The Roles of Private Maritime Security Companies

What are the roles of a Private Maritime Security Company (PMSC) team? Is it just to shoot pirates? To ease the minds of those onboard a vessel? To educate the crew on how to react to a suspicious activity? According to an AdvanFort team leader who will remain anonymous, the top priority of a maritime security team is the safety and well-being of the crew, including their psychological well-being. 

Speaking of a recent encounter with a suspicious sailing vessel off the coast of Somalia, the AdvanFort team leader said, “I requested that all crew working on the main deck were brought inside. I also made it clear that the crew were not to be made aware that there was a possible situation unfolding. This was to ensure that no crew member started to panic.”

The crew in that situation was told the vessel needed purging and ventilating, according to the team leader, to ensure they were kept calm and their morale was kept high. It also helped ensure smooth running of the drills for the PMSC guards.

So while the AdvanFort team was securing the ship, and briefing the Master of the vessel of the real threat, the crew members were taking a nap or reading a book, and, as it turned out, were ultimately safe from a hostage situation.

Indeed, if there was no PMSC presence onboard that particular day the situation would have been very different because this particular suspicious vessel was made of wood, and it would not be picked up by radar. What’s more is they came from the rear of the guarded ship, and the Officer of the Watch only observes forwards, and could not have radioed for help from any Navy in time to help them.

Now consider another scenario: The guards spotted the suspicious vessel, and yelled out to everyone, “Take cover we’re under attack!” This seems like a silly thing to do to an experienced PMSC guard, but to someone less experienced, it might seem like the proper thing to do. We are, after all, under attack. So why not shout to everyone about it? Well, the reason that is the wrong course of action is that even though the crew would ultimately be safe from pirate takeover, as they were in this case, they would spend the entire rest of their journey worrying about the next attack, and unable to do their jobs efficiently. Furthermore, they might even quit their jobs due to the stress of seemingly always being under attack at work. And that would start to affect the maritime trade industry.

It seems that the main role of a PMSC team is to protect the crew of the vessel, but within that role many other roles are played out: not just to be the protector of the crew’s physical health, but their mental health as well. To keep the crew in good spirits, without distraction from potential threats. In so doing they also allow the crew to do their jobs effectively, and also allow the business of trade to continue as it ought to, thus saving the industry that they are trading in.

An Encounter With Pirates!

Just after the 12th anniversary of  September 11th, as if to remind us of the importance of security, an incident occurred in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia while AdvanFort guards were onboard an oil tanker.

The trained and professional AdvanFort team onboard the oil tanker observed a sailing vessel approaching them. At first the team leader noticed a skiff being towed by the vessel. This is a common practice among pirates, to tow a skiff (a shallow, flat-bottomed open boat with sharp bow and square stern), and once they spot a vessel that might be worth looting, climb onboard it, and pursue that vessel with the intention of penetrating it.

The team leader directed the Master to change the direction of the oil tanker just to make sure that in fact it was them they were headed for. It was. The sailing vessel changed course to match the oil tanker. After 2 minutes of observation it became apparent that the sailing vessel had increased its speed and was catching up with the oil tanker. The team leader instructed the that the Master radio the nearest coastal authority, and increase the vessel’s speed. After this the sailing vessel also increased speed, and was gaining ground on the oil tanker. The team leader then made the proper preparations to kick some butt.

First, the team leader met with the Master to brief him on the situation. The AdvanFort team leader requested that all crew working on the main deck be brought inside. They then ensured that all doors leading from all accommodation levels were locked. Next, they turned on the fire hoses. This is a common practice of large vessels when they are under attack. It helps make penetration of the ship’s security more  difficult to accomplish.

When the sailing vessel finally approached it was apparent that there were two skiffs being towed, not one, and about a dozen men were gathering towards the rear of the sailing vessel to climb into one of the skiffs. The AdvanFort team was ready for action.

Just then a naval helicopter flew overhead. The sailing vessel slowed down and changed direction, thinking it was being slick, but it was obvious they were a bunch of misfits about to get the shock of their life. When the helicopter disappeared out of view the misfits headed back towards the oil tanker, and was about to eat some AdvanFort firepower.

