Tag: armed guards

MSC 90 outcome Interim guidance to private maritime security companies (PMSCs) was agreed by IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), when it met at the Organization's London Headquarters for its 90th session from 16 to 25 May 2012.A special high-level segment of the MSC saw an intense debate, over the first day and a half of the Committee's session (See Briefing 16/2012), on how the international community should deal with issues related to the deployment of privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) on board ships and the carriage of arms on board.Following further debate during a working group, the MSC agreed Interim Guidance to private maritime security companies (PMSC) providing contracted armed security personnel on board ships in the High Risk Area. The guidance covers:PMSC Professional Certification, including the recommendation that PMSC should seek certification with relevant national and international private maritime security service standards when these are established;PMSC Company requirements, including the recommendation that PMSC should establish procedures to provide maritime security services to ship owners and ship operators and comply with all relevant legal requirements;Management, including recommendations on selection, vetting and training of personnel for a PCASP team;Deployment considerations, addressing the specific aspects of PCASP deployment and the role ...

Fortunately, onboard security guards were able to deter the pirates Pirates in the Gulf of Oman attacked the Maersk Texas, a U.S.-flagged c argo ship, but onboard guards repelled them, Maersk Line Ltd, a unit of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Wednesday.The attack on the ship - a 19,592 deadweight tonnes (dwt) vessel which is 148 metres (486 feet) long - took place at noon local time on Wednesday when it was passing through the Gulf of Oman, northeast of the Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, Maersk Line Ltd said.The vessel had just left the Straits of Hormuz and was on its way back to the United States, a spokesman said."Numerous skiffs with armed men in each boat quickly closed on Maersk Texas," Maersk Line Ltd, a U.S. unit of the Maersk group, said in a statement. Despite warnings, the pirates continued to approach the vessel and then fired upon it, after which a security team returned fire in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard rules of engagement, Maersk Line Ltd said."All hands onboard are safe and unharmed, and the vessel is proceeding on its voyage," the company said.A Maersk Line spokesman said he did not have ...

Naval patrols still crucial for anti-piracy fight Armed guards employed on merchant ships to repel attacks by pirates should be subject to new standards to ensure they abide by international law while on the high seas, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.The International Maritime Organization, whose role is to improve the safety of global shipping, said it wanted a new set of global guidelines to be drawn up to help countries and shipping countries decide whether and how to deploy armed guards."International standards or regimes should be established," IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu told reporters."That regime should not be made compulsory, but provide an international framework on which the flag state and the (shipping) companies may decide to employ arms on board."This is not a permanent solution and arms on board will not be institutionalised. These are exceptional circumstances and we hope these are temporary measures," he said after an anti-piracy conference at the IMO's headquarters overlooking the River Thames in London.Shipping companies are increasingly reliant on private guards to deter pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers who are prepared to take hostages and demand ransoms worth millions of dollars each year, particularly in the Arabian Sea and ...

Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), 90th session, 16 to 25 May 2012 A special high-level segment of IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), convened by IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu to discuss policy matters related to arms on board ships in the piracy high risk area, has requested a working group of the MSC to develop interim guidance for private maritime security companies (PMSCs).The MSC is meeting for its 90th session at IMO Headquarters from 16 to 25 May, with some 900 delegates registered from IMO member States and observers from international and non-governmental organizations.The instruction to the working group to develop the guidance for PMSCs followed an intense debate on arms on board ships during the high-level segment, held over the first day and a half of the Committee's session, which saw interventions from a number of Ministers, Secretaries of State and other senior Government representatives as well as the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.In his address to the high-level segment Mr. Sekmizu said:"The carriage of firearms on board merchant ships is a complex legal issue with Member States taking diverse positions. The Committee has determined that the carriage of armed personnel is a matter for flag States to authorize, however ...

