Safety and Security

May 24, 2012 —Shipowners from all over Asia gathered to form a massive human SOS as a demonstration of their support for the international SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign. The shipowners meetings this week in Australia for the 21st Asian Shipowners Forum (ASF) which had piracy at the top of their agenda. In the last seven years, 62 se ...

May 22, 2012 — Capt. Eric Christensen, chief, Commercial Vessel Compliance at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters has sounded what he calls a "high-level alarm for detentions of U.S.-flag vessels." Coast Guard analysis of recent actions taken on U.S.-flag vessels by port state control (PSC) authorities overseas indicat ...

Early May 15, following a decision taken in March by the Council of the European Union to allow the EU Naval Force to take disruption action against known pirate supplies on the shore, EU forces conducted an operation to destroy pirate equipment on the Somali coastline. Following is the text of a statement issued by EU Navfor: T ...

The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) held its 45th Committee meeting in Riga, Latvia, May 7 - 11, 2012. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the impact of the Costa Concordia tragedy, the Committee recognized the need to focus on passenger ship safety and agreed to do so in the form of a Harmonized Ve ...

A 156,000 dwt, 2011 built tanker has been hijacked by Somali pirates. GAC Protective Services says that a maritime security alert has been issued for the Arabian Sea after Liberia-flagged product tanker Smyrni was confirmed as pirated on May 10. The vessel was reportedly attacked around 285NM south east of Masirah ...

A video uploaded on Liveleaks.com and said to be taped in the Indian ocean 120 miles off Somalia, shows what the site calls Somali pirates having a "very bad day." A report by Bloomberg says the incident occurred March 25  and involved the second hijacking attempt within three days on Eagle Bulk Shipping's Avo ...

Japan's Imabari Shipbuilding has developed the Aero-Citadel, a newly designed superstructure that couples energy efficiency with anti-piracy measures. Imabari's Aero-Citadel superstructure has a slim, streamlined shape that combines the ship's accommodations, engine room, and exhaust stack casing. Develop ...

CNN is carrying a story that says that German cryptologists have discovered al Qaeda documents that outline a number of plans - including one to seize cruise ships, hold passengers hostage, dress them in orange jump suits, murder them and upload video of the killlings to broadcsat via satellite. It will hardly be a surprise that Al Qaed ...