Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA)

The Maritime Security Patrol Area, a corridor in the Gulf of Aden set up by the Combined Maritime Forces in August 2008 to concentrate naval protection of merchant traffic against Somali piracy. It was the first attempt to channel and escort shipping through the chokepoint and was superseded in early 2009 by the two-lane Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor, which gave better separation of opposing traffic and more efficient patrol coverage. The MSPA is the predecessor concept to the IRTC.