The last gasp

• Of all the man-made threats that lurk upon the seas, without doubt the most frightening is coming face-to-face with armed men intent on boarding your vessel. In simple terms, someone – somewhere – was attacked by pirates today, and it’s almost certain that violence was involved– Daniel Sekulich

• he used to say that a friend would be more grateful if he gave him back what he had taken than if he had never taken it– Herodotus

• Pirates are the most hated enemies of Rome, and not just of Rome, but of all mankind

• Cicero

• “It is an ancient custom of the land of the Illyians and of its rulers that the queen does not interfere with the actions of her private citizens taking plunder on the sea”

Queen Teuta

•The Vikings

•Pirates to Empire Builders

Crescent and the Cross

Singe the king of Spain’s beard

• “My Lord, it is a very harsh sentence. For my part, I am the Innocentest of them all, only I have been sworn against by perjured persons”

If anyone is willing I would be happy to

receive electronic versions of your papers

Request

So what is piracy?

• Any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends … on the high seas– From Article 101 of

1982 UN Convention on the law of the Sea

– (UNCLOS)

• Any act of boarding or attempting to board any ship with the apparent attempt to commit theft or any other crime with the apparent intent or capability to use force on the furtherance of that act– International Maritime

Bureau– IMB

• Or is it• Worlds longest running conflict• A de-facto low-level war against

a community that has been going on since ancient times

• That community: mariners–Community with own history and traditions

• IMB is to piracy today what Captain Johnson is to piracy of golden age–first and best resource

• Part of International Chamber of Commerce– Based in Paris

• IMB founded in London in 1981– Headquarters in sight of execution dock

• 1992 opened Piracy Reporting Centre – PRC– Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Non profit• Non governmental organization• Collects info from

– Shipping industry– Government organizations– Media– Individual mariners

• Before them no one was gathering info

• Makes info easily and freely available to everyone

• IMB Piracy Reporting Centre

Director IMB Pottengal Mukundan

Attacks steadily go up

• In 1994 there were only 90 actual or attempted attacks reported to us, but by 2000 that figure had risen to 469.

• The attacks went down a bit in 2005-2006, but then began to increase again: we had 198 attacks in the first nine month of 2007, up 14% from the same period a year earlier

• large number of attacks which go unreported

• Down in 2005-2006 why?

• Indonesian Tsunami

• Rise in 2007 why

• Partially– failure of

harvest in failed state

– Somalia

• But first I want to stay in the Americas

• And look at two areas

• Caribbean• Brazil• IMB Piracy Repo

rting Centre

• 1970s-1980s peak period in Caribbean for what became known as Yachtjacking

• Not just the Caribbean but also Gulf of Mexico, Baja California

• Early 1970s• Yacht Lupita found wrecked on an

island in Gulf of California• Believed that two american couples

on board killed • By “American students” needing jobs• Used for single drug run north

• Usual way of attack• Not boat to boat • Rather owners/operators of

yachts hired young “students” needing work and ride back to USA

• Then in effect a mutiny–traditional method of gaining a ship for piracy

• Coverage in US newspapers heightened concern– Numbers as high as 2000 murdered– 610 boats lost

• In reality • It did happen

– Was brutal • but not to these levels

– Accidents– Storms– Insurance scams

• All played part in raising numbers

• 1996 Klaus Hympendahl , founded

• International Centre for Blue Water Sailors

• Recorded about 200 attacks on yachts  –believes, however, many more go unreported.

• But it did and does still happen• 5 December 2001 • 8 armed and hooded pirates

boarded the schooner Seamaster near the mouth of the Amazon River 

• Believed passengers were wealthy tourists

• One fought back  Sir Peter Blake – twice won the America’s Cup

• died from bullet wounds  • Police captured 7 who were

sentenced to thirty-seven years in prison.

• May 2005, two American yachts –Gandalf and Mahdi –Rodney J. Nowlin and Jay Berry

• attacked off coast of Yemen• Two fishing boats

–each with two men aboard approached

• fired AK-47s at the Gandalf. 

• “I saw bullet holes in the mast, the spray hood over the cockpit and in the rubber dinghy.  They were shooting to kill, not to warn.” 

• While one ship radioed for help from American naval ships in the area

• The other tried to outrun the pirates  • Realized the futility of the attempt • rammed his steel-hulled boat into one

fishing boat

• Severely damaged one boat and injured two of the attackers. 

• “The ones in the other boat approached [the] stern, still shooting, and were trying to climb on board.”  