The sailing vessel then deployed one of the skiffs with about 6 men. Of course they did not know they were headed straight into armed guards who were ready for them, so they were indeed lucky that just then an Iranian navy ship came into view. The navy ship deployed military teams to all three vessels, and at that point the oil tanker lost sight of the incident, and returned to business without any damages.

Does this incident sound familiar to you? If you’ve ever been on a shipping vessel trying to cross the Arabian Sea, it might. Don’t get caught without a PMSC on your vessel, and don’t use a shady unprofessional team to arm your vessel. AdvanFort is the most efficient maritime security company in the world.

Cruising Without a PMSC Will Cost You

This past September 11th, while many Americans were remembering how important it is to have proper protection against enemies an Indian oil tanker off the East coast of Africa was reminded of that same thing when two suspicious skiffs started chasing it.

Fortunately the Indian oil tanker had armed AdvanFort guards on it, and was able to take care of the situation with the help of a nearby Iranian vessel.

What are the chances of this occurring to a vessel that has armed guards on it? Well, let’s put it this way: May 12th 2013 marked a one year anniversary of no successful hijackings off the coast of Somalia. Since then there has been an attack on a cruise ship, but there was no PMSC presence on board it.

In another case Captain Sanil James, master of a chemical carrier from the Marshall Islands, along with two of his staff have been detained in Togo since July 30. His only crime was stopping at Togo to report pirate activity on board his vessel. The corruption in Togo is a story unto itself, but rest assure had Captain James had a PMSC presence on his carrier he would not have had to stop at Togo to report any pirate activity because, as the statistics indicate, he would have been safe from pirate activity.

This is because pirates are generally only after money. Money is no good to them if they’re dead, and they know that PMSC guards won’t hesitate to use their weapons to protect their ship.

The maritime security industry is certainly a young one, and the concept of having armed guards from a private security company is still relatively new to many ship owners and masters, but the trend is rising. More and more ships are carrying armed guards because the data does not lie. If you embark without a PMSC you are not acting responsibly.

Which PMSC should a vessel use? There are many PMSCs and certainly they are not all created equal. For example there was an incident in 2009 when the armed guards of a vessel threw themselves overboard to escape pirates.  When you look at an incident like this and then look at the aforementioned data with respect to a one year drought from pirate activity off the coast of Somalia it becomes clear that it does matter which PMSC you go with.

AdvanFort is the only PMSC with its own fleet which can eliminate the death-trap of floating armories which many other companies use. According to many experts it is only a matter of time before pirates or terrorists hijack one of those floating armories, and then simply wait for an unsuspecting PMSC company to cruise by and receive the detour of their lives.

On the other hand with AdvanFort’s fleet of OSVs they can guarantee oversight and accountability. Plus their guards are vetted, highly experienced, and receive annual firearms and tactical training. It is clear that AdvanFort is the industry leader, and the one company other companies are chasing to catch up with.

Visit Advanfort.com for information about their services.

AdvanFort’s Role in the World Economy

Who is Affected by the Economy?

From the point of view of the average citizen their hard-earned money goes to the goods that they want and need, and that’s the end of it. From the point of view of the retailer, they get the goods they paid for from the supplier, and that’s the end of it as well. From the point of view of the supplier, however, if they are sending goods overseas, and (in the case of oil and gas suppliers) their preferred method of transport is by sea, then they are most likely thinking about the maritime security. They experience first-hand the consequences of not providing security on their vessels, because if pirates attack that vessel potentially millions of dollars worth of product could be held hostage indefinitely, thereby costing them that money out-of-pocket.

However, all of these participants – the supplier, the retailer, and the buyer – feel the effects of a hijacked vessel. Why? Well, if the product is not delivered to the retailer on time, (s)he has no product to sell, and loses potential profit from the buyer. Likewise, the buyer will feel not just the effects of having to go elsewhere to buy the product, but all the other retailers are going to see an increase in demand as a result of the decreased supply, and therefore, the price of the product all over the world could potentially go up.

