piracy « Feral Jundi

Monday, April 18, 2016

Maritime Security: SAMI Announces Voluntary Liquidation

Filed under: Maritime Security — Tags: feral rundi, Maritime Security, MarSec, Peter Cook, piracy, SAMI, Security Association for the Maritime Industry — Matt @ 4:24 PM

The CEO of SAMI, Peter Cook said, “There has not been a successful hijacking of a commercial vessel in the High Risk Area since May 2012 and this is principally due to the increasing competence and professionalism of the private maritime security industry. This is the task SAMI set out to achieve and we have done it.”

Big news in the MarSec industry. SAMI or the Security Association for the Maritime Industry is liquidating. Like the article mentioned below, it is because of a huge decline in membership.

Although, there are some grumblings out there about SAMI being ineffective. Like for example, for the Seaman Guard Ohio incident, SAMI has not been able to do much for those men and the company, and you hear that amongst the community out there.

Either way, I still think SAMI has been pretty useful for getting everyone together and figuring out what needs to happen for regulating this industry. I mean the maritime security industry was the first PMSC group to have an ISO, so that is pretty cool.

Five years ago, piracy was pretty bad and numerous companies came onto the scene to answer the call. Some were good, and some were bad, and others had no business being involved with this stuff. But at the end of the day, PMSC’s saved the day out on the high seas.

It was groups like SAMI who decided to get organized and point the industry in the right direction with their voice, backed up by a membership of companies and insurance groups interested in the same thing. So for that, I thank SAMI and Peter Cook for putting in the effort.

As the readership knows, I actually dedicated a page to SAMI companies, just so folks had a resource to go to for finding MarSec companies. I will keep the page up until the SAMI website is gone. The companies that continue to provide MarSec will still be around. –Matt

Peter Cook, CEO of SAMI.

SAMI Voluntary Liquidation
APRIL 18, 2016

“The Security Association for the Maritime Industry Ltd Announcement of Voluntary Liquidation”
After 5 distinguished years of representing the private maritime security industry the Directors of the Security Association for the Maritime Industry Ltd (SAMI) have made the decision to put the company into voluntary liquidation.
SAMI was formed when piracy and hijackings off the coast of Somalia prevailed, but since the first members joined in April 2011 much has changed. The CEO of SAMI, Peter Cook said, “There has not been a successful hijacking of a commercial vessel in the High Risk Area since May 2012 and this is principally due to the increasing competence and professionalism of the private maritime security industry. This is the task SAMI set out to achieve and we have done it.”
The industry has also evolved and consolidated significantly; our membership has fallen from its peak of 180 to less than half that figure. Consequently the Association is no longer financially sustainable in its current configuration.
The SAMI Secretariat has worked tirelessly, on behalf of its membership, to represent them in as many influential forums as possible around the world and to establish an effective regulatory structure for the use of armed guards on board ships in the pirate-infested waters of the Indian Ocean.
It is globally recognised that SAMI has had a very positive influence on the development of the use of armed guards on board ships in the North-West IndianOcean. As noted by a former commander of the naval task force EUNAVFOR, the private maritime security industry “has a 100% rate of success”, thereby, protecting many thousands of seafarers from pirate attacks and the horrors and deprivations of being held hostage. SAMI has also reassured ship owners, charterers and marine insurers of a high standard of professionalism from the Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASP) providing a measured and proportionate response to deter pirates from attacking ships transiting the High Risk Area.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Film: The Project, By Shawn Efran And Adam Ciralsky

Filed under: Film,Somalia,Video — Tags: Adam Ciralsky, Erik Prince, Film, Lafras Luitingh, piracy, PMPF, Roelf Van Heerden, Shawn Efran, Somalia, Sterling Corporate Services, The Project — Matt @ 12:14 PM

Now this looks like a cool documentary and it will be interesting to see the reaction to this film? It definitely has an interesting cast of characters that were interviewed for the film or were actual participants. Specifically, the folks from SCS and the good work they did to train and stand up the PMPF. Here is a quote from below.

Cast: Roger Carstens, Erik Prince, Lafras Luitingh, Rudolph van Heerden, Michael Shanklin, Matthew Bryden

What will really be cool is if they were actually able to capture some of the hostage rescue missions that the PMPF performed, with the help of Roelf van Heerden and his men. –Matt

The Project

The scourge of Somali piracy has been devastating the Middle East and North African shipping industries for nearly a decade. As a country with no functioning central government for over twenty years and no military training permitted under UN sanctions, Somalia has been largely powerless to curb the increasingly bold and violent actions of the pirates. Enter the Puntland Maritime Police Force, a secret paramilitary group of mercenary pirate hunters. Initially so undertrained and malnourished that members broke their own legs during marching exercises, the PMPF grows its numbers and hones its tactics under the watchful eye of former U.S. Army Special Forces operative Roger Carstens. It ultimately faces mutiny, death and political infighting in a dangerous quest to pull off the impossible: waging an epic battle on the high seas to rescue dozens of innocent hostages.

