The lesson learned from the terrorist attack on the USS Cole – the bombing in Yemen’s Aden port in 2000 killed 17 sailors on the U.S. Navy destroyer – applied equally to supertankers, cargo vessels or cruise ships, he said: allowing small vessels alongside carries significant risks.
Murray said companies were for various reasons reluctant to consider employing armed personnel, apparently believing security should be left to navies.
“We believe that national navies should be reinforced by a protective presence on privately-owned ships for the same reason that banks and other firms that deal with money and money transfer use armed protective personnel who can react immediately during an event and before the local police can intervene,” he said.
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I don’t know how many other ways I can communicate the urgency here. Today’s navies cannot be everywhere at once. They were not able to stop this attack on a Japanese Tanker in the Strait of Hormuz (SoH), and it was pure luck that these booger eaters were not successful. Look at the photo below?
Let’s discuss what is at stake here. If 40 percent of the world’s oil transits through the SoH , then why are we not doing everything that is necessary to insure the SoH is not endangered by an attack on shipping like this again? If these guys destroy, or even capture a boat and purposely sink it in the SoH, that would have immense repercussions on the global economy. A global economy already on edge and in trouble with recession. Because an attack in the SoH, would be an attack that would drive up oil prices and thus drive fuel prices through the roof.
Now going back to the most effective strategy, and for that matter the most cost effective strategy to deal with this. A real push by private and public leadership needs to be focused on getting the shipping industry up to speed on protecting itself. Every boat going through the SoH should be required to have armed security that can adequately defend itself from not just one attack, but from a ‘swarming‘ attack. Because knowing how Al Qaeda and company operate, they will more than likely attempt this type of attack again in the future and modify the attack for a better chance of success. They are learning and they will apply those lessons.
As for the cost effectiveness? That comes from standing down Navies and limiting them to a quick reaction capacity for ships that are in trouble, as well as having them continue anti-piracy operations. Keep them on the offense. But in terms of trying to protect all ships everywhere via escort is an impossibility, and far too costly.(although I would still recommend escorting through choke points if possible, much like with the SoH) Have the shipping industry protect it’s own assets, much like banks or jewelry stores hire security to protect their assets. A super tanker is a costly thing, with an equally valuable payload, yet companies try to go cheap when protecting these two things? That dynamic needs to change, and having the Navies of the world allow that change to happen takes telling the shipping industry that they need to absorb this cost and take their fair share of the load in this endeavor. Besides, how does a destroyer or aircraft carrier meet the demands of the ‘many and small‘ with today’s enemies? We are talking about guys in small boats, armed with AK’s or explosive cargo?
The other angle that I keep thinking about is the concept of Qursaans or Jihadist Privateers. Al Shabab obviously has contacts with some of the best pirates in the world operating off the coast of Somalia. To tap into this industry and use it for other means would not be a stretch. A Somali pirate captain, who was the best in his industry, could take down one of these commercial ships in the SoH and then hand it, along with the hostages over to Al Qaeda. That’s probably if Al Qaeda offered a significant bounty for such a thing. The point being is that Al Qaeda could potentially take control of a ship and either ram it into another ship, sink it in place by blowing it and it’s hostages up, or using it as a weapon against a port (one that deals in oil). The imagination is the only limit.
Time is also not on our side. Jihadists know that economic problems throughout the west makes this the most opportune time to attack. That is why I declare that this is of utmost importance for armed security to be a top priority for today’s shipping, and especially those that are running through the SoH. There should be no more debate about it, no more conflicting expert analysis, no more talk about cost, or legal debates about the right of self defense on the high seas. Because at the end of the day, all of that will be shadowed by the massive economic destruction caused by such an attack or attacks. How long will ‘wishing’ and ‘hoping’ away reality last?-Matt
Tanker Damage Caused by Attack, Inquiry Finds
Act Now on Terror Threat to Key Oil Routes, Say Experts
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In this photo released by the Emirates News Agency (WAM), damage is seen on the side of the M. Star supertanker as it arrived at Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Emirates News Agency)
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Tanker Damage Caused by Attack, Inquiry Finds
By ROBERT F. WORTH
August 6, 2010
WASHINGTON — Investigators in the United Arab Emirates said Friday that a terrorist attack caused the mysterious damage a Japanese oil tanker suffered last week as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, raising fears of future attacks in the narrow channel that serves as a passageway for shipping crude oil from the Middle East to the rest of the world.
The damage to the tanker — which an Emirati official said was caused by “homemade explosives” aboard a dinghy — was not considered serious, and there was little immediate impact on oil markets on Friday.
But the news instantly fanned worries about shipping security. If confirmed, the attack would be the first of its kind in the volatile strait, which has long been a focal point for tensions with Iran, just across the water from the Arabian Peninsula.
About 17 million barrels of oil a day pass through the strait, close to 40 percent of the oil shipped by tankers worldwide.
The account of the attack came in a report published Friday by the state-run Emirates news agency WAM, from an Emirati coast guard official.
Earlier this week, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a militant group with ties to Al Qaeda, claimed it had carried out a suicide attack against the tanker, the M. Star.
American officials on Friday would not confirm that the episode was a terror attack, but one intelligence official said that the damage to the tanker — a large square dent on the hull’s port side — was “from an external explosion.” The official said it remained unclear whether the group taking credit for bombing the tanker was indeed involved.
Lt. John Fage, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said that a team of Navy divers had recently traveled to Fujairah to assess the ship’s damage.
The Japanese government was conducting its own investigation. Japan’s transportation minister, Seiji Maehara, said at a news conference in Tokyo that the government had obtained samples taken from the damaged portion of the tanker and would “conduct analyses for all possible causes, without prejudice.”
The ship, loaded with two million barrels of oil, was heading toward Japan on July 28 when a sudden force shattered windows, ripped off deck railings and blew off a lifeboat, in addition to punching the dent into its black-and-red hull. One crew member was slightly hurt.