If a vessel carrying gas to the US got captured with no resolution for weeks, then the gas retailers in the US will have less gas to sell, thereby potentially making gas more expensive. However, the consequences don’t end there. Economists who study the effects of gas prices on the economy say that if gas prices go high enough the negative effects will spill over into stock prices. It still doesn’t end there though. Consumers travel less frequently, which affects the travel industry, the tourism industry, the hotel and restaurant industries. All this is the consequence of having vessels seized by pirates at sea.

Should the Government be Involved?

So you need maritime security, but as a ship owner, where do you start? The best solution may not always be the most obvious. Some people sometimes have a tendency to look to government, police and the state to solve all of their problems. However, if we analyze pirate tactics we see that often times pirate attacks happen within 20 minutes – from the time the pirates are seen by a vessel until the time they are on boar. No Navy ship can reach a random destination in the Pacific Ocean in that time. By the time they do it’s too late, the pirates have their hostages. Therefore, while it is helpful to have the support of the Navy and Coast Guard, it is best if public solution be kept in the supportive role to Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSCs).

PMSCs are the most efficient way to deter piracy. The guards are already on the supplier’s vessel, if a pirate approaches the vessel, the guards fire warning shots, and given that pirates want ransom for hostages, not the blood of innocent victims, they will turn around and search for another vessel to hijack. No other vessel is needed to come to the rescue.

What Separates AdvanFort?

Private maritime security is needed, Therefore, it is no wonder then that in the past few years the number of maritime security companies has gone from just a handful to over 200. And just like every industry you have good companies and bad ones. When seeking the right maritime security company it is important to remember that it costs you time and money to sit and wait for port security to clear your armed guards from XYZ security company. If you can get your goods to its destination faster the more economical it will be. So you want to go with a security company who has it’s own Operator Supported Vessel (OSV). There’s no waiting for port security because the guards never enter the country. The supplier simply cruises to the OSV, picks up the guards, and heads to its destination safely, and as quickly as possible.

Advanfort is the only security company that can guarantee you won’t have to wait for armed guards, and that the boarding of these guards will be a safe procedure. Other companies use floating armories which are floating ‘death traps’ according to some analysts. Floating armories are supposed to serve the same purpose as an OSV, but there’s no clear ownership, no clear administrator, no way to guarantee that there won’t be pirates already on that floating vessel, camped out and waiting for an unsuspecting group of unarmed men who are expecting to pick up guns from a neutral third party.

AdvanFort’s service is felt across the glob by billions of people who consume the goods that are delivered every day by its clients. So the next time you fill up your car, or buy something at the store, perhaps you will be conscious of the role of AdvanFort’s services in maritime security.

India’s Captured Oil Tanker in Iran: Good News for Pirates?

Iran and India, by and large, have enjoyed friendly relations: they traded oil and diesel; Iranian authorities have allowed Hindus to build temples in Tehran; and Iranian film students have often visited India to study Bollywood’s technical achievements in film.

In August of 2013, however, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) seized an Indian oil tanker that was making its way through the Persian Gulf from Iraq. The MT Desh Shanti was carrying 140,000 tons of crude oil, and is now seeking $1 million for its release citing pollution in the Persian Gulf waters.

The Iranian Embassy in India maintains that the move was purely technical, and not politically motivated, but upon closer inspection we find some interesting details leading up to this capture:

First we find that India’s oil imports from Iran have been steadily declining over the past fiscal year. Then we find that finally India’s oil imports took a sudden drop by 75% last month (July). Finally, Iraq has replaced Iran as India’s 2nd largest importer of oil., which is where this particular tanker was coming from.

Now, just today, India has started using language in the media such as “unconditional release”. These are fighting words, and with the growing threat in international waters, and now this incident between Iran and India, what could commercial traders expect to be in for when they take to the seas in the coming weeks and months?

I’m not claiming that a private security team could have deterred Iran’s national navy from capturing it, but I do think that with escalating tensions in the international waters, there is more reason than ever for a private commercial vessel to have a private maritime security team on board.

Pirates watch the news like the rest of us, and it is common sense to conclude that when there are escalating tensions between nations that those nations spend more resources on paroling each other, and less on patrolling the pirates. Given that circumstance, why should they not take advantage of the situation?

If the UN, or the navies of various countries were concerned with piracy before an escalated incident with another nation, they will drop at least some of their concern in the wake of a threat from that state, and this gives private commercial fleets all the more reason to chose a private maritime security company (PMSC) to escort their vessel while en route. Furthermore, as I have determined in my previous blog post, with AdvanFort having their own fleet of Operator Support Vessels they are the clear front-runners in the choice of who to go with.

Floating Armories vs Opertor Support Vessels

Before the existence of floating armories ship owners would go through a rigorous and time-consuming process of paperwork and waiting for armed guards or weapons to be documented before they could embark on their trade route. Some Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSCs) still require their clients to do that, in fact. Of course, there are some smaller “cowboy” PMSCs who prefer to buy guns illegally in Yemen, then dump them at sea when going into a port, but that is a clear sign of a less-than-trustworthy security company, not to mention it’s bad for our oceans.

So now there there are about 20 ships stocked with guns, ammunition, body armor and night vision goggles scattered about in the Red Sea called floating armories. They can be found mainly in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Trade ships stop by such a vessel, pick up firearms for their security guards, and then head back out on their trading route. This allows them to avoid waiting for port security to document their guns since they never enter any ports with the guns.

However, not all is well with these floating armories because this method also leaves ship operators very vulnerable to attack, according to some experts. The safety of the use of such vessels is being questioned because the absence of regulation leaves them vulnerable to infiltration from the same pirates these vessels were intended to guard against, or from terrorist groups. At the end of the day though, if anyone is able to infiltrate these armories, no matter who they are, it is a dangerous prospect. Can you imagine what it would look like if an unarmed ship anchors next to a floating armory expecting their security team to pick up firearms and to be on their way soon, only to find themselves confronted by a hostile company who takes them all hostage? This scenario could repeat with any other ship that comes their way!

Nick Davis, of the British PMSC Maritime Guard Group, says that some floating armories do not have proper storage for weapons, do not have enough watchmen on board, and do not have enough space for their guards to sleep inside. “Some private operators are running death-traps”, said Davis [article]. He said that poorly run armories were more likely to be attacked by pirates, or they could be commandeered by terrorist groups operating in the region.

Such concerns worries many ship owners who merely want to embark on a trade route to deliver a shipment of some goods. However, there is an alternative to dangerous floating armories, and it doesn’t involve waiting for a country to approve the release of firearms through its ports. That alternative is Operator Supported Vessels (OSVs).

The AdvanFort Company is one of the few, if not the only PMSC with its own fleet of OSVs. These vessels are used in a similar way to floating armories, but instead of floating along unregulated in the water, they have their own vetted and trained security personnel transfer the weapons, guards, and security equipment onto the client’s ship. There is someone who is held accountable for each one of these vessels, there is clear regulation of each one of these vessels, and there are trained guards on these vessels, with enough storage to safely keep all the equipment their clients require. Furthermore, there are no “cowboy” security companies who can access them, and certainly no pirates would try to take over an armed OSV with trained guards on duty 24-7, which makes them safer, and more efficiently run than traditional floating armories.

With such additions as these vessels, AdvanFort is the clear front-runner in the race to improve maritime security.

AdvanFort Has Edge in Modern Counter-Piracy

Southeast Asia is the new Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Because of a sharp rise in piracy in that region compared to a steady decline in piracy in Somalia at the same time, the attention of PMSCs  should be shifting from Somalia to Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. Of course AdvanFort is already one step ahead of its competitors in that respect. With the recent hiring of Axel Tuetken, and with a strong sales force in Asia, supported by Ken Park, Jimmy Chan, and Shin Yamazoe, AdvanFort has the edge against their competitors in the coming fight to protect the Indian Ocean.

While others have been letting their guard down in the wake of quieting seas off the East coast of Africa AdvanFort was looking to see where pirate activity would evolve to next, and focused on the Indian Ocean. Now we see that the Indonesian islands, just to the East of the Indian Ocean accounted for more than a quarter of reported theft cases on the high seas in the world last year. That is why I say they have a competitive advantage. AdvanFort was already establishing a presence in that region, and had more ships had AdvanFort guards on them in that region I venture to say there would have been much less incidents to speak about in that area.

Still they are growing in Asia, and as they do I suspect piracy incidents will fall. Something to keep in mind is that in order to protect people from pirates PMSCs not only need armed guards, but they need to be aware that these criminal activities do not just happen in one place. They need to have the foresight to know that it is an evolving industry, piracy is. While it may be easy for some PMSCs to get hypnotized by the activities of Somalia, and lulled into a false sense of security that nothing ever happens anywhere other than the East coast of Africa, AdvanFort expanded its sales force to Asia, where now their service seems more relevant.

While I have no doubt that other PMSCs were aware of the findings of the IMB after the fact, and may also have been aware of the piracy that was slowly beginning to creep into Asia I am not aware that any other PSMC had the insight to proactively expand into Asia and other relevant regions. It seems to me that AdvanFort has their finger on the global pulse of piracy, which allows them to know where to offer their services.

Robin Hood at Sea?

by David Matine

Should pirates be able to take the money that they made from stealing other people’s stuff on the high seas, and legally invest it in the business world with government approval? That is what is happening in Somalia.

Mohamed Abdi Hassan, aka Afweyne, or “big mouth”, publicly declared that he has quit piracy for good and has since been given a passport by the Somali government and is allowed to keep all his money.

Afweyne was one of the most notorious and influential pirates in the Indian Ocean, and perhaps in the entire world, having a hand in the 2008 capture of the MV Faina, which was given $3 million for its return. However, in January, 2013 he  announced his retirement, citing that it is a “dirty business”, and claimed to have persuaded almost a thousand young pirates to quit as well.

Now, he wants to take his pirate money and invest it in business ventures, and he thinks other young pirates should be able to do the same.

“It was legitimate because there was no government, we were like orphans without a father,” Afweyne said in an interview in May. “We need financial support to allow (ex-pirates) to have alternate careers… to be fishermen or farmers or traders, whatever they choose.” (Horses Media, 2013)

I applaud the effort of an ex-pirate to want to change his life around, and even more so for wanting to change the lives of other pirates, but I wonder if this is good economic practice. They are basically being rewarded for stealing by being allowed to keep the money they stole, and then doing business, maybe even with the same people they robbed in the first place.

Of course he has many sympathizers in Somalia, who say that he is a positive change in a lawless part of the world, and that his actions are making a difference. And yes, piracy has slowed in recent years, but the attributing factor to that is increased security on vessels, not to thieves investing their money back into the economy.

Now more than 60% of vessels carry armed guards (The Economist, 2013). When the MV Spar Gemini last year, armed with AdvanFort armed guards, was on a trip to Mozambique in Southeast Africa, and two suspicious boats headed toward it at high speeds, then began circling it, AdvanFort guards fired warning shots and the boats turned around and left. This is what deters pirates, not allowing them to keep their money and invest it legally in other businesses.

I just hope that this isn’t a blueprint for the next generation of Somalis who are looking for a career. If they don’t condemn pirates – even rehabilitated ones – then the logical next step is for their kids to go out to sea and rob ships to bring the money back and start careers.

Sources

Horses Media. (2013, May 3). Somalia: Jobs wanted: Somalia ex-pirates seek employment. Retrieved from http://horseedmedia.net/2013/05/03/somalia-jobs-wanted-somali-ex-pirates-seek-employment/

The Economist. (2013, May 19)What happened to Somalia’s pirates? Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-explains-11

Kuido Ever. (2013) An AdvanFort security team under suspicious approach http://www.advanfort.com/index.php?page=frontline-photos