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ISPS and maritime security support on the ground in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific — working alongside your existing managers and appointed officers.
A superyacht or boutique cruise vessel operating in New Zealand, Australia or the South Pacific may well be managed from a distant location. That gap between where the vessel operates and where its shore-side management sits could compromise critical operational support where and when you, your vessel, your Ship Security Officer (SSO), or a Port State Control officer needs it. Tasman Maritime fills that gap from within the region, supporting yacht managers, private offices and Company Security Officers (CSOs) with readiness reviews, internal audit, local coordination, onboard attendance and structured escalation.
Tasman does not replace your management company, your Document of Compliance holder, your appointed Company Security Officer, your Master or your vessel's Ship Security Officer. Those responsibilities stay exactly where your flag requires them to be.
What we add is a regional arm to the shore-side security function: support on the ground where the vessel is operating, at times your own shore team may be closed or off duty.
Statutory appointments and notification requirements vary by flag Administration. Tasman works within the requirements of the yacht's flag and its existing management structure.
The ISPS Code requires every company operating a vessel subject to it to designate a Company Security Officer (CSO). The CSO is responsible for ensuring that a Ship Security Assessment (SSA) is carried out, that a Ship Security Plan (SSP) is developed and submitted for approval, and that security is properly implemented and maintained at the company level. On board, the vessel's Ship Security Officer (SSO) is accountable to the Master for implementing that plan, and the vessel carries an International Ship Security Certificate (ISSC) issued by or on behalf of its flag Administration.
The CSO must have knowledge of security assessment, current security threats and patterns, recognition and detection of weapons, and the requirements of the ISPS Code. Tasman holds Company Security Officer certification through Lloyd's Maritime Institute.
That is the international framework. How it is applied is not international. Each flag Administration sets its own procedures for appointment, notification, plan approval and verification, and those procedures change.
Read more: what a Company Security Officer does, and why location matters →
In most flag state cases, the Company Security Officer must be an employee of the Company — the Document of Compliance holder — and not a third-party contractor. Some registries, the Marshall Islands among them, state this expressly, and it is the assumption a Recognised Security Organisation brings to an audit.
What is widely permitted is more than one designated officer. The ISPS Code allows a Company to designate more than one CSO, provided it is clear which ships each is responsible for, and many Administrations contemplate alternate or deputy CSOs, designated by the Company in the same way, covering particular geographical areas or groups of ships.
What is restricted is who may hold the appointment. What is widely permitted is regional cover.
So we do not market ourselves as a contracted statutory CSO. Our proposition is regional support around your appointed officer, within whatever structure your flag requires.
Your statutory structure stays where it is. Around it, Tasman operates as the regional shore-side security capability for the period the vessel is in this part of the world.
A properly structured arrangement is a formal agreement, not a loose understanding. It records which vessels are covered and which Ship Security Plan applies to each; contact arrangements and expected response times; liaison procedures with PFSOs and local authorities at the ports you are actually using; the scope of involvement in assessments, drills and plan reviews; and the escalation path back to your appointed CSO — who is contacted, in what order, and how quickly.
Every flag is a little different in what it will accept here, so the shape of the arrangement is something we work out with you rather than offer off the shelf.
Tasman does not perform statutory ISPS certification and does not act as a Recognised Security Organisation. Statutory verification and issue of the International Ship Security Certificate remain with the Administration and its authorised RSOs. Our audit work is internal audit, gap analysis and readiness preparation — independent of, and complementary to, those statutory processes.
Port State Control in New Zealand, Australia and across the Pacific island states takes ISPS compliance seriously. A vessel without a current ISSC, or with gaps in its Ship Security Plan, can face detention or refused port entry. The complexity increases for vessels transitioning between flag states, or arriving from ports operating at different security levels — exactly the situation common on a South Pacific circuit. Regional support with direct experience of these ports reduces the risk of compliance surprises before they become findings.
Extend proper support to a vessel in the Pacific without opening a regional office or diluting your own management structure.
Regional security support for smaller passenger vessels on Pacific itineraries, working within your own Company structure and procedures.
Satisfy yourself that the vessel's shore-side security structure is genuinely fit for a remote Pacific itinerary, rather than fit on paper.
A competent regional contact for preparation, attendance and escalation while your normal shore team is unavailable.
Practical continuity across the distance: records, drills, readiness, communication and regional response that hold together when they are examined.
A regional capability you can offer the owner as part of your own service, integrated with your procedures rather than parallel to them.
Many operators want one shore-side relationship covering both the safety and the security management systems, with a consistent view of the vessel's overall compliance position. Tasman provides Designated Person Ashore (DPA) and Alternate / Deputy DPA services alongside this one. Whether the two roles can be combined in a single appointment depends on the flag, and we would confirm that before proposing it.
Tasman Maritime is led by Craig Hopkins, a former MCA Master 3000T, with two decades of worldwide superyacht command and extensive operational experience across the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia and other remote and challenging environments.
That command experience on commercially operated superyachts, alongside Lloyd's Maritime Institute qualifications as ISM/ISPS/MLC Internal Auditor, Designated Person Ashore (DPA) and Company Security Officer (CSO), is what sits behind the shore-side support offered here.
And it matters. The value of regional support is not administrative. It is understanding what a local Port State Control officer in Auckland, Brisbane or Fiji will most likely open first, what a Pacific island port can and cannot provide, and what a Master needs from shore when something has gone wrong — because he spent two decades being the one who needed it, aboard high-value vessels with fluid itineraries and demands.
Tasman is based in New Zealand and works across Australia and the South Pacific.
Regulatory wording on this page last reviewed:
No. The proposition is regional support around your existing Company and flag structure. Your appointed CSO, and any alternate the Company designates, stays exactly where your flag requires.
Yes. The ISPS Code is the international framework, but Administrations apply appointment, notification, plan approval and verification requirements through their own procedures. In most cases the CSO must be an employee of the Company rather than a third-party contractor, and many Administrations separately allow additional or alternate Company Security Officers by geographical area or group of ships. The detail differs, which is why the right structure is something we would want to talk through against your particular flag before proposing anything.
Yes, where agreed and practicable, including attendance during Port State Control. Attendance is operational support and is separate from statutory certification or RSO functions.
Either. The arrangement can be structured for a single vessel on a Pacific itinerary or for several, subject to scope, response expectations, flag requirements and capacity.
If you have a vessel planning for or already operating in New Zealand, Australia or the South Pacific, a short conversation will establish what your flag requires, where the gaps are, and whether regional support is worth structuring.
One vessel or a fleet. No obligation, and no proposal until we know what your Administration expects.