Tag: anti piracy measures

Until December 2014 On Friday 23 March 2012 the Council of the European Union confirmed its intention to extend the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) counter-piracy mission, Operation ATLANATA off the Somali coast until December 2014. At the same time the Council also extended the area of operations to include Somali coastal territory and internal waters.Today's decision will enable Operation Atalanta Forces to work directly with the Transitional Federal Government and other Somali entities to support their fight against piracy in the coastal areas. In accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the Somali government has notified the UN Secretary General of its acceptance of the EU's offer for this new collaboration.Speaking about the extension of the mandate and area of operations, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, who is the Operational Commander of the EU Naval Force, said "The extension of the mandate until the end of 2014 confirms the EU's commitment to fighting piracy off the Horn of Africa. Piracy has caused so much misery to the Somali people and to the crews of ships transiting the area and it is right that we continue to move forward in our efforts".Source: EUNAVFOR

Co-operation for safer shipping lanes Thursday, 22 March,Captain Pottengal Mukundan, Director of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) was invited to MC Northwood to meet with the staff of the NATO Shipping Centre. The purpose of this meeting was to maintain and strengthen the dialogue between the two organisations that work to provide the maritime community with the best information products possible to avoid piracy.The IMB is based in London and is a specialised division within the Commercial Crimes Services of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). IMB's primary mission is to protect the integrity of international trade by seeking out fraud and malpractice. One of the IMB's principal areas of expertise is in the suppression of piracy. Concerned at the alarming growth in the phenomenon, this led to the creation of the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in 1992, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It maintains a round-the-clock watch on the world's shipping lanes, reporting pirate attacks to local law enforcement and issuing warnings to shipping about piracy hotspots.Both Captain Mukundan and Michael Howlett, Divisional Director of the IMB, addressed the Senior Leadership and operational sectors of MC Northwood Headquarters (HQ), NATO, sharing information on how the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, the Financial ...

Anti-piracy measures The South African Navy is to establish to two Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Centres. One centre will based at Silvermine in Cape Town to cover the west coast whilst the other will be located in Durban to cover the east coast.They are being created as a direct result of the increased threat to shipping along the southern African coast by pirates.Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg, Chief Director Maritime Strategy, speaking to reporters at the State of the Navy presentation held at Simon's Town, Cape Town last week, said that "the Somalian piracy threat is in fact, from week to week, moving into a southerly direction".Teuteberg said that the piracy threat was also moving towards India and had already affected the Seychelles to such an extent that their GDP has dropped by 30% due to the threat to their fishermen.As a result, the Navy is proposing Maritime Zone and Regional MDA Centres, which would be linked to other SADC MDA Centres in order to exchange information. Numerous sources would be used to determine what was happening in these areas of interest, such as mobile shore radars, Automatic Identification System (AIS) fitted aboard all international voyaging ships, coastal radars, RadarSat, etc."We ...

Better coordination among their naval ships India, China and Japan recently agreed for better coordination among their naval ships deployed for escort of merchant vessels in the piracy-infested Gulf of Aden, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.In a written reply to a question in the Lower House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "India, China and Japan have recently agreed for better coordination among their naval ships deployed for escort of merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden."Denying that the government has plans to sign pacts with neighbouring countries to counter militant activities and check piracy, Antony said, "Nevertheless, the security and surveillance apparatus for coastal defence has been enhanced over the years."Strengthening of coastal security apparatus is an ongoing process considering the needs and changing security scenario as well as the threat perception, he added.In reply to a question on acquisition of fleet tankers, Antony informed the House that Indian Navy has awarded a contract for acquisition of such a ship to a foreign shipyard."Steel offered by the Shipyard Fincanteri, in response to the Request for Proposal (RFP) for construction of fleet tanker, was technically evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC)," he said.Based on technical clarifications offered ...

