Hooligans at sea
We do not know if it's a "glorious thing to be a pirate king". More is known about international political terrorists than about the raping menaces who attack merchant ships with increasing brazenness and impunity today. They are not romantic. They...
We do not know if it's a "glorious thing to be a pirate king". More is known about international political terrorists than about the raping menaces who attack merchant ships with increasing brazenness and impunity today. They are not romantic. They don't wear eye patches and fly the Jolly Roger, nor do they lurk only in remote, picturesque islands. Pirates of the 21st century are a more dangerous group of common criminals and their attacks on cargo vessels throughout the world have drawn significant attention to the problem.
Recently, pirates in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia seized the French luxury cruise ship Le Ponant. The action resulted in the crew being released without conflict, injury or loss of life and the arrest of the suspected pirates following the intervention of the French navy along with €125,000 of suspected ransom money. Reports recently also revealed that heavily armed pirates fired upon a Japanese VLCC, (very large crude carrier) in ballast, causing damage to her hull while transiting in the same Gulf.
The Weekly Piracy Report Alert by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) indicates ship manoeuvres to be on alert, informing the masters to alter course in the same gulf near Somalia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Philippines and the Singapore and Malacca Straits due to suspicious crafts. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) also issues monthly reports on piracy and armed robbery on ships. Acts of ocean piracy rose 10 per cent in 2007, the first increase for three years, with waters off Nigeria and Somalia topping a list of the world's most dangerous.
The IMB in its yearly report says that attacks globally on shipping rose to 263 from 239 in 2006.This significant increase in numbers can be directly attributed to the increase in incidents in Nigeria and Somalia. It also states that a total of 25 vessels in Somalia waters were hijacked in 2007 despite US navy patrols, compared with 14 in 2006, while 292 crew members were taken hostage compared with 188 in 2006. Five crew were killed with three still reported as missing. However, I believe that accurate statistics are impossible to obtain since many pirate attacks go unreported due to political or economic pressure.
Most of the violent attacks occur off the coast of Somalia, which has suffered from lawlessness since warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 and which now extends into the open sea. Some pirates are dangerous and would fire even automatic weapons at ships to stop them. Small groups armed with machetes, pistols and shotguns carry some of the attacks out in the vicinity of land from high-speed crafts. The modus operandi of these groups of four to 10 robbers or sometimes even more, approach ships from the stern, match the victim ship's speed, which sometimes achieve the 18 knots, before climbing aboard using grapnels, climbing ladders and other means.
Pirates are believed to come from criminal and traditional fishing communities based close to the area of attack and their own self-defence is to defend their own waters from industrial fishing trawler fleets coming from other countries like Spain, France, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Other sophisticated groups call themselves Somalia Marines or Somalia Navy or National Volunteer Coast guard of Somalia and they claim to defend their own maritime waters other from fishing. They don't want to be called "pirates" as terrorists won't call themselves terrorists because they give them a negative label. They are now experts in their trades with sophisticated boats, global positioning systems and other navigational equipment. In Nigeria they call themselves Niger Delta and even attack oil platforms and oil tankers.
The vessel's seizure is either permanent or long-term. A permanent seizure is when criminals take possession of a ship by actions, which could be called piracy in order to retain the ship for their own use. In short, this is the theft of a ship. Whether the ship is carrying cargo when seized is often of little consequence. The motive behind such a seizure is often to give the ship a phantom identity and to use it to commit cargo fraud.
A long-term seizure is the seizure of the vessel by actions, which could be called piracy with the intent not to retain the vessel, but to divert it from its course, steal the cargo, stores and crew belongings then release both vessel and crew. Compared with a short-term seizure, which will seldom last longer than one hour, a long-term seizure can last several days.
The IMO Assembly adopted the code of practice to be dealt by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) for the investigation of the crimes of piracy and armed robbery against ships as well as measures to prevent the registration of phantom ships. The EU, on the other hand, lacks legislation on maritime security outside European waters. Security is more or less regulated inside the EU but once you go outside, there's nothing at all protecting European ships.
The EU presidency called for a strong international effort to address piracy and said this should be made in close cooperation with other international actors, particularly in the framework of the United Nations.
This is the commercial shipping billions of dollars a year and the UN is considering a resolution to allow warships from other countries such as the US Marine to chase these vessels into territorial waters of nations where these pirates take refuge.
