Pirates - bane of the seven seas

by Rohan MATHES

Sea Piracy is as old as the sea itself. Piracy in the high seas could be traced back to the era where the Viking pirates prowled the seas in search of treasures. Later, sea roving plunderers have operated in the Horn of Africa including the Somali waters, the Gulf of Aden, South East Asia including Indonesian waters, the Malacca Straits, the South China Seas, South Asian waters as far west past Japan, the Bay of Bengal, the Niger Delta in West Africa and the Persian Gulf waters . Nevertheless, in no other time in the known history of maritime piracy, has this menace reached such exponential proportions, and impacted on the international marine industry, as now.

Latest statistics reveal that around 120 pirate attacks have occurred in 2008 alone, with over 50 successful hijackings. They have more than doubled to over 240 from 114, within the first six months of 2009, compared with the corresponding period of last year. Around 78 vessels have been boarded worldwide by the sea bandits, 75 have been fired at, 31 hijacked and around 561 crew members taken hostage. Around 19 of them have been injured, seven abducted, six killed and eight missing.

Although attacks have decreased considerably in Southeast Asia in the recent years, pirate activity has increased across thousands of square miles of sea area, from the Gulf of Aden, the narrow doorway to the Red Sea, to the Kenyan border, off the Somali coast, across the Indian Ocean.

The Somali pirates have emerged in the wake of the Somali internal conflicts, where ruthless terrorist outfits have consistently strived and threatened to destroy the ruling regimes there from the 1990s.

Nevertheless, the pirates, have also had a history that was most likely linked to alien, commercial fishing fleets, which poached and plundered the country’s valuable resources of ‘Tuna Fish’, within Somali territorial waters. Consequently, the traditional Somali fisher-folk had then transformed themselves into armed vigilantes, who demanded ransoms from the poachers.

The locations and modes of piracy attacks are multi-faceted, ranging from theft or robbery from a ship, stealing its cargo or ship’s equipment and withdrawing, attacks at ‘Anchorages’ within port limits or at outer anchorages, attacks when alongside and to the more complex and sophisticated hijacking of ships, which require much expertise and resources, and known to be carried out by large organized crime syndicates.

Attacks on a sailing ship at sea, can often be more threatening and dangerous for a ship’s crew, than one taking place in port, as the attack is likely to be planned and the attackers will almost certainly be armed.

The majority of these attacks have taken place on ships, around the Horn of Africa. Recent evidence suggests that one should assume the perpetrators to be carrying and prepared to use firearms, and in some cases, more powerful devices such as rocket-propelled grenades, AK47 rifles and the like.

They operate under cover of darkness, most often between dusk and dawn. One or more high speed, low-profile boats come alongside the intended target vessel, utilizing any blind spots available, such as an ‘approach from the stern’, but also the sides, if the ship has a low freeboard.

They would normally access the target vessel by climbing up on poles or by utilizing grappling irons, hooked on to the ship’s rails. Attackers have shown considerable dexterity, skill and courage to have boarded ships travelling in excess of 17 knots and with high freeboards.

They have demonstrated an ample knowledge of ship’s procedures, often seeking to board when bridge and engine room crew have been fully engaged in navigation, in congested or restricted waters.

They are aware of the target ship’s general layout. The small boats used by the attackers may come from nearby coastlines or be launched from ‘Mother’ ships in the vicinity. There have also been occasions where larger, unlit ships have been reported in the vicinity of the vessels which have been attacked.

In certain instances, the hijackers have also strived to mesh in, stealthily among local fishing boats or disguised themselves as Coast Guards or Naval Patrol boats and personnel, or Pilots, in order to board their target ship.

It is extremely disappointing that in the absence of an official Navy or in the least, a functioning and effective central government, whose economy is in tatters, Somalia could do very little to solve this issue. Piracy therefore, has inevitably evolved into a symptom of Somalia’s ills and chaos. To-date, the issue has aggravated and gone out of control of the authorities there.

Nevertheless, there is a ray of hope in the growing crisis, in that there is now a rising backlash on shore, on the pirate-infested region of northern Somalia, where some of the very communities who had been flourishing with pirate dollars, supplying these buccaneers with sanctuaries, brides to wed, respect and even government support, are now starting to detest them.

Anti-pirate militias are forming gradually, and sheiks and some government leaders are embarking on a venture to discredit the pirates.

They are viewed as stains on the devoutly Muslim, nomadic culture, and accused of introducing big-city evils and vices such as drugs, alcohol, street brawls and AIDS and the like. However, critics argue that there is a long way to go, in this promising development.

In cognizance of the relative ease of securing large ransoms in the order of millions of US dollars, pirating of merchant vessels has become a thriving and lucrative business of the Somali pirates. The status quo prevails and the robbers continue to haunt the Eastern coast of Africa, despite international concern, political pressure and even naval presence and operations in the region, especially at a time when the world is being rocked by an economic meltdown.

