Private Navy

A private navy equipped with a fleet of patrol boats is scheduled to begin escorting ships through the Gulf of Aden early next year as private security forces take a growing role in the fight against piracy. The venture has been organised by Convoy Escort Programme Ltd, and is backed by UK insurance and reinsurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, Bloomberg reports. It is due to commence escorts in five months time. ”The bullet-proof boats will charge about US$30,000 per ship travelling in a convoy of around four vessels over three to four days,” Convoy Escort CEO Angus Campbell told Bloomberg.

“We are going to be a deterrent. We are not in the business of looking for trouble, but if anybody tries to attack a vessel we are escorting, our security teams will deploy force if they have to act in self defense.” Convoy Escort will use seven ex-navy patrol boats, each with eight armed guards, costing US$30 million. The venture may expand to 11 boats, which will cost US$50 million. Campbell said venture funds, oil companies and marine insurers may invest in the business. A private naval force was proposed over a year ago but encountered opposition over getting a state to register its ships. “Cyprus agreed to add the ships last month, following a US State Department’s veto for registration in the Marshall Islands,” Mr Campbell said.

In September the shipping industry called on the United Nations to create an armed military force to be deployed on vessels to counter the escalating menace from armed seaborne gangs. While there has been a growing acceptance of using armed security guards, sovereign military forces are preferred by the shipping industry because they have clearer rules of engagement and the reduced risk of legal issues in the event of fatalities. While naval patrols, including vessels from the European Union, the United States and other nations such as South Korea, Iran and Turkey, have curbed the number of attacks in the Gulf of Aden, piracy in the Indian Ocean has continued to rise due to the vast tracts of water involved, which represent a huge logistical challenge for foreign navies.

This has caused a dramatic increase in private security contractors moving into the maritime industry. At the end of last month British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that British merchant ships sailing off the coast of Somalia will soon be able to carry armed guards to ward off pirate attacks. Britain is one of only a few countries with major shipping fleets to currently ban armed guards on its vessels, alongside countries such as Japan, Greece and the Netherlands. However, owners of ships from other countries are increasingly putting guards onboard as national navies struggle to combat Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean, a problem which is costing the world economy billions of dollars a year. In an interview with the BBC, Cameron said that Britain now planned to licence guards to carry firearms on ships.

The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents over 80 percent of the world’s merchant fleet, said that arming guards was likely to be effective in deterring pirates for now, but was not a long-term solution. ”Whilst we welcome it, it is a short-term palliative measure,” ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe told Reuters. ”To date no ships with armed guards on board have been captured. But pirates will respond with increased firepower to overwhelm the armed guards, and when that happens the impact on the crew will be pretty dreadful,” Hinchliffe said.

Hinchliffe said the ICS wanted to see more arrests of suspected pirates, military attacks on pirates’ Somali supply bases and a naval blockade 12 miles off the country’s coast. Some in the industry even wonder if a special security effort is really necessary. There are around 35,000 ship voyages a year through the Indian Ocean, they point out: the vast majority are completely unarmed and make it through. One security veteran already working in the region said private contractors could spend months without ever seeing a pirate. Officials say it costs around US$55,000 (33,684 pounds) to deploy an experienced four-man security team on a 10-12 day transit between Suez and Galle in Sri Lanka. Firms touting for business without experience have offered teams at US$15,000 to US$20,000.

FGS Köln captures pirates, sinks skiffs

The German frigate FGS Köln, operating as part of the anti-piracy European Union Naval Force, has disrupted a pirate action group off the coast of Tanzania, capturing the pirates and sinking their boats. The Bremen class frigate FGS Köln was directed to the pirate action group on Friday after the pirates were detected by a French maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft 50 nautical miles off the coast of Tanzania. The FGS Köln detected a whaler and a skiff, which were stopped. The suspect pirates in the boats threw their pirate equipment overboard, including RPG rounds.

The pirates were been transferred on board the FGS Köln and the two pirate boats sunk, preventing their use against merchant shipping in the area, EU Navfor said. FGS Köln joined the EU Navfor on September 12. Commanded by Commander Christopher Karow, the ship and her 219 crew members will operate in the area of operations off the Horn of Africa until December. The ship previously deployed to the mission during the autumn of 2010. She has been in service with the German Navy since 1984, displaces 3,700 tons and is equipped with two Sea-Lynx helicopters. Her tasking will be to assist in the counter-piracy patrols in the region, to escort World Food Program (WFP) and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) vessels, and to contribute to the monitoring of fishing activities off the coast of Somalia.

