Why good security training is worthwhile?
Experience shows that most often shipowners prepare their crews for an attack situation and in terms of preparing the ship to navigate in a threatened area by teaching the procedure of hiding the crew in a citadel. Completely forgetting the fact that this action may also prove to be ineffective. Failing to prepare seafarers for a situation of prolonged isolation as a result of being hijacked by pirates.
?Not to mention teaching how to behave in the event of a possible special forces action recapturing the ship. Selectively preparing ship crews for only one stage of a complex pirate attack, which consists of several elements that, depending on the success of the attack, also include hijacking and a long-term hostage incident is not proper preparation of personnel for shipping in the HRA. As is the training of crews by internal forces without the help of specialized external companies specializing in maritime security training. In the case of in-house training by the shipowner's security services, the lack of a thorough analysis and current situation in areas with high risk of pirate attacks, which is continuously performed by specialized maritime security companies such as Maritime Safety & Security, that analyze and monitor asymmetric threats at sea. Frankly speaking, in-house training does not give sailors the opportunity to obtain the necessary reliable knowledge of the modus operandi of pirates.
The situation with the MV Maritime Safety & Security Seafarers Training shows that proper training and preparation of the crew for a pirate attack could most likely save the seafarers from staying in isolation for 32 days and the shipowner from paying a $5 million ransom.
There is also a danger that if the crews of ships sailing in the HRA are not properly prepared for pirate attacks, and if their hijacking is as simple as the hijacking of the MV ABDULLAH this will encourage pirates to continue their activities and contribute to an increase in their activity in that area.
The MV ABDULLAH was the second ship after the MV RUEN to be hijacked in the Horn of Africa region after many years of relative calm and lack of pirate activity in the area.
Attacks by pirates who, since late November 2023, in addition to the hijacked vessels MV RUEN and MV ABDULLAH, attacks on MV CENTRAL PARK, MV LILA NORFOLK, MV NEW LEONIDAS, MV YAMILAH III, have also hijacked more than 19 smaller "dhow" vessels and fishing vessels, seven of which are still being held show that piracy in the Horn of Africa region is significantly recovering.
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??In a new twist on piracy in the Horn of Africa, previously estimated to have flourished in 2008/2012 today, pirates are leading 1:0. What's more, the $5 million won from the ransom will now be invested in their continued operations and the development of groups capable of carrying out attacks on ships. ??
??Experience with another threat in that area of Huti attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the Bab El Mandeb Strait, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden shows that current asymmetric threats to ships and shipping are at the highest level in the history of shipping.
Iranian-backed Huti militants have used ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones in 74 incidents and attacks targeting ships since November 2023: UAVs, USVs and UUVs, and WBIED (Water Borne Improvised Explosive Devices) payloads.
In the past four months, two ships: MV GALAXY LEADER and MV MSC ARIES were hijacked by Houthi commandos and soldiers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces (even using helicopters), the MV RUBYMAR was sunk, and an aerial attack killed three crew members of the MV TRUE CONFIDENCE.
This threat development shows that crews in immediate need of training to teach them how to adequately prepare their ships to navigate in a threatened area, as well as how to behave to minimize risks and losses in the event of such asymmetric attacks. Shipowners and those in charge of security should be fully aware that the requirements in this regard under the ISPS Code (International Ship and Port Facility Security Code) aimed at enhancing the security of shipping against terrorism are hardly relevant to today's threats.
?It should be recalled that the ISPS Code was established in 2004, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
??? Today's threats and the means of warfare used by state and non-state actors attacking international shipping are disproportionately more advanced and developed than the historical threats of Al Qaeda and the means then available to Islamic terrorists.
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