Nemesis5000

Reality check!

Ships are being attacked and boarded by men (and boys) with guns, within a 15 minute timeframe from what initially appears as an innocent fishing boat and skiffs, to being confirmed as a hostile assault, and though UN naval vessels are constantly patrolling the vast area, their UN mandate is to observe and report once the assailants are onboard. Attacks may last several hours.

At best, you have 25 crew rotating around three watch keeping duties every 12 hours. The deck crew STCW standards of training does not include effectively dealing with an armed attack on the ship or hostage survival.

If you had the option of securing your ship in a non lethal manner against armed boarders for the average cost of two to three days operational running costs, or deal with a prolonged hostage and ransom negotiation of several million dollars, not to mention lost revenue. Which would you choose?

What you must consider as a ship owner or operator;

The vessel must be hardened against small arms fire and measures deployed to prevent access onto main deck, and consequently internally. Currently crew have no protection against bullets and will not (should not) remain on open decks during an attack.

The Master has to be given the confidence to continue passage at full speed which is one of the key defensive measures, no matter the situation or nature of the attack.

The accommodation superstructure access points must become a citadel that cannot be easily breached. In the event of a successful boarding by assailants, access to key areas internally must be denied thereby allowing the crew to maintain control of the ship for as long as possible.

The Ship must initiate and maintain a “Shelter In Place” lockdown procedure to avoid this;

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