FGS Köln has encountered pirates before. On September 28 she stopped and boarded a suspicious group of two small boats, a whaler and skiff after they were located 70 nautical miles South West off Mogadishu, Somalia, 30 miles off the coast. A helicopter was sent to inspect the group of boats and 12 people with equipment usually associated with piracy were seen on board. The boats refused to stop when hailed. Köln’s helicopter fired warning shots ahead of the skiff which caused the boat to stop. Before the boats could be boarded, the crew of the boats started to throw weapons and other items overboard. The skiff, whaler and their engines were destroyed to prevent any potential future use for piracy and the men released close to the shore.

On October 7 FGS Köln disrupted a suspect pirate action group’s supply boat, a whaler, operating in the Somali Basin about 200 nautical miles East of Tanzania. The whaler had been located previously by a Norwegian P-3 under control of NATO Task Force 508, Operation Ocean Shield, which is also engaged in counter piracy operations. Photos taken clearly showed that it was the same whaler which had earlier been photographed with a skiff, a pirate attack boat, in tow.

FGS Köln conducted a boarding of the whaler and pirate paraphernalia was discovered. The four suspected pirates on board were transferred to the German frigate and the whaler sunk. The pirates were subsequently landed in Somalia. FGS Köln has also assisted Somali fishermen and on October 4 rescued five Somali fishermen drifting in the Indian Ocean in a broken-down fishing whaler and returned them safely to the shore. The Somali fishermen has been drifting for nine days following the breakdown of their engine and without any communication equipment available to call for help, had built a makeshift sail and try to head for land but were making little progress. Technicians from the Köln inspected the engine but it was beyond repair so the fishermen were taken aboard, given food and fresh water and transported to the Somali coast where they were landed safely.

Kenya sinks al Shabaab boats

Kenya’s navy has sunk two boats carrying suspected al Shabaab militants off the coast of Somalia as it continues its fight against Somali militants. Kenya’s military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said that the Kenyan navy had sunk another suspected al Shabaab boat on November 4. “The Kenya Navy while on patrol duties sank a boat in the area of Ras Kiamboni,” he said in a statement. The attack occurred at 2:00 in the morning. “The boat was challenged to stop for identification but continued to approach the Kenya Navy at high speed. Consequently they were fired at,” Chirchir added. He said the boat was operating on a no-go zone. “We wish to reiterate that the Kenya– Somalia border is still closed and that any maritime operations in these areas are banned,” the Kenyan defence ministry said in a statement.

Kenyan fishermen have been concerned that the navy may mistake them for pirates or militants and some Kenyan civilians allege that the ‘militants’ killed were Kenyan fishermen. Earlier this month Chirchir posted a video showing the Kenyan Navy destroying a suspected al Shabaab skiff, killing 18 militants in the process. “A skiff laden with 18 Al Shabaab fighters was transporting fuel to Kuday. The Kenya Navy intercepted the skiff and sunk it killing all the militants,” Chirchir said in a statement. According to Somalia Report, the boat was destroyed in the Indian Ocean near Kudhaa Island in Somalia’s Lower Juba region on November 2. Local fishermen said they saw a commercial boat explode and burn near the coast.

The Somali Report said that a senior Somali Transitional Federal Government official said that at least 14 militants were killed in the attack. Kenya mounted an air and ground offensive against al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab in Somalia more than three weeks ago after a string of kidnappings and cross-border raids it blamed on the group. While there has been little major ground combat within Somalia since Kenya forces entered the Horn of Africa nation, Kenyan authorities and al Shabaab fighters have claimed successes in attacks either side of the border. Al Shabaab fighters attacked a Kenyan police station near the border town of El Wak late on Monday, said Kenyan police, Somali government forces and residents.

Mahmoud Ali Shire, commander of Somali government troops fighting alongside Kenyan forces, told Reuters two al Shabaab fighters had been killed in the gun battle. Further to the south, gunmen attacked a Kenyan government vehicle ferrying exam papers to the border town of Liboi. Monday’s incidents were the latest in a string of low-level but persistent attacks on north-east Kenya. Two people were killed in a grenade attack in the military town of Garissa on Saturday. A U.N. aid convoy also struck a landmine that failed to detonate in the Dadaab refugee camp, the world’s largest, where 400,000 Somalis are living after fleeing violence and famine in their own country.