It is evident from past operations that the pirates too are highly sophisticated in their course of actions. Reports suggest that they use very efficient and high-tech equipment, such as satellite phones which are required for tactical communications off shore, in instances where local cell towers are beyond range. They are presumed to be utilizing GPS tracking equipment which are necessary to pinpoint their targets and navigate quickly, to and from the ‘capture area’, to their bases on the Somali coast.

The operations commence by tracking their targets. It is yet unknown how they obtain their intelligence. Nonetheless, recent developments indicate that they are well-informed and possess prior knowledge of voyage schedules of the ‘high value’ cargo vessels that are transiting the area, and pick them out at ease, without “roaming” aimlessly in the high seas.

The operation then advances to the actual ‘intercept’, where a “mother ship” moves into the area of their target craft, and then launches high-powered speedboats to transport the boarding parties.

The speedboats then approach the target ship, more often at night and fire on it, while being ready to board the ship, using ropes and ladders.

Following a successful boarding, the bandits of the ‘high-seas’ eventually storm the bridge and forcefully sails the ship towards their safe haven. The pirates are believed to be operating from Eyl, their de-facto headquarters. Eyl is apparently the hub of pirate activity. They live, escort their hostages and ships, and following a successful hijacking, demand and negotiate their ransom dealings.

They escort the ship’s crew ashore and resume negotiations with the commercial shipping company, pertaining to their ransom and the release of their captives.

The ransom is calculated on the value of the ship and more importantly, on its laden cargo. The highest ransom paid to-date, is believed to be around $30 million, for the Saudi oil tanker “Sirius Stars”, which was laden with crude oil, valued at some $100 million.

In some instances, the attackers have boarded ships, made their way to the Master’s Cabin and intimidated crew members by threats or assaults, and forced them to open the ‘safe’.

They have fled the ship, robbing what they could find, without alerting or disturbing other crew members.

There have also been incidents where crew members have been threatened to secure the crew’s compliance with their orders. In many hijacking cases, the entire crew has been seized and locked up, posing a serious threat to safe navigation of the vessel.

The attack itself may last only for a few minutes or an hour or so, but ships can be under the control of attackers for a longer period, with few or nil qualified personnel manning the Navigating Bridge or the Engine Room.

The vessel could be under the control of the attackers within this period.

This could result in placing the vessel in grave and imminent danger and risk of collision or grounding. There could be severe environmental pollution as well, if the ship is an oil tanker or chemical carrier.The ship’s crew, particularly the senior members, may now be more likely to be taken captive and held ransom, especially due to the trend where ransom demands have been met rather easily on earlier occasions.

As a life-saving, precautionary measure, ships’ crew members are strongly advised to adopt an acquiescent attitude, and to refrain from retaliating the hijackers, if attacked.

Nevertheless, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the crew members would be safe and immune from harassment, by the already agitated and antagonized attackers. Hopefully they would only be safe by providence.

In other instances, the chance of the pirates receiving their ‘ big ransom’ is usually in the affirmative, although the parties concerned may have to go through a tedious process of negotiations and re-negotiations.

No sooner the deal is through and the pirates are in possession of their ‘Reward’ in ‘hard cash, the hostages and the ship are then released.

The agonized seafaring crew, who had spent many sleepless nights in the company of their captors, would be exceedingly glad and triumphant over their release, and yearning to get to their homes, to be united once again with their loved-ones, at their earliest.

Nations and diverse groups and associations of the shipping and maritime fraternity both in the government and the private sector, have sat together and discussed, to seek a viable solution to the burning issue.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, for instance, have worked together and formulated collective mechanisms and taken counter measures to combat piracy, armed robbery and other acts of violence against merchant shipping, in their part of the world, the Malacca Straits in particular.

The EU countries have jointly mobilized a task force to combat piracy in this vast area of the Indian Ocean, the East African waters in particular, with little success. The U.S. Navy has a flotilla of war ships dedicated to anti-piracy operations. Russia, China and India also have ships operating in the region independently but with coordination with the EU task force in the Western Indian Ocean. Iran and Japan too, have sent their naval ships and joined the fray, to safeguard their interests.

In response to these heinous attacks, the Maritime fraternity in consultation with the relevant international bodies, have engaged in extensive research and devised diverse action plans, taken counter measures and proposed recommended practices to eradicate or at least mitigate the impact of such attacks.

The counter-piracy plans, watch-keeping and vigilance programmes, ships’ lighting, communications systems, closed-circuit television coverage (CCTV), provision of secure areas, alarm systems, evasive manoeuvring and the use of hoses to deter attackers, use of distress flares and in some limited cases, the carriage and use of firearms among others, are among those listed.

Nonetheless, rewards are too great to deter the hijackers.

The notorious pirates are still ahead and in the front seat. The seafaring crew will continue to relate their harrowing ordeals to their loved-ones back home and to the world at large.

(The writer of this article is a seasoned Merchant Navy officer who has sailed the seven seas and experienced a pirate attack)