Sri Lanka scraps firm’s floating armoury deals amid scandal

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Quite aside from the scandal in which private maritime security company Avant Garde appears embroiled in Sri Lanka, the decision will cause a major headache for the logistics of boarding and disembarking men and weapons, as this involves the main trade route from the Far East to the Middle East, Europe and Med. And although the newly diminished high-risk area means a replacement could easily be based somewhere else in the region, such as the Maldives, maritime consultant Steve Cameron wonders about the short-term implications. “I guess it’s going to cost the security firms to replace their impounded weapons and there may well be an interruption in the provision of armed guards on ships in high-risk areas while the industry scrambles to find alternatives,” he tells The Loadstar.