Thousands there demonstrated on Tuesday against al Shabaab and in support of Kenya’s military action. Kenya is the latest country to entangle itself in the affairs of its anarchic neighbour which has suffered two decades of civil war. Kenya has long cast a wary eye at its lawless neighbour, awash with weapons and mired in conflict since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991. The region’s biggest economy is so worried by the anarchy in Somalia, where first warlords then Islamist insurgents have stepped into a political vacuum, that it has quietly supported the birth of a semi-autonomous Somali province dubbed ‘Jubaland’, comprising the three Somali regions bordering Kenya. The status of Jubaland, also sometimes called Azania, is not clear. Somalia’s government says it does not support the Jubaland initiative.

Kenya’s military has denied its incursion was carefully planned for years with a view to annexing Somali territory that could act as a buffer zone between the two countries. The military says it wants to eliminate the threat of al Shabaab, which has hit Kenya’s crucial tourist industry, and help the Western-backed Mogadishu government which has been fighting the militants since 2007. Kenya’s military has vowed to launch more air strikes on al Shabaab’s bases in southern and central Somalia, especially after reports that weapons consignments from Eritrea had reached an al Shabaab base there last week.

UK Agrees to Armed Guards on British Ships

The UK government says it intends sanctioning the use of armed guards on ships sailing under a British flag and that the home secretary will be given the powers to license armed guards for these ships. The decision, which has been expected, means that Britain has joined several other nations in accepting that the use of armed guards on merchant ships sailing in waters under threat from pirates is one of the most effective deterrents. According to the British prime minister David Cameron, no merchant ship carrying armed guards has so far been highjacked. With up to 200 ships flying the red ensign this means lucrative work to those security companies that have geared themselves to provide armed guards for vessels heading towards at-risk waters, principally in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, southern Red Sea and the East African coast.

Having a license to carry armed guards however, does not mean that merchant ships with arms on board will be welcome in all countries, and local laws will continue to apply with regard to vessels entering other nation’s territorial waters. Cameron said at the weekend that after talks in Australia involving Commonwealth leaders it became clear that action needed to be taken with regards providing adequate and meaningful security onboard British ships. Asked by the BBC whether he was comfortable with giving permission to foreign operatives to ‘shoot to kill,’ Cameron offered a politician’s response of, “We have to make choices.” He called the continued highjacking of ships around the Horn of Africa, a “complete stain on our world.”

“The fact that a bunch of pirates in Somalia are managing to hold to ransom the rest of the world and our trading system, is a complete insult and the rest of the world needs to come together with much more vigour,” he said. Cameron’s announcement has been generally welcomed but concerns have been expressed as well. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) which represents 80% of the world’s merchant fleet, said through its secretary-general Peter Hinchliffe that they were concerned over the response from the pirates to the escalation of arming personnel on board the ships. “To date, no ships with armed guards on board have been captured. But pirates will respond with increased firepower to overwhelm the armed guards, and when that happens the impact on the crew will be pretty dreadful,” he warned. Maritime risk experts say that arming more ships will reduce the amount of insurance claims and will save the industry many millions of dollars.

AIS capabilities along the South African coast

Maritime technology provider, Marine Data Solutions of Cape Town, has begun implementing an Automatic Identification System (AIS) coastal network with Aids to Navigation (AtoN) capabilities along the South African coast. The company, which specialises in Vessel Traffic Management and Information Systems and other maritime domain awareness solutions, was awarded the turnkey contract by Lighthouse Services, which operates as a business unit of Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA). The scope of work includes installing new base stations and AtoN AIS at selected lighthouses along the South African coastline. Steve Nell, Marine Data Solutions’ managing director says the AIS coastal network will bring South Africa in line with many other coastal countries worldwide and will greatly enhance South Africa’s current maritime domain awareness capabilities.

Marine Data Solutions previously played the crucial role of systems and display integrator for the South African Maritime Authority’s (SAMSA) Satellite AIS initiative, which is proving to be of great value. AIS was first introduced as a mandatory carriage requirement for ships in July 2002, and under the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) SOLAS Convention, all ships on international voyages were compelled to have been fitted with AIS by the end of 2004. AIS, utilising maritime VHF frequencies, provides real time automatic transmission and reception on suitably equipped ships with a range of information relating to course, speed, position and other important data.

