Feral Jundi

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Maritime Security: Blackwater Plans Effort Against Piracy

Filed under: Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , — Matt @ 12:28 AM

     So far, I like this model of anti-piracy more than anything else that has come up.  I think what BW plans on doing, is just posting up in international waters so it can immediately cover down on clients when they enter the danger zone.  And in the mean time, BW can recce the routes with helicopters and ferry armed guards onto the boats that they are contracted with.  Although to do this safely, BW will have to coordinate with the client’s ships, so they are all within range of the McArthur.  

     And if you read the article below, deterrence and the right to self defense is BW’s ‘right’, according to their spokeswoman.   That says to me that they will have weapons and they will defend self and the client.  But because I am not in the loop, I am only making assumptions. I must say, a Mk 38 would look pretty nice on the bow of the McArthur.  –Head Jundi

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WSJ McArthur

The McArthur can carry helicopters and inflatable boats.   

 

Blackwater Plans Effort Against Piracy

DECEMBER 3, 2008

By AUGUST COLE

Private security firm Blackwater Worldwide began holding meetings in London on Tuesday with potential clients for a new business venture — protection from pirates.

The Moyock, N.C., firm, which has grown rapidly through State Department security work in Iraq, has been courting shippers and insurance firms about protecting ships in pirate-infested waters. It’s meeting with more than a dozen firms this week and hopes to drum up its first contract.

There have been almost 100 attempts this year to seize ships off East Africa, fewer than half of which were successful, according to the U.S. Navy. On Nov. 30, two skiffs harassed an Oceania Cruises Inc. ship passing through the Gulf of Aden. Eight shots were fired at the cruise liner, which evaded the boats, according to the Miami-based company.

(more…)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Maritime Security: Somali Pirates Hijack Ship, British Guards Escape

Filed under: Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , — Matt @ 1:51 PM

    Boy, on the surface, the story does not sound good.  Why are the guards jumping ship, and leaving their client to the mercy of pirates?  And how did these guards miss this one?  Most of all, were they even armed to defend the ship?  Lots of questions about this incident, and I will not judge before I hear everything.  

   Like I have said before, sooner or later these pirates will catch on to the fact that most of these security companies that are posting guards on these ships are lightly armed, or worse yet, just outfitting them with less than lethal stuff like the LRAD.  These guys are smart, and they will do all they can to sneak up on these ships.  They will pose as coast guards, or a distressed ship in need of help, and as soon as they can get up on the craft, they will board. It is a tactic as old as the sea, and in my opinion, we need to start learning some of these ancient lessons on how to deal with pirates. –Head Jundi 

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Somali pirates hijack ship, British guards escape

By KATHARINE HOURELD 

November 28, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members on board Friday, and three British security guards were rescued by helicopter after jumping into the sea, officials said.

A warship on patrol nearby had sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship, diplomatic officials said on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak with media.

(more…)

Monday, November 24, 2008

Maritime Security: Somali Piracy Offers Huge New Market for Private Security

Filed under: Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , — Matt @ 11:28 AM

Somali piracy offers huge new market for private security

Agence France-Presse | 11/21/2008 10:08 PM

NAIROBI – Protecting ships in Somalia’s pirate-infested waters could be the

next big thing for the world’s ever-growing private security industry but

the legalities are complex, experts said Friday.

Last week’s hijacking of a Saudi super-tanker worth a quarter of a billion

dollars has raised the issue of onboard security for the world’s merchant

fleet, which carries an estimated 90 percent of the planet’s traded goods.

(more…)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Maritime Security: How to Deal With Pirates

Filed under: Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , — Matt @ 12:01 PM

“Steer the hostile prow to Barb’ry’s shores,” wrote an anonymous poet, a veteran of the Battle of

Bunker Hill, “release thy sons, and humble Africa’s power.”

 

      Finally, some voice of reason out there.  The only way Somali pirates will stop doing what they are doing, is to fight them.  If we keep paying them off, and continue this policy of not fighting them, then they will only continue to do it.  And what do you know, piracy has only gotten worse in that region.  So whom ever these so-called experts are, that continue to give shipping companies this advice of not fighting back and just paying them off, have done more to increase piracy in that region than anything else. And it seems we have learned this lesson before in the past. –Head Jundi  

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NOVEMBER 22, 2008

How to Deal With Pirates

By MICHAEL B. OREN

The rise of piracy is threatening international trade and raising complex questions. The only way to end the scourge is to respond aggressively, says Michael B. Oren.

The attack began when an unidentified vessel drew alongside a merchant ship in the open sea and heavily armed brigands stormed aboard. “They made signs for us all to go forward,” one of the frightened crewmen remembered, “assuring us in several languages that if we did not obey their commands they would massacre us all.” The sailors were then stripped of all valuables and most of their clothing and locked in the hull of their own captured ship. They would be held in unspeakable conditions, subsisting on eight ounces of bread a day and threatened with beating and even beheading should they resist. “Death would be a great relief and more welcome than the continuance of our present situation,” one of the prisoners lamented.

(more…)

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Maritime Security: HollowPoint Protective Services Enters the Game

     I have never heard of these guys, and the website gives me the impression that it is one of those companies that are trying to compete with the big dogs in the industry.  I will not endorse this group, but I did want to put out there what the company was doing and what the CEO had to say.  I hope he does secure work over there, but I have to say that they are competing with some pretty big companies right now for the same kinds of services.  We’ll see, and if any of the readership has anything more to add about this company, feel free to make a comment. –Head Jundi

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“SHIPS NEED ARMED GUARDS,” SAYS SECURITY FIRM CHIEF

Monday, 20 October 2008

 

THE CEO of a US-based private security company providing armed protection to merchant ships has hit out at the widespread opposition to the practice within the shipping industry and from maritime administrations. And he claims that pirates and others intent on attacking ships know which flags allow armed guards and factor that into their targeting.

(more…)

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