More than 25 percent of vessels in the Gulf of Aden use armed guards Governments don't want to regulate standards for private armed guards on the world's ships, employed to protect vessels against hijacks by Somali pirates, in case they get sued, the United Nations' shipping body said.It's no accident the International Maritime Organization (IMO), representing 160 countries, hasn't taken responsibility, Chris Trelawny, deputy director of the IMO's maritime safety committee, said at a conference yesterday.The committee, scheduled to meet in London May 16-25, will discuss the lack of international guidelines for armed guards firing on suspect pirates."If I'm your hypothetical no-win, no-fee lawyer, I'm not going to go after the private security company that hasn't got any money," Trelawny said at the Tradewinds Marine Risk Forum in London. "I would go after the shipping company. And if I haven't got any money there, I'm going to go after the flag state. That is where flag states are getting worried as to how much liability they want to take on board."Flag states refer to governments that register vessels, which in return fly a country's flag and comply with its laws on the high seas. Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands ...

Insurance firm agreed to provide financial support for armed guards Privately armed patrol boats aimed at deterring Somali pirates could be up and running by as early as next month, after a prominent insurance firm agreed to provide financial support.Following the successful introduction of armed guards aboard several merchant ships plying the waters of the Gulf of Eden and the East African coast, Martin Reith, the founder and former chief executive of the Lloyd's of London insurer Ascot Underwriting, has taken the protection business one stage further with his plans for a Convoy Escort Programme, which will complement the overstretched naval forces in the region.According to the London Times newspaper, "Financial backing estimated at around $30 million, could be up and running as early as this summer." as $12 billion. As such, the measure could be a good gamble as piracy off the Somalia coast is estimated to have cost the international shipping industry as muchThe investors are hoping that once the funding is in place, they will buy around seven second-hand naval patrol vessels; the money will also help to finance the armed security guards that will be on board."As well as four crew and eight armed security personnel, ...

A t least 120 companies provide protection for many of the 40,000 vessels that sail in piracy waters The growing use of armed guards on merchant ships plying the piracy-plagued waters of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean has spawned increasingly violent encounters with Somali marauders, maritime security experts say.This development illustrates how the pirate menace, which a few years ago was limited to the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen, has grown, and with it a maritime security industry that embraces at least 120 companies, more than half of them British, that provide protection for many of the 40,000 vessels that sail those waters every year.The Financial Times reports the violent encounters at sea "could become more common as some shipping companies have reduced ships' speed through the highest-risk area to save on fuel."Quoting maritime industry officials in London, the business daily reported: "The shipping companies have switched to relying on guards, rather than speed, for protection because a single-day at lower speeds can save $50,000 in fuel at current prices -- enough to pay the guards for the whole journey."Ron Widdows, chief executive officer of major ship owner Rickmers Holding of Germany, said several security firms ...

Eight out of 160 members have cited their position towards deploying armed guards on board vessels As the shipping industry looks to the International Maritime Organization to issue guidance next week on maritime security, it has emerged that just eight out of 160 member states have provided details to the IMO about how they approach the issue of armed guards.According to IMO deputy director Chris Trelawny, the organisation contacted all member states last year and asked them to send in details of their regulatory frameworks or the position they took towards deploying armed guards on board vessels. The response has been underwhelming."People want the IMO to deliver some kind of magic bullet but the situation is extremely difficult," Mr Trelawny said. "I suspect the MSC will increase the number of questions flag states have to ask but I also hope we can do more than that."Mr Trelawny said one problem concerning states' response is that policy decisions on issues such as armed guards fall under the remit of departments that the IMO does not normally deal with, creating a problem with communication.The IMO maritime safety committee meets for its 90th session next week and has put private maritime security companies ...

Video shows armed guards shooting at the pirates to avoid attack

Debate on rules for the use of force calls for further investigation Eagle Bulk Shipping and Trident Group have been identified in a video of armed guards shooting at a pirate skiff that has raised a heated debate on rules for the use of force and calls for further investigation.The video shows a private maritime security company's operatives firing what they call warning shots, but there appears to be no gradual or layered approach to protecting the ship, as advocated in the International Maritime Organization's Best Management Practices. The guards continue to fire for some minutes as the vessel moved away from the pirates and the threat to the vessel became less urgent.Eagle Bulk declined to confirm that the vessel in the video was under its control. However, in a statement issued to Lloyd's List it said: "Piracy is a scourge which threatens the life and safety of seafarers. Out of respect for the safety of our crews, we do not discuss any aspect of our operations, safety or security procedures."Lloyd's List has been told by several sources that the vessel in the video is owned by Eagle Bulk and shortly before the end of the clip the Eagle Bulk ...