• At that point the sailor in the other yacht fired his shotgun, injuring the other two pirates,

• Both Yachts then fled the area.

Brazil

• Most often took place in ports not on high seas

•1996 28 cases in Central and South America–Of which 20 in Brazil

• 1996• May 7 armed pirates boarded

Greece– Bulk carrier

• Injured two crew members – stole $15,000 cash

• July Kaptain Betkher– Bulk Carrier

• Six pirates boarded ships– Beat and stabbed captain– Stole $20,000 cash

• At this time• Brazil was one of the most

dangerous place for pirate attacks

• Combination of• Laxness in security• Government corruption• Organized crime• Lack of coast guard

The last day…..

But first

PRC• Based in Kuala

Lumpur– Home of the Petronas

towers

• In the shadow of these towers a regular office block is home to PRC

• A tiny facility• Headed by Noel

Choong

• Including Choong the staff of the PRC is 3– 3 people monitoring piracy of the world

• Do not organize rescues or deploy response teams but are

• “first point of contact for mariner in trouble, They will contact us when an incident arises and we then relay that information to the relevant sources available”– Noel Choong

• Not only a collection and information point

• Spend time trying to get –governments and shipping industries

• to take a more active position against piracy

• Indonesian government recently attacked them over number of listed attacks in their waters

• through their work that • Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore

governments work together • In the Strait of Malacca to make it safer for big

ships

• Strait Stats• 50,000 vessels year• 1/3 global commerce• ½ planets oil trade• 155 miles wide at

northern end• 40 miles wide at

southern end• Shipping lanes

narrow to 1 mile wide in places

• i.e. ships have to slow down

• Pirates captured the Cherry 201 in January 2004– Tanker sailing from South Africa to

Indonesia  • Demand $10,000• Ship owner only paid a portion

– pirates killed four hostages. • ship owners can hire naval security

firms like Background Asia Risk Solutions. 

• Based in Singapore, conducted about six escort missions each month

• $100,000 per mission

• Ransom rate for kidnapped captain in the waters off Singapore? 

• average $120,000 to get him released

• Alan Chan, – owner of Petroships in Singapore

• Lost oil tanker to Indonesian pirates in 1999. 

• He estimated that insurance premiums jumped about 30% – between then and 2001

• Tallied cost of piracy at about $500 million a year  

• 2002 estimated price tag of piracy to world trade reached ????? 

• Shipowner at the Fourth International Meeting of Piracy and Phantom Ships in Malaysia in June 2001, said

• “It has been estimated that losses in piracy amount to about sixteen billion dollars U.S.

• The total sum of sixteen billion means roughly

• two and half dollars for every human being. 

• That is for one year and that is the cost to the world.”

• PRC send out daily• Sit-reps at zero hours

GMT everyday• They break piracy

down into three groups

• A) Large criminal cartels

• B) Smaller localized groups

• C) Opportunists• All three operate in

the Strait

• A)• North of Strait• Aim to kidnap

senior officers• Hold for ransom• Need to know

when where and who has ability to pay

• Knowledge of international banking and money transfers

• B)• Middle region• Gangs of armed

robbers• Looking for instant

gains• Cash & goods• Watch for suitable

ship • Attack and hope

• C)• Around

Singapore• Work at night• Whatever they

can get – Money– Cell phones – DVD payers– Buckets of paint

Phantom ships

• Vessels like tankers which disappear with cargo and occasionally crew

• Ransoms not sought pirates keep everything

• Sail of with ship and sell cargo

• April 1998 -MV Petro Ranger• Left Singapore for Vietnam

• Few hours later bordered by dozen pirates middle of busy waterway– New name painted on hull Wilby– Flags changed

• Met with two other tankers goods off-loaded– Fuel worth $2.3 million

• Headed for China• Coast guard boarded all OK

– Eventually apprehended in port Haikou

• General cargo ship Alfa Gemilang

• January 6, 2006• Sailing in Java Sea

heading for Strait of Malacca

• 5 armed men boardered• Ordered to head to

Philippines• After few days stopped

freighter deposited most of crew on an isolated island

• Remaining three crew and ship never heard from again

• How?• Ships are bought and sold

frequently•“it is a very easy procedure, just like when you buy a car. . . With the fax and computer, we can transfer ownership in a couple of hours”

