OCIMF Newsletter: New MD, Piracy Drops, GOMO Pact

New Leadership at OCIMF

Don Davis has taken over as Managing Director of OCIMF, succeeding Capt. Karen Davis after her four-and-a-half-year tenure. In his first Director’s Log, Davis credited his predecessor with strengthening OCIMF’s strategic and organisational footing, and said he intends to build on that foundation with more than 35 years of experience in tanker, offshore and terminal operations and assurance.

Davis flagged two priorities already underway: progressing updates to the Mooring Equipment Guidelines (MEG), and launching a data modernisation effort intended to improve quality and performance insights drawn from OCIMF’s data holdings.

Rotterdam Barging Engagement

In July, Davis, along with Publications and Advocacy Director Darron L. Biddle and Barge Adviser Ton Mol, spent a week meeting EU barging stakeholders around Rotterdam. Visits included a tour of Interstream Barging’s chemical barge Einstein and Transafe’s training facilities, plus sessions with the Inland Waterway Transport Platform and Platform Zero Incidents. The week closed with a Green Award Foundation event on the energy transition for barges, which also introduced the Foundation’s new Executive Director, Saurabh Sachdeva.

Publications Update

OCIMF published a new information paper, Guidelines for usage of Track Guidance Assistants for Inland Navigation (TGAIN), covering installation, training, human factors and cybersecurity considerations for these devices. Separately, the second edition of the International Safety Guide for Inland Navigation Tank-Barges and Terminals (ISGINTT) has been updated with editorial corrections and is now available in Portuguese, alongside existing French, German and Dutch translations. In July, OCIMF and other industry associations also updated BMP Maritime Security, adding guidance on responding to activist boardings.

Piracy Figures Continue to Fall

The ICC International Maritime Bureau’s mid-year report, released 9 July, recorded 38 piracy and armed robbery incidents worldwide in the first half of 2026, down from 90 a year earlier — the lowest mid-year total since 1992. IMB Director Michael Howlett said the figures were encouraging but warned against complacency, noting Somali pirates were linked to 94% of crew hostage-taking incidents recorded.

Separately, the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre reported 35 incidents in Asia for the same period, a 64% drop from 96 in 2025 and the lowest since 2019. Executive Director Vijay Chafekar attributed the decline to industry preventive measures and enforcement action by littoral states.

Apeks view — The throughline here is process discipline over headline numbers. Falling piracy figures are welcome, but IMB and ReCAAP both pair them with caution against complacency — a reminder that trend lines need context, not just celebration. Similarly, OCIMF’s data modernisation push and MEG updates only matter if they translate into better-informed decisions on the ground. For operators, the lesson is the same: guidance and statistics inform judgement, they don’t substitute for it.