This was originally posted on July 2, 2008 but with more and more pirate attacks in the news I have updated it and think it deserves another look. This comes in response the recent hijack of a Malaysian ship in the Gulf of Aden and is the fourth attack in the area this month.
Piracy has long been a problem in the Gulf of Aden, where one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, passes by lawless Somalia, which has been without an effective central government since 1991.
IMB live piracy map 2008
This map is brought to us by the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre, a division of the International Marine Bureau. It is compiling a live Google map mashup of all reported pirate attacks for 2008. So far this year Nigeria has seen the most pirate incidents fallowed by Indonesia and Bangladesh.
What is the IMB?
IMB’s main task is to protect the integrity of international trade by seeking out fraud and malpractice. For over 20 years, it has used industry knowledge, experience and access to a large number of well-placed contacts around the world to do this: identifying and investigating frauds, spotting new criminal methods and trends, and highlighting other threats to trade.
The information gathered from sources and during investigations is provided to members in the form of timely advice via a number of different communication routes. It lists the threats and explains how members can reduce their vulnerability to them. Over the years, this approach has thwarted many attempted frauds and saved the shipping and trading industry many millions of dollars.
What is the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre?
A major part of the IMB’s work to make shipping safer involves assisting in the suppression of piracy and armed robbery against ships around the world.
In 1992, the escalating number of piracy incidents led to the establishment of a Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its job is to raise awareness of piracy hotspots, detail specific attacks and their consequences, and investigate incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea and in port. Another role entails working with national governments on a range of initiatives to reduce and ultimately eradicate attacks against ships.
The Centre, managed by the IMB, has enjoyed considerable success over the years and has made huge strides towards meeting its objectives to reduce piracy and in increasing general awareness of the problem.
Past Years Maps
2007: Google maps mashup of pirate attacks
2006: Google maps mashup of pirate attacks
2005: Google maps mashup of pirate attacks
IMB also has a Weekly Piracy Report that can be found HERE.
Tags: · google-maps, ISPS Incidents, mashup, piracy, pirates
The NY Times reports on unfortunate news from the ship I’d most like to sail on, the Hospital Ship Mercy. They write:
Though countries in Southeast Asia have, with American help, been making some headway against terrorist groups in the region, as Eric Schmitt reported in The New York Times today, there are also “worrisome signs that the threat could rebound quickly,” Mr. Schmitt reported.
Right on cue, then, comes the news today that the United States Navy is calling a halt to a humanitarian mission in Mindanao in the strife-torn southern Philippines because someone shot at and hit one of its helicopters.
The Associated Press reports that the helicopter had flown inland from the U.S.N.S. Mercy, a hospital and relief ship, to pick up 11 passengers, and when it returned to the ship, mechanics found two holes in it:
“The holes appear to be an entry and exit point from a single bullet,” said Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a Navy spokesman.
It is unclear if the bullet struck while the passengers were on the helicopter, he said. There were no injuries, and the aircraft’s commander was unaware of any bullet striking the aircraft during the flight, Davis said.
Who would shoot at a helicopter on a humanitarian mission? Continue Reading…
While the ship is owned by the United State’s Military Sealift Command (the civilian branch of the US Navy) and the hospital is staffed primarily by Navy personel the ship itself is run by civilian mariners. In a previous post we write:
The Hospital Ships Comfort and Mercy are maintained in reduced-operating status (ROS), at their homeports, on standby to sail within five days of notification. While on ROS, the ships have only small crews. The Comfort, for example, has 58 Navy personnel and 18 civilian mariners on board, explained her civilian captain, Master Mariner Dean Bradford, in a tour of his vessel.
A full description of the ship’s mission can be found HERE.
Tags: · Hospital Ship, ISPS Incidents, philippines
For those curious how the editors at gCaptain research maritime incidents like the Cosco Busan’s allision with San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, here are some of the websites that provide excellent reference material.
Our first stop in researching any maritime related topic is our own Maritime Industry CSE. It’s a powerful resource since it provides search results with the aid of google’s powerful search database and algarithims. Actually the only difference between it and google.com is the fact that our tool narrows the results down and only displays sites that pertain to large ships.
*Tip: Try the “incidents” refinement to narrow down the results even further.
If you are looking for trusted information on incidents as they happen then MAC should be your first stop. Be sure to visit their podcast section as well as their links page which contains a list of the best maritime resources for incident prevention.
For those looking for data that specifically pertains to Container Ships, head over to Searates’ Container Ship Reference Book. Not only is it full of Web 2.0 eye candy, it also has some great hard data.
*Tip: Its shipping lines section has links to both Cosco and Hanjin. By visiting Cosco’s site you will quickly learn they have removed their official “Cosco Busan” statement from Nov 11th.
For breaking news your first stop should be our Maritime News Discoverer but a close second is our Maritime News Mash-up which is automatically updated with the industry’s most trusted news sources.
*Tip - Also take a look at our gCaptain News and Maritime Blog Mash-ups
For those looking for expert opinion from Ship Captain’s we hope you contact us… but your next stop should be CAMM. Contact them directly for contacts from the Maritime Expert Database.
Traditional media is know for making small errors when reporting maritime incidents. To obviate this problem subscribe to MAREX’s FREE weekly newsletter. It is published every Thursday and is written by professional journalists with maritime backgrounds. For past articles click HERE.
*Tip: If you are more interested in weekly blog postings check out Fred Fry’s Maritime Monday
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If you have a reference site of interest please submit it to our Maritime News Discoverer under the category “Links“
Tags: · contact, container_ship, container_shipping, container_ships, cosco, custom_search_engine, expert_database, Fire Incidents, gCaptain, google, hanjin, Incidents, incident_prevention, ISPS Incidents, Lifesaving Incidents, Maritime Expert, maritime_industry, maritime_news, maritime_resources, MARPOL Incidents, Master Mariner, master_mariners, refrences, San Francisco, shipping_lines
The IMB reports on a sharp increase in the number or piracy attacks. The BBC tells us:
The increase is in large part because of a jump in incidents off the west and east coasts of Africa - with Somalia again a key source of concern.
The IMB advises merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles from the Somali coast.
The UK-based global watchdog, which comes under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce, says the pirates appear to be using “mother vessels” to launch smaller boats well out to sea. Read More…
The numeric rise in incidents is not the only problem. EagleSpeak reports on acts of cruelty being perpetrated by Somali pirates (LINK). What’s being done about the problem? NATO has considered active protection of ships near Somalia and France has offered to protect the Word Food Program’s ships in the area. Otherwise, not much.
Links;
Tags: · ISPS, ISPS Incidents, malacca-straight, piracy