• Mr Lee (?) shipping agent Singapore

• Back to three types of piracy• A) Large criminal cartels• B) Smaller localized groups• C) Opportunists• Lessons learned can be useful• Attacks in Somalia tended to be in

group A)• PRC Advised people to remain

several hundred miles out to sea

Nigeria• Has large oil and

gas export business– $40 billion in

revenue

• Tend to kidnap people not ships

• Small thefts also• Workers in oil and

gas industry major target

• Piracy in region is some of the most violent in world–Cutting of ears–Beating prisoners–Smashing heads with bottles–Shooting in legs and arms–Kidnapping children–Murder

• 2007 forty two attacks

• January 2006 40 armed pirates boarded Liberty Service– Pollution control vessel– Vandalized equipment

• Kidnapped four foreign mariners• Even though 14 Nigerian naval officer

on board – Three weeks later ransom paid

• October 2006 attacked barges carrying fuel and supplies to a Royal Dutch Facilty– Killed three government soldiers – abducted 25 Nigerian workers– off loaded cargo

Somalia• Next morning the Captain resolved to send the Long-Boat towards the land . . . To try and discover the Reason of our Men’s being detained; and in case they found they kept them prisoners. . .to treat them for their ransom

• Captain Charles Johnson

Somalia

• 1997 - 5 attempted or actual attacks

• 2007 – 31• Becoming the

most dangerous waters in the world

• Getting worse

• Taken from PRC report for 2009– Which I received this

morning

• Somali = 80– Add in areas PRC

attribute to Somali pirates number rises to

• 217 attacks for the year– Just over 4 per week

• Began with small group of criminal conducting random attacks

• Now warlords with hundreds of pirates

• Hijacking ships and crew for ransom

• Tens of millions + per year in revenue

Background

• 1969 – 1991 under the sway of Moscow– Wedge to undermine capitalism– But low priority

• West had little interest– No role economic global community

• End of communist involvement• Countries infrastructure collapsed

– Political and material

• 1992 USA sent in 25,000 troops to help guard relief efforts

• Along with – Canada– Italy– France – Belgium– Pakistan

• Got caught up in local warfare– Black-hawk down

• UN backed out• 1995 declared

• Failed State

• Imagine living in a land with no–Government–Rules–Police

• Completely lawless society• Somalia for last dozen years

or so–Famine, drought, war, and corruption

–Led to deaths in tens of thousands

• No help from outside world

• Originally small boats in close to coast

• PRC warning• Now mother-ship as

support head out 700+miles

• 2005• Bulk carrier MV Tim Buck

– 532’ long

• 60 -70 miles of coast• 2 speedboats

– Shot repeated rounds– Fired grenades– Destroyed lifeboat

• Tried to enter accommodations• Locked• After an hour of shooting the bridge to

pieces • left

• Pirates now under warlords

• Puntland groups• Pirate elders• Somali Marines• Warlord Abdi Mohamed

Afweyne• Marka• Warlord Yusuf Mohamed

Said• National Volunteer Coast

Guard• NVGG• Warlord Garaad

Mohamed

• September 2008• Somali pirates hijacked a Ukrainian

freighter loaded with tanks, artillery, grenade launchers and ammunition

• Claimed no idea the ship was carrying arms when they seized it on the high seas

• “We just saw a big ship, so we stopped it.” – Sugule Ali

• quickly learned booty was worth estimated $30 million

• heading for Kenya or Sudan – depending on whom you ask.

Feb 5 2009 hijackers begin leaving after ransom of $3.5 million paid

•Two things come out of this case

•Ransoms•Motivations

–Fishing

Ransoms

• Ransoms range up to $3.5 million• But this can soon head up - add in• Professional negotiator $2000-

5000/day• Satellite phone bill costs $40,000• Delivery $250,000 - $500,000• Losing revenue of $20,000

$100,000• Lawyers $1 million

Fishing• Does have impact• Large amount of illegal fishing goes on

– worldwide $5 – 9 billion• With no government Somali was open

water• Pirates have started to grant fishing

permits– Cost $50 – 100,000– Usually 100 illegal ships fishing each year

• Profits to warlords• Fish go to Europe and America• Blood Fish (like blood dimonds)

• Also pollution • Warlords sell permits to dump waste• After Tsunami in Indonisia• Containers turned up on shore

– Uranium– Lead– Cadmium– Mercury– Garbage from hospitals

• Cost to dispose of this in Europe $250/ton• Cost in Somali $2:50/ton

• Does any of this excuse actions• NO• Does it make it a little more

understandable• Maybe• Again as always depending on which side

you look these people are either pirates or ….

• Piracy has been with us since ancient times

• Piracy will remain with us into the future• Costs today approx $40-60 billion• $8/10 per person per year• 1 -2 cents on every gallon of gas you buy