Tag: SaveOurSeafarers

32,149 SOS letters sent from the SOS website to governments worldwide so far On the eve of European Maritime Day, the international anti-piracy campaign, SOS SaveOurSeafarers, is calling on Europeans to continue to support seafarers and their families in the long, hard fight against Somali piracy.The campaign is using the EU's celebration of its seafarers to remind Europeans of the continuing threat faced by the world's seafarers and their families. Hostages suffer both physically and psychologically while being held for ransom and their families also endure huge anguish.Alastair Evitt, chairman of SOS SaveOurSeafarers, says:"Despite the international community's strenuous efforts to combat piracy, the world's seafarers continue to face the fear of being attacked in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, while helping to keep world trade moving. Since the launch of the SOS campaign last March, we have played a significant role in increasing awareness and interest worldwide of the realities of Somali piracy."Of the 32,149 SOS letters sent from the SOS website to governments worldwide, a significant number of letters have been sent to European governments. We encourage every person in the Europe to support their seafarers and their families on European Maritime Day. Add your voice to ...

Seatrade Award for Countering Piracy The SaveOurSeafarers (SOS) campaign has been honoured with a Seatrade Award for its significant contribution in the fight against Somali piracy.The Seatrade Award for Countering Piracy was presented at the prestigious and respected Seatrade Awards ceremony, with more than 350 of the maritime industry's key players attending a high profile dinner at the Guildhall in London last night (May 14). Former UK Minister of State Michael Portillo was the Guest of Honour.Alastair Evitt, Chairman of SaveOurSeafarers and President of InterManager, accepted the award on behalf of the campaign. Hesaid: "Since the launch of the SOS campaign just over a year ago, SOS has developed a very strong and distinctive brand; it has helped to place the issue of Somali piracy firmly on the international agenda by securing broad mainstream media coverage; and it has helped achieve political recognition of Somali piracy as a real economic and humanitarian threat, significantly raising awareness and interest worldwide in the terrifying economic and humanitarian realities of Somali piracy, and the on-going plight of seafarers and their families."Currently over 225 seafarers are held hostage by Somali pirates, deprived not only of their freedom but also of proper food, and facing ...

Save Our Seafarers speaking to BBC news about the cost of piracy to the shipping industry

Mr Alastair Evitt has been appointed chairman of the SOS campaign Alastair Evitt, President of InterManager and Managing Director of Meridian Marine Management Ltd, has been appointed chairman of the Save Our Seafarers campaign.Mr Evitt, who was previously SOS vice chairman, succeeds Giles Heimann who is stepping down to concentrate on his role as Secretary General of the International Maritime Employers' Committee LtdSave Our Seafarers (SOS) was launched in March 2011. It is calling for unified action to raise awareness of the human and economic cost of Somali piracy, and for greater political will to be shown by governments in their actions on this critical issue. The internationally important campaign has gained support across more than 190 countries worldwide.Through its internationally-recognised website, SOS provides up to date information and resources which highlight the effect of international pirate activity on the shipping industry, particularly the world's seafarers who risk robbery, captivity and even death.SOS has produced a short video highlighting the human and economic cost of Somali piracy. The six-minute video highlights the significant threat of Somali piracy attacks for the worldwide seafarer community and potentially for world trade itself.The video can be viewed by the following direct link: http://youtube/xgq71beY9JcAlastair Evitt, ...

To create an international task force to discourage the payment of ransoms The Round Table of international shipping associations (RT) and the SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign (SOS) have sent letters to the British Prime Minister David Cameron (SOS has also sent letters to the Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham and to the Transport Minister Mike Penning) to say that the international shipping organisations that they represent are highly disturbed by statements made earlier this month during the London Somalia Conference by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.They spoke of creating an international task force to discourage the payment of ransoms and eliminate the profit motive, and about admitting the ultimate ambition of stopping ransom payments to pirates and other groups.(Clinton) "And we welcome the UK's initiative to create an international task force to discourage the payment of ransoms to pirates and other groups to eliminate the profit motive and prevent the illicit flow of money and its corrosive effects." (Cameron) "Let's create an international taskforce on ransoms. And let's set the ultimate ambition of stopping these payments because in the end they only ensure that crime pays." To see the SOS letter click hereTo see ...

SaveOurSeafarers video - 90 sec version Innocent seafarers on commercial cargo ships are being held to ransom for millions of dollars by armed gangs of Somali pirates. The cost of Somalian piracy is both human and economic.It affects seafarers and their families and YOU. Piracy costs the global economy $7-12bn a year because it is beginning to strangle key supply routes. You can make a difference.

