Trying to understand Somalian Law

To a large extent, it appears as though we can relate more to Somalian Law, than if we expect the Western World to do so. Here's a brilliant article on the subject:-

http://www.idaratmaritime.com/wordpress/?p=334

""Somali society, that is the clan-based system, relies on a combination of Islamic shari’a law and customary law, known as xeer. Xeer law is not the same as shari’a law, it is an oral system which has not been formally codified and is controlled by male clan elders, known as the xeer begti or isimadda. Xeer law is pre-Islamic in origin, and is not a version of shari’a law. According to Andre Le Sage the general principles of xeer law include:
1        collective payment of diya (or blood money, usually paid with camels and other livestock) for death, physical harm, theft, rape and defamation.
2        maintenance of inter-clan harmony.
3        family obligations.
4        resource-utilisation rules."

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Read more on the idarat website . . .

ASPHALT VENTURE - more analysis

Media reports on the ASPHALT VENTURE episode now suggest that the ship with Master and 6-7 crew onboard has anchored off the Somalian Coast, as the Master has apparently refused to sail out without the rest of his crew, who were held back for the major issue of being Indians held in exchange for Somalian captured pirates being held in Mumbai.

If this is the case, then that is certainly one intelligent Master onboard, who needs to be commended and supported across all lines for the following reasons:-

# He has acquired an understanding of the Somali tribal ethos and culture, which means a lot, since it is the rule of law there.

# He would not get far in the open seas on a ship non-functional for 6 months, with only some crew members and no engineers.

# Once the ship and cargo get back into the rest of the world, it is likely that the concerned parties will forget the Indians stranded ashore, and that's a simple truth too.

# Most importantly, the Master's conscience will probably never forgive him, and there are the legal aspects of leaving those who are under you behind too.

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We hope to see some pro-active measures being taken by the authorities here in India on this. While hostage exchange may or may not occur, and seafarers on other ships are in some cases in even worse conditions as per reports filtering back, fact remains, that some simple steps need to be taken, looking forward:-

1) All Indian flag ships plying in the region need to have armed guards on board, legitimately, without making any sublime noises about it. Enough is enough. All Indian flag ships to be properly worked on by way of "Vessel hardening" . . . stronger bullet-proofing of all glass areas, proper citadel design and implementation, electrified barbed wire along the whole ship, technically sound stern and side whips, automatic remote controlled high pressure hoses, investing in stern facing radars, night scope glasses,and investing in superior intelligence (as different from information). Obviously, insurance is a major factor - even workers going to Afganistan get multiple covers including 50 lakhs and more in case of death - what do seafarers get?

2) All Indian seafarers working on foreign flag ships sent by DGS approved recruitment/manpower management companies in India to have full insurance cover as well as minimum standards of safety on board, way ahead of BMP3. There appears to be a silent practice by associations of blackballing and blacklisting seafarers who refuse to head out into piracy zones, with complicit assistance of authorities, both of which shall not be named but you know who you are . . . and this has to stop. Seafarers can not be blackmailed into seeing their watch-keeping certificates or discharge records being spoilt for demanding to be relieved from ships going into piracy zones - and a proper feedback system needs to be set up very rapidly at DGS/MMD for this.

3) There are other steps to be implemented too, if we do not wish to see India's economy suffer by what is turning out into an economic attack on our country's commercial strengths. More on this soon.

But for now, salute the Master of the ASPHALT VENTURE.

Asphalt Venture - bad news

Terrible, keeping the Indian seafarers back.

Here's the report from EcoTerra on the episode:-

BOTCHED PIRATE SHIP RELEASE SEES INDIAN HOSTAGES LEFT BEHIND IN SOMALIA (ecop-marine)
Emirati-owned MSV ASPHALT VENTURE steams off with only half the crewWhat serious analysts predicted since long in the Somali piracy circus are cases where the amateur negotiators and deliverers, who are often friends of friends in the insurance industry, create more difficulties than they solve with ill-conceived ransom drops and not at all planned, insecure release operations.
After a drop of a compared to other recent releases much smaller amount of a ransom today to the pirate gang on the vessel, the sea-shifta left but took with them seven hostages of Indian nationality.
Immediately followed by the usual news-hounds from the often in these very sensitive situations too fast media, different versions concerning the why the Somalis hold the seven Indians were circulated:

"The ship has just sailed away but we have taken some of its Indian crew back because the Indian government is currently holding our men. We need the Indian government to free our men so that we can release their citizens." a wire service reported an alleged pirate calling himself Ahmed as saying. And another wire spread: "We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the [alleged] pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We will keep these Indians until the Indians release our colleagues."