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EU NAVFOR anti- piracy operation On 15 March 2012 counter-piracy forces from the European Union gained another valuable asset with the addition of a Falcon 50 maritime surveillance aircraft from the French Navy.Based from Djibouti, the aircraft has the range to cover the Gulf of Aden and waters off the horn of Africa.Its speed and range are instrumental in guiding surface units to apprehend suspect vessels and can provide advance warning to escorted convoys of aid to Somalia, allowing them to navigate around any threat without need for confrontation.Source: EU NAVFOR

Anti-piracy measures The Union Minister of Shipping, Shri G.K. Vasan informed the Lok Sabha today in a written reply to a question that no Indian Merchant Ship has been hijacked during the last three years.The Minister further stated that the Government has initiated various preventive / mitigating security measures for combating piracy which include the following:- An Inter-Ministerial Group of Officers (IMGO) has been set up to deal with hostage situation arising out of the hijacking of merchant vessels with Indian crew on board.- Issuance of Notices by Director General of Shipping detailing elaborate anti-piracy measures (Best Management Practices) including safe house/citadel.- Banning of sailing vessels to ply in waters south or west of the line joining Salalah and Male vide M.S. Notice 3/2010 dated 31/3/2010.- Naval escort provided by Indian Naval Ships in Gulf of Aden.- Enhanced vigil by Indian Navy in Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and estward up to 65 degree east longitude.- Active participation in International Maritime Organization and Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia (CGPCS) and other international forums.- Submission of Document 27/9/1 at the IMO Assembly for flag states to provide information on welfare of captive crew, efforts of release and ...

Piracy off Somalia is currently at the lowest level International shippers are "impressed" with the Indian military's confrontation of the piracy off the coast of Somalia and have expressed the appreciation of the efforts."We are very grateful to the efforts of the Indian military and their contribution to tackle the Somali piracy is really very impressive. The international shipping community is very pleased with that," Simon Bennett, director of external relations of the London-based International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), said.He pointed out that piracy off Somalia was currently at the lowest level with about 200 seafarers held in captivity."However, this is totally unacceptable," he said. He also called on India to allow the embarkation and disembarkation of armed guards on merchant ships."We understand the sensitivities of the issues in India about people with arms and terrorism. But we are sure that working through the international community procedures can be agreed whereby it is possible to embark and disembark armed guards in India," said Bennett, who is here to attend the three-day Asia Pacific Maritime 2012 conference in Singapore which opened yesterday.He declined to comment on the Italian marines facing court charges in India for killing two Indian fishermen, but said ...

Oman and South Africa signed MoU South Africa wants to learn how Oman has been able to protect its coastline, given the threat of piracy in the Mozambican Channel, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu said today after the signing of a defence co-operation memorandum with Oman's Minister of Defence Sayyid bin Saud bin Harib al-Busaidi.The Memorandum of Understanding, signed at the Castle in Cape Town on Tuesday, includes an agreement on technical co-operation, an agreement to share lessons around peace-keeping operations and the sale of military hardware to Oman by South Africa.Sisulu said Oman had vital lessons to share with South Africa around maritime protection and pointed out that both countries were strategically placed on international sea routes between Asia and the rest of the world.Oman was the first country in the Gulf to acquire military hardware from South Africa, and Sisulu encouraged her counterpart for Oman to continue doing so.She said she was confident that with South Africa's large military industry, the country would be able to sell what Oman required.She also invited her counterpart to the upcoming air force exhibition at Waterkloof to take place in September.The signing of the agreement today follows the ...

Chinese anti-piracy patrol off Somalia A major source of training for the Chinese Navy is the anti-piracy patrol off Somalia, where an international force keeps Somali pirates from interfering with shipping passing through the area. China has been participating in this operation since 2008. Each Chinese "naval escort task force" consists of one or two destroyers or frigates and one or two supply ships. The 11th such task force is now on its way to the Somali coast, and consists of a destroyer, a frigate and a supply ship. About 800 sailors are involved, 70 of them special operations personnel. Each task force spends four months off the Somali coast. This particular task force is the first from the North China Sea fleet. The other task forces have been drawn from the other two fleets (The East Sea and The South Sea).Service in the Somali task forces is eagerly sought after because it is the most intensive and extensive available. The task force gets practice in long distance cruises (Somalia is 10,000 kilometers distant, and it takes two weeks to get there) and combat operations. Granted, the enemy rarely fires back, and is hard to find. But the crews get ...