Tag: maritime security

Nothing outstanding found Israeli naval forces intercepted on Sunday a Liberian-flagged cargo ship that was headed to Gaza. Commandoes boarded the vessel for a "security check," military sources said.The ship was intercepted outside Israel's territorial waters due to suspicions it was carrying weapons designated for terror organizations in Gaza. The captain authorized the subsequent search of the vessel by Shayetet 13 soldiers.Israel routinely patrols the seas for ships suspected of carrying weapons destined for Palestinian terrorists. A year ago Israel seized a cargo ship it said held Iranian-supplied arms intended for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.The official said so far "nothing outstanding has been found" on the ship, and declined to provide details, describing the interception as "routine protection of our territorial waters."An Israeli military source said the ship was seized about 160 miles (260 km) off the Israeli coast, and that troops were conducting a "very thorough search of its cargo."Spokesperson's Unit issued a statement saying, "In the framework of the Navy's routine activity aimed at preventing smuggling, a naval force stopped the Liberian-flagged cargo ship 'Beethoven' some 160 miles off Israel's coast. The search is being conducted with the captain's authorization. If no suspicious items are found, the ship ...

Somali piracy has shifted from a small-scale and purely regional risk to a mature threat The international shipping industry and the governments that are ostensibly supposed to protect it have begun to radically rethink their long-held aversion to private armed protection at sea. The shift illustrates the inability and/or unwillingness of states to provide security, and presages potential ethical and legal controversy as the lines between commerce and state authority become increasingly blurred.For decades, both the international shipping industry and the governing bodies that oversee it have been critical of the concept of putting armed guards on commercial vessels in order to protect them from violence -- and piracy in particular -- at sea. From the perspective of private industry, hiring armed guards has traditionally been viewed as a costly and risky move that creates more liabilities (financial, legal, and reputational) than it resolves. Furthermore, the shipping industry has also balked at the idea of paying for a service that it expects the world's navies to provide for them free of charge.As recently as June 2010, a host of public and commercial maritime industry stakeholders -- including major shipping organizations -- explicitly stated that "the use of armed guards is ...

The Philippines' largest warship was in a stand-off with Chinese vessels last week The Philippines and China have accused each other of further maritime intrusions in disputed waters following a stand-off last week.The Philippines lodged a second formal diplomatic protest, saying China was harassing a research ship at the Scarborough Shoal, 230km off its island of Luzon.China said the vessel was in Chinese waters and should leave.A Philippine warship faced off with Chinese boats at the shoal last week.A spokesman from the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said that the archaeological research ship carrying the Philippine flag had been "harassed by Chinese ships and aircraft" at the shoal."We lodged the protest yesterday afternoon. The harassment of the vessel is part of the continued intrusion and illegal activities being done in the area," spokesman Raul Hernandez was quoted by the Agence-France Presse news agency as saying.He said that scientists, including nine French nationals, were manning the boat.But the Chinese embassy in Manila accused the boat of intrusion. "We urge the archaeological vessel to leave the area immediately," spokesman Zhang Hua said in a statement.Territorial disputePhilippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, in a statement, is asking China to settle the issue over ...

Ship headed to "safe port", German spokeswoman says A German ship that is suspected of transporting Iranian arms to Syria is being diverted to an unspecified port for inspection, a German government spokeswoman said on Sunday."The economy ministry has been in contact with the owner of the ship. The ship will now head for a safe port (in a different country). There the goods will be checked," a spokeswoman for the economy ministry told Reuters.She said she did not know specifically where the ship would dock for the inspection.On Saturday, the economy ministry had said it was investigating a report that the German-owned ship in the Mediterranean en route to Syria was carrying Iranian weapons in breach of an arms embargo.German magazine Der Spiegel, which broke the story, reported on its website that the Atlantic Cruiser had been chartered to a Ukraine-based company, White Whale Shipping, which had declared the cargo as "pumps and the like".Der Spiegel quoted ship broker Torsten Lueddeke of Hamburg-based C.E.G. Bulk Chartering as saying: "We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo."Der Spiegel reported the ship had loaded the cargo in Djibouti this week and changed course for Iskenderun in Turkey ...

Somali pirates have acquired sophisticated weaponry Somali pirates have acquired sophisticated weaponry, including mines and shoulder-held missile launchers from Libya, and are likely to use them in bolder attacks on shipping, a senior maritime security analyst said on Thursday."We found that Libyan weapons are being sold in what is the world's biggest black market for illegal gun smugglers, and Somali pirates are among those buying from sellers in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other countries," said Judith van der Merwe, of the Algiers-based African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism."We believe our information is credible and know that some of the pirates have acquired ship mines, as well as Stinger and other shoulder-held missile launchers," Van der Merwe told Reuters on the sidelines of an Indian Ocean naval conference.After Libya's ruler Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels in the north African state, weaponry from his well-stocked arsenals made its way onto the black market, she said.The information was gathered from interviews with gun smugglers, pirates and other sources, said Van der Merwe.Pirates operating from the Somali coast have raked in millions of dollars in ransoms from hijacking ships and a report in 2011 estimated that maritime piracy costs the ...

