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SOP Course Seeks to Assist ECCAS Nations

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS131206-09
Release Date: 12/6/2013 11:06:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David R. Krigbaum, NPASE Det Europe

DOUALA, Cameroon (NNS) -- A course focused on writing Maritime Operations Center (MOC) standard operating procedures (SOP) began Dec. 6 with several Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) coast nations.

The course is the second and final part of a two-week MOC workshop. The MOC workshop began with a course on command and control techniques before continuing into the SOP phase.

Standard Operating Procedures are lists of steps to perform a routine operation and the draft SOPs used in the workshop will be based on those of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet.

During this part of the workshop the countries will work together with U.S. Navy Maritime Civil Affairs and Security Training Command (MCAST) personnel to tailor the SOPs to the ECCAS nations' needs. The procedures will help participating nations better coordinate their maritime assets to ensure maritime security.

'If within a region everyone uses the same or similar SOPs then steps taken by a MOC in a given situation can be anticipated and the other MOCs can contribute as the situation permits,' said workshop instructor Chief Operations Specialist Daniel Moreno, assigned to Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet. 'In the case of ECCAS we have several countries that have already united together to conduct maritime operation. If we standardize their reactions/responses to situational events they would work more efficiently together.'

Moreno also said that with these procedures in place they can better work with the U.S. and its Europe and African partners to ensure maritime safety and security in the region. This would allow the U.S. Navy to reach out to African maritime forces' MOCs in ECCAS nations for information on vessels that could be involved in illegal activities and in turn, the MOCs can gather information from internal agencies within that nation.

Africa Partnership Station (APS), established in 2007, is a collaborative international security cooperation initiative aimed at improving maritime safety and security in the waters surrounding Africa by developing African maritime forces' information sharing practices, response capabilities, and regional interoperability.