AIS information can also be received ashore for the purpose of vessel tracking and management but availability of the information received remains dependent on ships keeping the system switched on. Although AIS started off as an anti-collision ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore system, it has now taken on many more applications in addition to supplementing existing marine Aids to Navigation (AtoN) systems. This technology is essentially a business intelligence tool, offering VTS management, vessel tracking, search and rescue and virtual AtoN, etc.

A feature of AIS allows for AtoN functions where the Aid to Navigation is fitted with an AIS AtoN unit. Applications include complementing the existing AtoN service such as positively identifying a lighthouse in inclement weather; providing back up to an AtoN monitoring system to enable faster repairs; remote control manipulation; gathering real-time information such as traffic patterns for better future planning; monitoring and tracking the position of floating equipment such as buoys; and automatic alerts by being able to track and trace ships fitted with AIS and identifying cargoes, notifying port control of safety threats, and providing accurate estimated time of arrival information. AIS can also be used to monitor particularly sensitive sea areas and messages can be generated to let ships know about these areas, and about traffic routing systems and areas to be avoided. AIS data can be made available to third parties, amongst them the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), the Department of Transport, the Hydrographic Office, and National Intelligence.

“AIS will serve to increase South Africa’s Vessel Traffic System (VTS) footprints which means that a VTS operator will be able to ‘see’ vessels anywhere along the coast of South Africa should it be within the VHF range of an AIS base station,” says Nell. “It will also help with search and rescue operations and identification and tracking, as well as future planning.” Some of the projects Marine Data Solutions has completed include the supply and commissioning of a VTS, AIS, and a Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GDMSS) for the port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and more recently two VTS systems, including thermal cameras, at Luderitz and Walvis Bay, Namibia. A different project was the installation and commissioning of a laser docking aid system at the oil terminal in Saldanha Bay earlier this year, which was done in partnership with Australian company, Trelliborg Marine. source – CBN

Irish Naval Vessel Le Orla

Le Orla visiting the Irish port of Arklow

 

Navy official hails subs’ role in Libya operation

GROTON, Conn. (AP) — A Navy commander is hailing the role that U.S. submarines played in the military operation that led to the overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Rear Adm. Richard P. Breckenridge says the attack submarine USS Florida softened Libyan defenses in March by shooting more than 90 Tomahawk cruise missiles in support of rebels opposed to Gadhafi’s regime.

Breckenridge is the commander of a submarine group at Naval Submarine Base New London. The Day of New London ( ) reported his remarks Friday at the 2nd annual Military Appreciation Breakfast, held by the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.

Breckenridge said the role of attack submarines is the “unheralded story” of recent developments in Libya.

Sisulu condemns piracy

South Africa’s Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu has again spoken out against the scourge of piracy. Addressing the 10th South African-Botswana Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security she lamented the economic impact of high seas crime.

“The maritime interests of South Africa are derived from it geographical location, geo-economic, structure and geopolitical aspirations and obligations,” she told delegates at the plush Westcliff Hotel in Johannesburg. “South Africa has a coastline is along a major strategic international sea trade route, and is located far from its key trade partners whom it reaches largely by sea.”

“Initially, the threat of piracy seemed to be a remote and unrealistic concern for South Africa’s maritime security. However, as Somali pirate responded to international operations to counter their activities, they began extending their reach deeper into the Indian Ocean and into the SADC maritime zones. The SADC region now faces the threat of maritime piracy most dramatically illustrated by the seizure of a fishing vessel (the Vega 5) in December 2010, the furthest south that the pirates have yet struck,” she said.

Cool Pic

Cool Dolphin

Royal Navy captures pirate mothership

A pirate mothership (dhow) involved in attacks on merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean has been stopped and boarded by ships from the Royal Navy operating in the Indian Ocean. This action followed on from the successful rescue of the Italian Merchant Ship Monte Cristo on 11 October by the RFA Fort Victoria, reports the Royal Navy.

It is believed the dhow was hijacked by suspected pirates so that they could use it as a base or mothership from which to launch attacks against merchant ships many hundreds of miles from Somalia. Throughout this time, the Pakistani crew of the dhow was held hostage on board.

On Friday 14 October some 200 miles off the coast HMS Somerset and RFA Fort Victoria closed in on the dhow. “The mother-ship was located by Somerset’s Merlin helicopter at first light and the Boarding Teams brought to immediate notice whilst Somerset closed with the dhow”, said HMS Somerset’s commanding officer, Commander Paul Bristowe Royal Navy.

HMS Somerset is currently assigned to the Combined Maritime Forces counter-piracy mission, Combined Task Force (CTF) 151. RFA Fort Victoria is deployed as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Ocean Shield counter piracy task force.

The dhow was soon surrounded by a Royal Navy and Royal Marine boarding team from RFA Fort Victoria, supported by HMS Somerset’s helicopter. “This operation demanded high levels of seamanship to ensure that the dhow was kept under close observation as the boarding party moved in,” said RFA Fort Victoria’s Commanding Officer, Captain Shaun Jones RFA.

In the run up to being boarded, the suspect pirates were observed by Somerset’s Merlin helicopter ditching equipment and weapons overboard as well as setting one of their skiffs adrift. Despite their desperate attempts to cover their tracks, a large cache of boarding ladders, weapons, a second attack skiff and equipment from a previously pirated ship were found onboard. Captain Yapp said “There was a clear indication that the suspected pirates found on the dhow were well-practised and knew what they were doing. One of the weapons had recently been fired and was well maintained – as was the RPG rocket. I think that if we hadn’t disrupted this group of suspected pirates, it is quite possible that they would have attacked another merchant vessel.”

The dhow’s crew of 20 were free to go on their way once the evidence gathering had finished. The four suspected pirates that were apprehended, however, have been passed to Italian authorities, on suspicion of their involvement in the attack on the MV Monte Cristo three days earlier.

U.S. Warship Visits Georgia Despite Russia Anger

TBILISI – A U.S warship arrived Oct. 17 in Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi for exercises with the country’s coast guard, the U.S. embassy said, in the latest of a series of such calls which have angered Russia.

The guided missile cruiser Philippine Sea’s “regularly scheduled” port call will include “combined training exercises with the Georgian Coast Guard,” the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said in a statement. ”This visit serves to continue U.S. 6th Fleet efforts to build global maritime partnerships with Black Sea nations and improve maritime safety and security,” the embassy said.

U.S. warships delivered humanitarian aid to Georgia after the Caucasus nation fought a brief war with Russia in August 2008. Moscow has criticized the decision to send the sophisticated warships, saying it might contravene international conventions and that the ships were unsuited for aid missions.

Piracy Report 20/10/11

20.10.2011: 1439 UTC: Posn: 01:11.5S – 058:32.3E, Around 270nm NE of Seychelles (Off Somalia). Armed pirates in two skiffs chased and fired upon a heavy load carrier underway with intent to hijack. Master raised alarm, increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, contacted CSO and all crew mustered at citadel. Onboard armed security team returned fire. Later the pirates aborted the attack and moved away.

Aircraft Carriers in San Diego

A rare sight anywhere, 3 Nimitz Class aircraft carriers spotted in San Diego today.From left to right:, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS Ronald Reagon (CVN 76) & USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).

The Nimitz class carriers have an overall length of 1,092 ft (333 m) and a full-load displacement of about 100,000–104,000 long tons (102,000–106,000 metric tons). They have a beam at the waterline of 135 ft (41 m), and the maximum width of their flight decks is 251 ft 10 in to 257 ft 3 in (77.76 m to 78.41 m) (depending on the variant). The ships’ companies can number up to 3,200, not including an air wing of 2,480.

Navy ship disrupts pirate suspects

On 7 October EU NAVFOR warship FGS KOELN successfully disrupted a suspect Pirate Action Group’s supply boat, a whaler, operating in the Somali Basin about 200 nautical miles East of Tanzania, reports EU NAVFOR

The whaler had been located previously by a Norwegian Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA) under control of NATO Task Force 508, Operation Ocean Shield, which is also engaged in counter piracy operations.

After an attempted piracy attack on a merchant ship the German Navy frigate FGS KOELN searched and was assisted by a MPRA before detecting a whaler with a crew of four persons. Photos taken clearly showed that it was the same whaler which had earlier been photographed with a skiff, a pirate attack boat, in tow.

FGS KOELN conducted a boarding of the whaler and pirate paraphernalia was discovered. The four suspected pirates on board were transferred to the German frigate and whaler was sunk. The pirate suspects were subsequently landed to Somalia.

Piracy Report 5/10/11

03:10.2011: 2016 LT: 07:49S – 040:14E: Off Mafia Island, Tanzania (Off Somalia).
Seven pirates in skiff approached a drill ship. The vessel sent out a distress which was responded to by a vessel which had Tanzanian navy personal onboard. There wea exchange of fire between the pirates and the navy resulting in all the pirates being apprehended and handed over to the police.

www.icc-ccs.org