I have doubts whether this will work simply by attacking the symptoms and ignoring the decease. It will help a little but it will not make piracy go away with western intervention. Somalia alone has a coastline of 3,300 kilometers and its sea is too vast.
kili@onvol.net
Recently, pirates in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia seized the French luxury cruise ship Le Ponant. The action resulted in the crew being released without conflict, injury or loss of life and the arrest of the suspected pirates following the intervention of the French navy along with €125,000 of suspected ransom money. Reports recently also revealed that heavily armed pirates fired upon a Japanese VLCC, (very large crude carrier) in ballast, causing damage to her hull while transiting in the same Gulf.
The Weekly Piracy Report Alert by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) indicates ship manoeuvres to be on alert, informing the masters to alter course in the same gulf near Somalia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Philippines and the Singapore and Malacca Straits due to suspicious crafts. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) also issues monthly reports on piracy and armed robbery on ships. Acts of ocean piracy rose 10 per cent in 2007, the first increase for three years, with waters off Nigeria and Somalia topping a list of the world's most dangerous.
The IMB in its yearly report says that attacks globally on shipping rose to 263 from 239 in 2006.This significant increase in numbers can be directly attributed to the increase in incidents in Nigeria and Somalia. It also states that a total of 25 vessels in Somalia waters were hijacked in 2007 despite US navy patrols, compared with 14 in 2006, while 292 crew members were taken hostage compared with 188 in 2006. Five crew were killed with three still reported as missing. However, I believe that accurate statistics are impossible to obtain since many pirate attacks go unreported due to political or economic pressure.
Most of the violent attacks occur off the coast of Somalia, which has suffered from lawlessness since warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 and which now extends into the open sea. Some pirates are dangerous and would fire even automatic weapons at ships to stop them. Small groups armed with machetes, pistols and shotguns carry some of the attacks out in the vicinity of land from high-speed crafts. The modus operandi of these groups of four to 10 robbers or sometimes even more, approach ships from the stern, match the victim ship's speed, which sometimes achieve the 18 knots, before climbing aboard using grapnels, climbing ladders and other means.
Pirates are believed to come from criminal and traditional fishing communities based close to the area of attack and their own self-defence is to defend their own waters from industrial fishing trawler fleets coming from other countries like Spain, France, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Other sophisticated groups call themselves Somalia Marines or Somalia Navy or National Volunteer Coast guard of Somalia and they claim to defend their own maritime waters other from fishing. They don't want to be called "pirates" as terrorists won't call themselves terrorists because they give them a negative label. They are now experts in their trades with sophisticated boats, global positioning systems and other navigational equipment. In Nigeria they call themselves Niger Delta and even attack oil platforms and oil tankers.
The vessel's seizure is either permanent or long-term. A permanent seizure is when criminals take possession of a ship by actions, which could be called piracy in order to retain the ship for their own use. In short, this is the theft of a ship. Whether the ship is carrying cargo when seized is often of little consequence. The motive behind such a seizure is often to give the ship a phantom identity and to use it to commit cargo fraud.
A long-term seizure is the seizure of the vessel by actions, which could be called piracy with the intent not to retain the vessel, but to divert it from its course, steal the cargo, stores and crew belongings then release both vessel and crew. Compared with a short-term seizure, which will seldom last longer than one hour, a long-term seizure can last several days.
The IMO Assembly adopted the code of practice to be dealt by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) for the investigation of the crimes of piracy and armed robbery against ships as well as measures to prevent the registration of phantom ships. The EU, on the other hand, lacks legislation on maritime security outside European waters. Security is more or less regulated inside the EU but once you go outside, there's nothing at all protecting European ships.
The EU presidency called for a strong international effort to address piracy and said this should be made in close cooperation with other international actors, particularly in the framework of the United Nations.
This is the commercial shipping billions of dollars a year and the UN is considering a resolution to allow warships from other countries such as the US Marine to chase these vessels into territorial waters of nations where these pirates take refuge.
I have doubts whether this will work simply by attacking the symptoms and ignoring the decease. It will help a little but it will not make piracy go away with western intervention. Somalia alone has a coastline of 3,300 kilometers and its sea is too vast.
kili@onvol.net