A recent survey of 110 German shipping companies by PWC (formerly PriceWaterhouse Coopers) found that 12 used private security agencies in some capacity. Ruetten believes this is not nearly enough, and that too many companies rely on improvised defense measures like strapping mannequins to strategic positions on deck to make a ship look like it is being guarded.
I found this article over at Deutsche Welle. It gave a good run down of the German maritime security market and how they view PSC’s in the Gulf of Aden. The quote up top was really interesting, but as per usual, they have some folks here giving some very bad advice about the realities of the high seas.
Max Johns, spokesman for the Association of German Ship-owners is wrong on one of his points he brought up as well. The private security team he is referring to, was not armed and had no means of protecting themselves or the boat other than with the pathetic less than lethal crap they had. So his point that PSC’s are a bad idea because they are not dependable is wrong.
Unarmed PSC’s are a bad idea, and I am sure if these folks had a means to defend themselves and the crew, the outcome would have been far different. It is dorks like this spokesman who continue to promote this myth that less than lethal is an appropriate defense against pirates armed with RPG’s, PKM’s and AK 47′s. It is this same myth that creates this mindset that companies should just roll the dice, or pay the ransom if their vessel is taken. Meanwhile, every ransom paid just increases the size of the piracy problem. It is a simple equation–paying ransoms fuels piracy.
And those PSC companies that continue to tell shipping companies that being unarmed in those waters is a good idea, are equally to blame. It’s as if you are selling a company on the idea that you can magically protect them without using lethal force. Your strategies might work for some cases, but they will not cover the instances where a pirate force actually understands how to defeat your less than lethal measures (like using binoculars to tell if you have mannequins on the deck) and/or evasive maneuvers (ransom money allows investments in faster boats).
Just wait until pirates start coming aboard with cutting torches or shaped charges to open the doors of safe rooms or bridges/engineer rooms? Or when they start contracting captains and crews that know how to command these ships? The pirate is not dumb and they are learning and evolving as their industry is fueled by the profits gained by ransoms.
The point is, losing control of your ship is ‘losing control of your ship’. Having armed and competent security on a ship will at least give the crew and captain a fighting chance. Having a strong defense is also a crucial element in taking care of your people, which I would certainly hope a captain or the owner of a company would actually care about?
As for the German company IBS mentioned, I haven’t a clue as to who they are or what they are all about. If any of my German readers have anything to add, feel free to comment below. -Matt
Anti-piracy measures for sale in Hamburg
By Ben Knight
October 25, 2010
The hijacking of two ships over the weekend highlights the difficulties Western navies face combating piracy off the coast of Somalia. Many shipping lines are turning to private security firms for protection.
When it comes to global shipping, there is no avoiding the Gulf of Aden, which leads between the failed state of Somalia and Yemen - a nation security analysts describe as at-risk. These waters carry a significant share of the world’s wealth, including 11 percent of the world’s seaborne oil.
The 25,000 cargo ships that pass through the Gulf of Aden every year are tempting targets for heavily armed groups in Somalia, who claim overfishing by foreign vessels has robbed them of their livelihoods.
Earlier this year the International Maritime Bureau warned that attacks on merchant shipping are on the rise. European defense officials say Somali pirates are currently holding 20 ships and more than 400 crew for ransom off the Horn of Africa.
More attacks, more attention
With media attention snowballing and insurance premiums sky-rocketing, more and more shipping companies are turning to private security firms for protection.
One of them is International Bodyguard and Security Agency (IBS) – a company founded by Horst Ruetten, formally of the German navy.
From his office in the port city of Hamburg, Ruetten delivers an impressive sales pitch: “We offer everything from risk assessment for ships through to advice about equipment – razor-wire and bullet-proof blankets, everything that can help protect the crew – all the way to training.”
Ruetten also sends out teams of between five and seven men to guard the ships personally. They are armed with what he describes as “lethal” and/or “non-lethal” weapons, depending on the shipping company’s wishes. These teams cost several thousand euros a day.
Operation Atalanta
There is of course a state military presence off the coast of Somalia – Operation Atalanta, the official EU naval mission that occasionally makes the news when it storms hijacked ships and arrests pirates. But Juergen Strohsal, of the Hamburg-based cargo brokering company Teutonia, says that the political will behind this intervention is too weak.
“There is support, but not sufficient,” he told Deutsche Welle. “There are no results. If they get some of the pirates, no-one really punishes them, and they come back in force. I think the politicians have to do more about this, especially in our country.”
Horst Ruetten agrees, and points out something seldom mentioned in media reports about captured pirates: Atalanta’s official mission is to protect World Food Program ships carrying aid to Africa. It is not meant to be a nautical police force for the Gulf of Aden, and generally intervenes only once a hijacking has taken place. This has undoubtedly had a preventative effect, but prevention is not its purpose.
“In the anti-piracy conferences that happen every now and then, a lot of Atalanta spokesmen have told shipping companies ‘You have to do something about it. We can’t be everywhere at once,’” Ruetten says. “So the shipping companies have to ask themselves what they can do. That doesn’t happen enough.”
All mannequins on deck!
A recent survey of 110 German shipping companies by PWC (formerly PriceWaterhouse Coopers) found that 12 used private security agencies in some capacity. Ruetten believes this is not nearly enough, and that too many companies rely on improvised defense measures like strapping mannequins to strategic positions on deck to make a ship look like it is being guarded.
But the official line in the shipping industry is very cautious. Max Johns, spokesman for the Association of German Ship-owners (VDR), says that shipping companies are advised not introduce armed escorts on to their ships.
“By the law of the sea, only military personnel should act against pirates. That is the first point,” Johns says. ”Secondly we don’t know these private security teams. We don’t know how good they are, and we don’t know who to trust and who not to trust. They might have a fire-fight with the pirates – our crews are not trained to act in a military or semi-military conflict.”
The fear is that if a security guard killed an innocent Somali fisherman, it would cause a damaging legal headache for the shipping industry. Johns also questions how effective mercenaries really are when push comes to shove.
“They haven’t proven successful,” he says. “There were quite a few of those teams on board ships, and we had some incidents when those ships were boarded by pirates, and those people didn’t help at all.” “
“They didn’t make any difference. They even jumped overboard, because they didn’t want to get caught by pirates, and they were picked up then later out of the water by the navy.”
Johns is optimistic that vulnerable merchant vessels will soon have EU military personnel on board, but until then Ruetten and his team of professionals will continue making profits by running the gauntlet in the Gulf of Aden.
Story here.
[...] that I forecasted here on the blog. That the pirates would eventually use the tactic of boarding ships with blow torches so they can breach the ’safety rooms’. The pirates are also entering the realm of torturing their captives, probably to put pressure on [...]