These news-clips were widely reprinted, though they might hold little substance. But as a matter of fact there are over 120 Somalis nabbed during Indian anti-piracy campaigns in Indian jails and the Somalis have been angry since many weeks and also mistreated especially Indian seamen on other hostage ships due to this situation.
However, we want in the moment therefore only report that - according to our own monitors - the seven seamen are alive and are held around 30km outside of Harardheere and that in our opinion still all options are possible. The traditional Xeer system of legal understanding, widely accepted by the traditional population of Somalia, allows for different solutions to achieve justice in their understanding - some options, however, can be drastic.
Immediately when the pirate gang made for the land, the captain of MV ASPHALT VENTURE started the engines and steamed together with his remaining seven Indian crew off the Central Somali coast near Ceel Gaan, leaving the other seven seafarers to their unsecure fate at the hands of the Somalis.
But meanwhile also the vessel run into trouble, though no more pirates are on board, because the ship reportedly encountered problems and could not proceed in her voyage. Fuel or mechanical problems could be the cause.
If ransom couriers get arrested and briefly jailed like recently in Djibouti, where they then first had to buy themselves free with a hefty handshake and part of their own loot in the exercise, such is just a story for the round-tables of the security and risk-management companies but if a release operation is so shoddily planned and executed like it is obvious in this case, the families are advised to also seek legal redress from those responsible for such blunder.
BACKGROUND: (ecoterra)
MT ASPHALT VENTURE : Seized September 28, 2010. The Panama-flagged asphalt tanker MT ASPHALT VENTURE (IMO 8875798) was captured on her way from Mombasa - where the vessel left at noon on 27. September, southbound to Durban, at 20h06 UTC = 23h06 local time in position 07 09 S 40 59 E. The vessel was sailing in ballast and a second alarm was received at 00h58 UTC = 03h58 LT. The ship with its 15 all Indian crew was then observed to have turned around and is at present commandeered northwards to Somalia. EU NAVFOR confirmed the case only in the late afternoon of 29. September. Information from the ground says a pirate group from Brawa had captured the vessel and at first it was reported that the vessel was heading towards Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast, while the tanker had first contact at the Somali coast near Hobyo and was then commandeered further north. The vessel is managed by ISM manager OMCI SHIPMANAGEMENT PVT LTD from Mumbai and owned by BITUMEN INVEST AS from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, who uses INTER GLOBAL SHIPPING LTD from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates as ship-handler. The Government of India and other authorities are informed. Concerning the condition of the crew so far no casualties or injuries are reported, but the vessel seems to have had an engine problem. Negotiations had commenced but have so far not been reaching anywhere. Vessel and crew were held off Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, then had been transferred southwards to Ceel Gaan in the Harardheere area at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast with negotiations more stuck than smooth; and when the crew reportedly had no more food, clean water and diesel a hasty and ill-planned release against a ransom drop was enacted on 15. April 2011. While the vessel got away at least for some distance until it developed problems and couldn't continue, seven Indian crew were left behind on the beach, who continue to be held as hostages.

What really happened to the BELUGA NOMINATION in Somalia?

Every piracy and hijacking episode has its own human toll, which is seldom ever revealed, but the episode involving the BELUGA NOMINATION stands out for a variety of reasons. Of late, violence against seafarers seems to have grown from bad to worse, and those on board BELUGA NOMINATION's experienced some of the worst leading to multiple deaths and injuries.

BELUGA, a German company, has been in financial trouble for quite some time now. About 50 of its 140-odd vessels are currently impounded or in trouble worldwide for fiduciary reasons, and more are re-possesed or trade under other fundamentals Even the BELUGA NOMINATION, by the time it was released, had been renamed NOMINATION.

Seized on 22jan2011, she was on a voyage from Italy via Malta to South Korea via Seychelles, carrying cargo listed as "steel" but actually much else - including structurals, boats and yachts. This company is known to be in the business of delivering arms globally, also, and till today it has not been revealed what cargo she was actually carrying.