Counter-piracy operations Last Saturday in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the 16th annual "Malabar" exercise started, as part of ongoing cooperation between U.S. and Indian military forces. These 10 days joint exercises will consist of both ashore and at-sea trainings, including seminars on air defence, carrier aviation operations, integrated anti-submarine warfare operations and counter-piracy operations, ending on April 16th.The U.S. naval budget has undergone cuts and the resizing of the naval fleet since 2006 has led to significant reductions in ships number, despite news of future increases.India recently increased military expenditure with the purchase of two Russian-built nuclear submarines and plans to further strengthen anti submarines capabilities. China's increased military and naval capabilities explain India's attractiveness as a partner for the U.S. in the region.Source: Neptune Maritime Security

Says GAO All 43 U.S. port areas requiring a Coast Guard area maritime security plan have one, the Government Accountability Office says.In a report dated April 6, the GAO says it examined in detail AMS plans in seven high risk port areas, and that the Coast Guard provided documentation that the other 36 port areas also covered by a plan requirement have indeed put together one that includes elements for recovery and salvage response after an incident.American ports, waterways and vessels handle more than $700 billion in goods annually, according to DHS; any disruption to the marine transportation system could have widespread impact on the global economy, the GAO notes. (A port area can include multiple ports; the Delaware Bay port area, for example, includes Philadelphia, Pa., Trenton, N.J., Wilmington, Del., and other local ports.)The Coast Guard is the lead federal agency in charge of facilitating recovery should a natural or made-made disaster affect the system. The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 requires the Coast Guard to develop AMS plans and updated them every 5 years. The SAFE Port Act of 2006 ) stipulates that the plans should also include protocols for resumption of trade following an incident, and ...

The changing nature of piracy and related illegal maritime activity has forced a rethink The changing nature of piracy and related illegal maritime activity has forced a rethink in the way governments and businesses approach the threat, writes Alex Chitty (Journalist Global Response )As 2011 drew to a close, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported, for the first time in five years, a decline in piracy attacks upon commercial vessels. Although it was slight, with just six fewer attacks in 2011 than in the previous year, news of the decline could be seen as a vindication of the international naval presence in piracy hotspots, particularly the Gulf of Aden.Despite the fall, however, many in the maritime industry have warned against early celebration. While shipping companies have installed 'citadel' safe rooms to keep their crews safe, pirates have invested in new technology themselves. Just as growing numbers of navy interceptors cruise the dangerous waters off Somalia and Yemen, so pirates have begun to coordinate multiple vessels, throwing off search and rescue teams and re-supplying their comrades. As governments and businesses look towards the next decade in maritime security, it is clear the battle against pirates is far from over.Smuggling, crime, and ...

Maritime insecurity in West Africa is fast becoming a major area of concern Maritime insecurity in West Africa is fast becoming a major area of concern, particularly given the increase in piracy and armed attacks upon shipping and trade. Altogether 19 incidents of piracy and armed attacks have already been reported in 2012 according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)'s Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS),West African states have attempted to pre-empt the emergence of piracy by increasing their capacity to deter and prevent illegal activities. For instance, in response to attacks off its coastline Benin has recently purchased fast, armed patrol craft and other West Africa countries are likely to do the same. However, amidst this concern over West African piracy that could mimic piracy around the Horn of Africa, it is vital that one of the major sources of maritime insecurity that could lead to piracy and armed attacks in both regions be kept in mind, that of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.Major media investigations, including those by Al Jazeera in Sierra Leone and the UK's Guardian in Senegal, are slowly increasing the awareness of IUU. Any increase in insecurity amongst West African fishing communities as a ...

Joint marine environmental protection projects with Japan China has proposed joint marine environmental protection projects with Japan in the East China Sea as part of efforts to ease tensions over the disputed Senkaku Islands, sources said Monday.Foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to discuss the issue when they meet on the sidelines of a trilateral foreign ministerial meeting with South Korea in Ningbo, China, this weekend, the sources said.The Chinese government made the proposal earlier this year following an agreement between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in late December that the two countries would create a new bilateral mechanism to discuss maritime security, including crisis management involving incidents in the East China Sea.The two countries have begun studies on joint projects. In Japan, government agencies such as the Environment Ministry are studying scientific research in areas such as marine ecology as one of the envisaged joint projects, the sources said.By promoting joint projects, Japan hopes to create an environment in which the two countries can resume negotiations toward concluding a treaty on joint gas development in the East China Sea, the sources said. China may seek to conduct a joint survey on marine resources ...