Peter was a student at the London Nautical School where the foundations of his understanding of the Merchant Navy and shipping industry were laid. He then served for 24-years as an officer in the Royal Marines where for more than 8 years he was involved in maritime security related roles from maritime counter terrorism, to formulating policy, training and operational procedures for the Royal Navy’s Ship Protection in port, Boarding Team Operations and designing counter piracy procedures for warship support vessels in the South China Sea in 1997.
Peter Cook has received much acclaim for founding and being the CEO of the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI). He led the international private maritime security industry through a period of doubt and general scepticism about the use of private armed guards on ships off the coast of Somalia to being respected with a 100% record of success protecting seafarers from pirates. SAMI was at the forefront and drove the introduction of the international standard for armed guards on ships and a model set of Rules for the Use of Force they used.
Peter represented the private maritime security industry at several international forums including the International Maritime Organisation, International Contact Group for Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and the European Commission’s Stakeholders Advisory Group for Maritime Security demonstrating a comprehensive knowledge of this complex subject and displaying considerable diplomatic skills by earning respect for the industry from across the industry.
In 2016, he was co-founder of PCA Maritime Ltd and in 2018, he graduated from City, University of London with a Master of Science degree in Maritime Operations and Management, with Distinction.
In 2018, he emigrated to Melbourne, Australia where he established the subsidiary consultancy company PCA Maritime (Australia).
Peter is a Visiting Lecturer at City, University of London, Dalian Maritime University, China and at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He is also a co-founder and the Indo-Pacific Editor for the International Journal for Maritime Crime and Security (IJMCS), and comments on maritime security situations for major maritime media platforms.
He is an Associate Member of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies, an Honorary Fellow at ANCORS and a Fellow at the Royal Geographical Society.