The crew were able to withstand the attack for 49 hours in the citadel, and even managed to steer and control the vessel while inside. However, despite the presence of naval forces nearby, no action was taken to remove the pirates - who finally broke into the citadel using blow-torches and gas-operated cutting tools.

Initially, the vessel was part of the convoy leaving the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and despite reports of pirates circling the convoy looking for stragglers, the vessel chose to break away from the convoy in full sight of the pirates, who then followed her. With a slow speed, loaded down to her marks with deck cargo visible, and a 2 metre freeboard as a heavy-lift carrier small general cargo ship, she was a sitting duck target - and other ships in the convoy wondered.

In the initial turmoil due to the citadel being breached, two seafarers managed to escape - the Ukranian 2nd Officer launched the lifeboat and a Filipino cook jumped into the water to get into the boat, and were rescued by the Danish warship HDMS ESBERN SNARE, which was suddenly on-scene.Two more seafarers who jumped into the water went missing, and a pirate was killed in the fighting that followed, after which yet another seafarer was killed in retribution.

It was after this that the naval ships nearby, Danish and Seychelles Coast Guard, also fired on the engine room to disable the ship. Why they did not do this before the citadel was breached is yet unknown, some attribute it to lack of information on the explosive nature of the cargo as well as communication with the Master of the ship, which as mentioned before was carrying some probably undeclared cargo in the holds.

After this, the pirates brough the Long Range Mother Ship, the previously pirated gas tanker YORK, and used her engine crew to work and repair the BELUGA NOMINATION, after which both sailed back to the Somali coast.

It was also reported that the Chief Engineer of the BELUGA NOMINATION died under terrible circumstances.

As this blog is written, the NOMINATION (as she is now called) is now released and in safe waters, the status of cargo onboard as well as seafarers is not reliably known, and interim since the owners, managers and operators have all changed, the only remaining thread is with the insurance company - Danish company SKULD.

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The BELUGA NOMINATION episode, if and when the truth about the remaining 6 or 7 seafarers from the original 12 or 14 is revealed, brings out many important issues:-

# Management companies are still not able to do much, despite being the link, for seafarers. The seafarers onboard this ship were covered under an ITF agreement between Marlowe Navigation and Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, both of whom were not able to do much.

# The situation with number of ships currently seized and seafarers being held captive is grossly under-stated. According to one EU-NAVFOR report, the actual number of ships and seafarers is double that of official figures - there are many piracy incidents which are simply not revealed.

# The old method of citadels built around steering gears and after peak tanks will not work, and citadels will have to be built to withstand at least 7 days of effort, to permit naval ships to take action, especially if it involves coordination with multiple entities representing owners, charterers, flag state, cargo receivers, ITF, insurers and other interests.

# Seafarers own insurance terms and conditions for working in piracy areas need to be defined more clearly, in advance, and next of kin taken into confidence at all times.

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There is much that is still unknown about what actually happened with the crew on the BELUGA NOMINATION. And this was one of the so-called "best of breed" European owners, with European officers and Philipino crew, all covered by a variety of agreements. And half of them now dead.

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Families and friends of seafarers who are stuck due to piracy in Somalia or elsewhere.

Dear family members and friends of seafarers who are currently stuck onboard ships hijacked or pirated. Our hearts go out to you. And we understand your problems like only other seafarers can.

Kindly contact the undersigned at any time by email in case you need any help or information or simply wish to seek advice or propagate your case with other seafarer groups.

Thank you.

Veeresh Malik

Radio programme on Somali & Indonesian Pirates . . . BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01095mf/The_Sea_Gangsters/

Absolutely chilling. Please listen and pass this on to your seafarer friends. We have been quiet too long.

Piracy redux - April 2011

The Indian media has been generally shy and quiet about seaborne piracy issues lately, barring reportage every now and then on Indian Navy action, as well as reportage on the status of the captured pirates. Coverage on the reality onboard hijacked ships has been less than scanty, one reason being given is that it is being done to protect the lives of those still in captivity, as well as to prevent further hindrance to negotiations.

Likewise, governance in shipping in India, which means the DG Shipping and allied offices, have also adopted a policy of staying below the radar as far as piracy is concerned. