by Richard Watkins

Created on: April 20, 2009

JTF151 advises merchants guard their ships from piracy by taking the following steps:

Use the international recognized corridor; Only travel in high risk areas in the dark; use convoys; sign in to the Horn of Africa's Maritime Security Center before entering high risk areas; travel as fast as possible; maintain lookouts; set firehoses and keep them running; use all available lighting; use lights to alert pirates you have spotted them; when under attack use evasive manuevering; and under no circumstances stop the ship for pirates.

One merchant ship (MV Polaris, a chemical product tanker) successfully avoided a pirate attack when it had coordinated with the Maritime Security Center, broadcasted its identifiable signal, posted lookouts, had an active crew, used evasive manuervering, made a distress call to military forces. This incident occurred on February 11th, 2009. The Polaris sent out a distress call to the U.S. Navy after after a skiff pulled up along side the vessel and seven men tried to climb on board using a ladder. The Navy caught the skiff, found weapons and apprehended the seven men.

Certain factors put a ship at risk. According to the Joint Task Force 151, these factors are, slow speed, a low freeboard (the distance between the surface of the water and the deck of the vessel, no looks or an attentative watch, movement during the early morning, traveling outside the Internationally recognized transit corridor, not broadcasting a signal that identifies the ship to others.

Another ship, the MV Longchamp (a chemical petroleum tanker) was not so lucky. It wasn't just bad luck that made it possible for pirates to take it over, but bad safety practices. On January 29, 2009 the tanker was captured by pirates. Mistakes made by the merchant shipper included, not registering the ship itself for the corridor. The assumption was made that because the owner Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement had approved access of the shipping corridor, that there was no need to sign the ship itself in at the time. Because of this it was about 20 miles behind the rest of the vessels. Had it been signed in with the proper authorities it would have been graded a high risk ship, due to its low freeboard, making it easy to board. It would have been given more attention due to the cargo which was chemicals and LPG. High risk ships are closely monitored as they travel through the corridor. They also reportedly did not have hoses hooked up, lookouts or a complacent crew, and they did not increase speed. The vessel and the crew of 13 were taken and a six million dollar demand was reportedly made.

When merchant shippers follow the safety procedures that are given, there is no guarantee that they will be completely safe from pirates, but actual events show that the ones who have followed instructions have less of a chance of being successfully captured.

REFERENCE

WHAT PUTS A SHIP AT RISK?

HOW MERCHANTS CAN GUARD THEIR SHIPS

HOW THE MEASURES WORK IN PRACTICE (STAVED OFF ATTACK, CAPTURED)

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section= 104&article=61703

Ransom

http://convenientflags.blogspot.c om/2009/02/six-million-for-mv-longchamp-opening.html

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