BMP4 – Best Management Practice

BMP4 (Best Management Practice version 4) is the internationally recognised industry standard for protecting vessels from piracy in high-risk areas, particularly the High Risk Area (HRA) of the Indian Ocean.

Applied Gorkha Solutions operates fully BMP4-compliant maritime security programmes. Our teams are trained and certified to BMP4 standards, and we work closely with the naval forces of partner nations to provide coordinated protection.

Working to BMP4 rather than around it means the transit is planned against current threat reporting for the specific corridor, and the vessel's freeboard, speed, and manoeuvrability are assessed honestly. A high-freeboard vessel at speed in a quiet month is a fundamentally different proposition from a slow, low-freeboard vessel during a period of active incidents, and the plan should reflect that difference.

Vessel hardening consultation follows from the risk assessment and typically covers physical barriers, access control to accommodation and machinery spaces, citadel arrangements, lookout and watch rotation, lighting, and manoeuvring practice. Recommendations are issued before the team embarks so the crew has time to implement them. Where BMP4 measures are already in place, we confirm and work with them rather than duplicating effort.

The embarked team is briefed to the specific voyage plan, not to a generic transit template: the route, the vessel's layout, the master's standing orders, communication and reporting arrangements, and the agreed escalation posture. The team operates under the master's authority throughout — the point BMP4 is clearest about, and the point we brief hardest.

Our BMP4 services include pre-transit risk assessment, vessel hardening consultation, armed and unarmed security teams, and post-transit reporting compliant with flag state requirements.

Post-transit reporting gives operators, charterers, and P&I clubs a written record rather than a verbal assurance: what was observed, what was done, any incidents or approaches, and any recommendations for subsequent voyages. That record matters when insurance and liability questions arise later.