Featuring interviews with controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince and the UN’s arms embargo monitor Matt Bryden, along with shocking firsthand footage from filmmakers embedded within the PMPF, The Project is a gripping, real-life war thriller exposing an unknown, anything-goes battle for control of the seas in one of the most dangerous places on earth.
—Cara Cusumano
Film Information Collapse
2013 | 90 minutes | Documentary Feature
Directed by: Shawn Efran and Adam Ciralsky
Language: English

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Martime Security: ’20 Floating Armories’ In The Red Sea, Gulf Of Aden And Indian Ocean

Filed under: Maritime Security,Quotes,Weapons Stuff — Tags: expulsis piratis restituta commercia, floating armories, Maritime Security, piracy — Matt @ 12:03 AM

About 20 ships stocked with assault rifles and other small arms as well as ammunition, body armour and night vision goggles are scattered around the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, the EU naval force has confirmed.

It is not perfect, but floating armories are what companies have had to turn to in order to accomplish the task. Where as I agree that some standard should be applied to how these armories function, on the other hand, thanks to this practice, ‘armed guards on boats’ has become a success. We are getting closer to achieving ‘Expulsis Piratis–Restituta Commercia’.

As for these armories being vulnerable to attack? Why would they? The operators of these vessels have every interest in the world to protect their precious and lethal cargo–and they have the tools to do that. If a pirate group wants to take on one of these floating armories, they will have to contend with the idea that the vessel is armed. But either way, some sort of standard for the defense and operation of these armories would be a good call.

I also was not aware of how many of these things were out there, and thanks to this article, that was identified. –Matt

Piracy fears over ships laden with weapons in international waters
Private security companies rely on unregulated ‘floating armouries’ in Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean
By Oscar Rickett
10 January 2013
Private security companies guarding ships against Somali pirates are increasingly storing their weapons on so-called “floating armouries” in international waters, to avoid arms smuggling laws when they dock in ports.
About 20 ships stocked with assault rifles and other small arms as well as ammunition, body armour and night vision goggles are scattered around the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, the EU naval force has confirmed.

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Sunday, December 2, 2012

Maritime Security: Piracy Plunges As More Ships Start Carrying Armed Guards

Filed under: India,Italy,Letter Of Marque,Maritime Security — Tags: Armed Guards, feral jundi, India, Italy, Letter Of Marque, Maritime Security, piracy — Matt @ 9:28 PM

“In 2011, the numbers of private armed security teams went up significantly and that has been a big game-changer as well, though not the only factor,” Olive said. “If that pressure is taken off it can all start to be unpicked relatively rapidly,” he added, referring to industry and military measures to combat piracy.

It’s nice to see some recognition going towards the efforts of armed security out there. They have been a ‘big game-changer’ and the statistics speak for themselves.

Although one looming iceberg that can really mangle the record of private armed guards are shootings that result in innocent people being killed. I have to imagine that we will see private maritime security industry involved in such a thing, and an example of how that might turn out can be seen with the shooting accident that happened last February between some Italian Marine vessel protection guards and an Indian fishing vessel.

In that accident, one innocent person was killed, and it is the type of deal that has been all over the news in both India and Italy. This kind of international incident would literally destroy a security company and absolutely embarrass the client. But it would also be the kind of incident that would put some extreme negative attention on the maritime security industry as a whole. The question is how do you prevent something like that from happening, and can you?

Logically speaking, it is bound to happen. So the prudent thing for companies is to actually prepare your legal strategic defense for such an event. To study how this specific event between the Italians and Indians, and learn from it to get a good game plan together. Of course you always want to refine your rules of engagement and enforce it with training and good management/leadership, but in the realm of combat, unfortunate things happen and companies must be prepared.

One final point is the use of the Letter of Marque (LoM) or a similar licensing system. This could be used as a form of protection for those armed guards on the high seas. If the ship’s captain carries a LoM for that vessel, issued by the same state the vessel is flagged under, then in that case the state can identify through that license what they are legally willing to support when it comes to the defense of that vessel. Under the terms of the LoM, you can list all sorts of requirements of the vessel’s protection team, and you can write up legal protections for that team and vessel.

