years having worked at EU NAVFOR since the beginning of its mandate in 2008. His principal role was to manage and advise the command team at EU NAVFOR on the strategic relationship between the maritime shipping industry and EUNAVFOR. His background is in commercial shipping. Prior to this he worked in the shipping industry for over 20 years, working for several shipping organisations in a variety of different roles and markets including tanker broking, logistics, fuel trading, commercial operations, and business development. His last position in the shipping industry was with Teekay Tankers in London.