Audacious "In Port" Piracy Attacks Hasten the Need for More Security for Vessels at Anchor

Ports in regions threatened by piracy need to address how they accommodate armed guards and issue clear guidelines to shipowners and operators, Dom Mee, President of Protection Vessels International Ltd (PVI), told a high-level conference on piracy organized by SAARPSCO (South Asia and Africa Regional Port Stability Cooperative) in the Seychelles today.

The call for ports to provide better guidance to support the provision of armed guard security – including on the storage of arms, weapons licensing and the embarkation and disembarkation of guards - comes just weeks after the most audacious Somali pirate attack yet, when the chemical tanker MV Fairchem Bogey was hijacked while in Omani port waters.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) recently set out guidelines for shipowners and operators to deal with maritime armed guarding, but no reference or guidance was given to the provision of armed guards while in waters under port state control or while ‘landed’.

Mee told the South Asian African Regional Ports Security Co-operative (SAAPRSCO) conference: “The recent hijacking in port waters in Oman and other similar attacks serves to remind us of the increasing threat posed to shipowners and operators when they are effectively under the jurisdiction of port state control. If clear guidelines for ports aren’t established either by the ports themselves or the IMO, then the most vulnerable ports may see port calls fall.

This threat highlights the need for greater involvement of the ports in developing clear guidelines on how security can be provided and provisioned when a vessel is in port waters.

Mee further cited the fact that guidelines are already clearly defined in Sri Lanka, Oman, Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar and Djibouti pertaining to how armed guards can “land” and how ports can provide a weapons storage facility.

“Ports, ideally under the auspices of the IMO, should move swiftly to issue guidelines illustrating how they handle armed security when they are entering or disembarking ports, as well as guidance for the storage of weaponry.”

Armed guards are not permitted to operate in territorial waters and it is down to the sovereign state to provide security while vessels wait in the anchorage area. All ports need to review how they must guarantee the security of shipping waiting to come into port this may include regular Naval or Coastguard patrols to act as a deterrent to criminals who wish to exploit ships at their most venerable.

Mee also cited a string of ship arrests in South Africa, which have seen operators fined even when firearms have been declared by the master prior to entering port. This situation cannot continue as it undermines the whole international effort to prevent violence used against Mariners transiting the Indian Ocean, he added.

Shipowners increasingly view armed guards as the only effective deterrent to the growing proliferation and threat posed by pirates in the Gulf, the Indian Ocean and West Africa.

The US Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Sub-Committee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation and Trade Hearing on “Confronting Global Piracy” (June 15, 2011) confirmed: “It is notable that no vessel with an armed security team embarked has been successfully hijacked.”

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