The main point of this type of LoM is to get the state back into the game of regulating armed force on these vessels and provide some kind of legal protections and accountability. If states are willing to put their flag on a vessel, then why not go the whole way and allow them to issue a LoM or similar license for this kind of ‘warfare on the high seas’? –Matt

Piracy plunges as more ships start carrying armed guards
November 30, 2012
By Michelle Wiese Bockmann
Pirate attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean fell 81 per cent this year as the use of armed security guards on ships acted as a “game-changer,” according to the European Union’s naval force.
There were 34 attacks by Somali pirates, with five vessels hijacked so far in 2012, compared to a record 176 assaults in the whole of last year that resulted in 25 ships seized for ransom, according to Peter Olive, the EU Naval Force’s chief of staff.
Ransom payments to Somali pirates totaled $36 million so far this year, compared with $147 million last year, he said Thursday at a briefing at the EU’s naval force headquarters at Northwood, England. As well as more aggressive military operations, the increasing deployment of private guards over the last 18 months on vessels transiting high-risk areas contributed to the declines, Olive said.
“In 2011, the numbers of private armed security teams went up significantly and that has been a big game-changer as well, though not the only factor,” Olive said. “If that pressure is taken off it can all start to be unpicked relatively rapidly,” he added, referring to industry and military measures to combat piracy.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Funny Stuff: Party Seems Over For Somali Pirates–Prostitutes Lament

Filed under: Funny Stuff,Somalia — Tags: Funny Stuff, piracy, prostitutes, Somalia — Matt @ 4:54 PM

There they found pirates who once owned vast villas living in darkened, unfurnished rooms, hiding from their creditors.
Prostitute Faduma Ali longs for the days when her pirate customers had money. As she smoked a hookah in a hot, airless room in Galkayo last week, she sneered as she answered a phone call from a former customer seeking some action on credit.
“Those days are over. Can you pay me $1,000?” she asked. That’s what she once got for a night’s work. “If not, goodbye and leave me alone.”
“Money,” she groaned as she hung up.

Too funny. If you want to know the health of an illicit industry like piracy, then turn to the prostitutes as a way of gauging that. lol

I also love that Faduma Ali pictured below is a prostitute, but still wears what looks like the niqab or veil. I really don’t know how she is viewed upon by Islamic scholars or other muslims there in the city she lives in, and I am surprised the extremists haven’t killed her or made an example of her yet?

But back to the big point here. This is just more proof that the current strategy of getting armed guards on boats–and I mean all vessels going through GOA–is the right path. Congratulations to all involved with the effort, to include the navies of the world and the private armed guards on boats.

On that note, just because the Somali pirate industry is suffering, does not mean that they are out of the picture or that other pirates from around the world won’t do their thing. For example, Nigerian pirates seem to be really upping their game and increasing their use of violence. The truly desperate and dangerous pirates are out there, and they are committing atrocity in order to achieve their goals. It is these wolves, that continue to hunt and seek weakness, that we need to be on guard for.

I would hate to see armed guards on boats get over taken by better armed and highly determined pirates….. But the realist in me just assumes that it will happen, and all we can to is to continue to press for the entire industry stay one step ahead. Both in planning/intelligence and in optimum weapons for that voyage. –Matt

$1000 a night no more: Prostitute Faduma Ali, who longs for the days when her pirate customers had money, chews the stimulant khat and smokes a cigarette at a house in the once-bustling pirate town of Galkayo, Somalia. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) Source: AP

AP IMPACT: Party seems over for Somali pirates
By ABDI GULED
09/25/2012
The empty whiskey bottles and overturned, sand-filled skiffs littering this once-bustling shoreline are signs the heyday of Somali piracy may be over. Most of the prostitutes are gone and the luxury cars repossessed. Pirates while away their hours playing cards or catching lobsters.
“There’s nothing to do here these days,” said Hassan Abdi, a high school graduate who taught English in a private school before turning to piracy in 2009. “The hopes for a revitalized market are not high.”
Armed guards aboard cargo ships and an international naval armada that carries out onshore raids have put a huge dent in piracy and might even be ending the scourge.
While experts say it’s too early to declare victory, the numbers are startling: In 2010, pirates seized 47 vessels. This year they’ve taken five.
For a look at the reality behind those numbers, an Associated Press team from the capital, Mogadishu, traveled to the pirate havens of Galkayo and Hobyo, a coastal town considered too dangerous for Western reporters since the kidnappers have turned to land-based abductions over the last year.
There they found pirates who once owned vast villas living in darkened, unfurnished rooms, hiding from their creditors.
Prostitute Faduma Ali longs for the days when her pirate customers had money. As she smoked a hookah in a hot, airless room in Galkayo last week, she sneered as she answered a phone call from a former customer seeking some action on credit.

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