Limiting the worldwide flow of weapons and their components through established maritime transport

The world maritime industry contains a plethora of participants ranging from importers and exporters to carriers and intermediaries involved in one or more of the supply chain flows of physical, information, and financial. Many nations see global trade as a regulated activity whereby for security reasons certain goods may be excluded from specific nations or parties. The manner for prohibiting this trade is inconsistent, hence multinational agreements and voluntary arrangements have been implemented, especially with regard to limiting the proliferation of weapons. This article, based on research funded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), maps the global maritime industry, identifies gaps that could potentially foster proliferation activities among those nations not participating in international agreements to thwart such practices, and recommends changes to multinational agreements, improvements to industry employed processes, and encourages the development of public-private partnerships.