769 seafarers were captured between 2006 and 2011 The international anti-piracy group Save Our Seafarers (SOS) is urging ship operators and governments to take more concrete actions against Somali pirates because 65 seafarers died in the last five years "through torture, murder, suicide, malnutrition and disease.""These criminal gangs are holding the world economy ransom. Hundreds of seafarers have been held hostage and the physical and mental ill-treatment they are forced to suffer makes horrifying reading," SOS chair Giles Heimann said."The potential economic impact of the crisis is hugely disturbing given the knife edge on which the global economy is currently perched," he added. According to the January 31, 2012 figures of the worldwide piracy center of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), Somali pirates are currently holding captive 10 vessels and 159 hostages.Out of some 400,000 Filipino seafarers, who make up a quarter of the world's seagoing workforce, 769 were captured between 2006 and 2011.To protect seafarers from piracy attacks, the Philippine government has expressed its support for the proposal to use of armed private security guards on Philippine-flagged sea vessels.However, Philippine shipping companies that will use private guards will have to adhere to the strict guidelines set by the Maritime ...

Hollywood-style action sequences highlight piracy threat to world trade An anti-piracy film produced for the international SaveOurSeafarers (SOS) campaign, scooped the top prize at the Royal Television Society (RTS) North-East and Border awards. The short film, produced by YourFilm, fought off stiff competition to win the award for Best Promotion or Commercial at the awards held at Gateshead in north-east England.Featuring Hollywood-style action sequences, the video highlights the significant threat of Somali piracy attacks on the worldwide seafarer community and the impact on world trade.Matthew Newman, MD of YourFilm, said: "The SOS film was a great project to work on and pushed us to our creative limits."It included various unique challenges, not least the logistics of securing a location with a port happy to allow us to film a dozen guys dressed as pirates with AK-47s."Bill Box, Secretary of SOS SaveOurSeafarers, added: "We are delighted that Your Film has received industry recognition for the SaveOurSeafarers video which is playing a pivotal role in taking our campaign message to a wider audience."It has helped us to gain support outside as well as inside the maritime industry and highlights the need for firmer government action against Somali piracy."The campaign, launched in March ...

London Somali conference failed to mention the plight of seafarers SOS SaveOurSeafarers welcomes the London Conference on Somalia which was attended by 55 delegations from Somalia and the international community, and willingly supports its focus on unifying the international community in its coordinated support to Somalia, in the hope that a new era of Somali politics, supported by the international community, will bring peace to Somalia.SOS thanks the UK Prime Minister for urging delegates to "keep up the pressure on pirates". SOS specifically welcomes the Conference's acknowledgement of shipping industry and naval efforts to combat piracy and its commitment to international military efforts with robust rules of engagement. The naval forces and the shipping industry succeeded in halving the number of successful hijackings (to 25 in 2011 from 47 in 2010) despite an increase in hijack attempts (to 151 in 2011 from 127 in 2010). But both need resources, commitment and perseverance to defeat and eradicate Somali piracy as opposed to simply deterring and repressing it.However SOS is disappointed that the Conference's phrase 'hostages in Somalia' does not acknowledge the world's seafarers and the hardship seafarers have to go through in order to keep world trade moving through this area, ...

46 Somali pirates are now being held now The recent arrest by the UK naval vessel RFA Fort Victoria of 14 Somalis on a hijacked fishing boat in possession of rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and explosives put the UK Government on the spot - perhaps unfairly given the recent successes of the Royal Navy and other navies in disrupting pirate mother ships, pirate activities and the political leadership the UK particularly, has shown.The latest arrests however mean up to 46 Somali pirates are now being held by US, UK, Danish, Italian and Spanish warships operating in the Indian Ocean, evidence of the new vigour being shown by the naval forces to contain Somali piracy. Spain's judicial authorities will prosecute the 6 Somali pirates who attacked the EUNAVFOR flagship ESPS Patino on 12 January. The UK is said to be talking with the Seychelles about transferring the 14 pirates there for prosecution."But many of these suspected pirates may be released because seemingly no country is willing to prosecute them" observes Giles Heimann, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the shipping industry's SOS SaveOurSeafarers ** (SOS) campaign.Not enough countries are actively contributing to the fight to counter Somali piracy - especially those ...