Anti-piracy organisation the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI) has filed for voluntary liquidation.
Directors said they had made the decision to wind up the organisation after five years of existence due to its membership falling to less than half a peak figure of 180.
“Consequently, the association is no longer financially sustainable in its current configuration,” the association’s chief executive Peter Cook wrote in a letter last week.
SAMI was set up at the height of the hijacking and hostage taking piracy crisis off Somalia in April 2011, and helped regulate the use of armed guards on ships as well as the implementation of other security measures.
The reduction in piracy over the last couple of years and competition between security firms have reduced its membership.
