CSSN would like to thank everyone who made reports, and those who offered constructive help and suggestions to help make our service useful.
Lots of good things happened at CSSN this past year. CSSN has partnered with SSCA and daily “KPK” HF broadcasts ( 8.104 at 0:815 AST) are now on the air, with security reports, interesting and important news from the Caribbean, while also providing shore based resources to those who need them.
The CSSN webmistress continued to make many important performance and security enhancements to the site, which is now even faster and more mobile friendly.
We also added significant features during 2015.
1. The inclusion of the 1st/2nd/3rd hand graphic imparts important information on incident reports
2. ALERT ! subscribers now have low bandwidth subscription options
3. The site is easily translated into over 50 languages
4. Incident reports can be submitted in 6 languages, English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Swedish
5. Hotspots continues to display incident reports, but they are now specifically geolocated on the map
6. A powerful Search option now allows quick and easy access to whatever information on the CSSN site that interests a user
7. Given the increase in their occurrence, Attempted Piracy, Piracy and Vandalism were added to the incident event menu
8. Social media ! We launched our Facebook page, as well as Twitter and RSS feeds so we now deliver our content via these channels in addition to the very popular free ALERTS !
Looking at the data for 2015, the type and mix of events did change, while the total number of reported incidents increased only modestly vs. 2014, (77 vs. 74). We saw more reports of Piracy, Attempted Piracy and Vandalism. Assaults increased by 267% but Burglary decreased by 53%. There were more violent incidents in 2015.
In 2015 four countries accounted for slightly more than 50% of the reports:
SVG = 18
St.Lucia = 9
Honduras = 6
St. Martin (French) = 6
The rest of the countries had 4 or less incidents reported. To review the incidents by country, click here for 2014, and here for 2015. To review event by country for 2014 click here, for 2015 click here.
Burglaries decreased by 53% 2015 over 2014. There were fewer reports of breaking into unoccupied yachts, either stored ashore or on a morning, during the off-season. Increased awareness and improved security by cruisers, marinas and storage facilities may be responsible.
Looking closer at the 267% increase in assaults in 2015 vs. 2014, there were 6 countries where assaults were reported in 2015. Haiti (3), Colombia (2), Dominica (2), Venezuela (2), SVG (1) and St. Lucia (1).
The severity of the assaults ranged from threats with a deadly weapon, to severe injuries, to death. A special detailed summary of the assaults; attempted piracy and piracy events is available for 2014 and 2015.
First hand reports dominate the incidents reported for 2015, and their proportion continues to climb, bringing the most complete and best quality information to our community. We all depend on each other to self-report, and there is more to do. Please, help everyone by getting the word out. We have worked hard to make reporting accessible and easy.
If you are a victim, complete the simple online incident report, or contact KPK during the daily HF broadcast (SSB 8104 at 12:15 UTC). If you hear about an incident, encourage the victims to make a direct first person report to CSSN. Or, make a report yourself (we will work closely with you to get all the facts available). CSSN’s site and data are tools for the cruising community, and we all share responsibility to use them wisely for our mutual safety and security.
CSSN remains an all-volunteer, independent, self funded team. Please encourage your friends to subscribe to (FREE) Alerts!, and include CSSN information in your risk assessments & precautions – so you KNOW BEFORE YOU GO !
We always welcome your feedback and suggestions, simply click the Contact Us or on any page of the website.
Safe Cruising,
Kim White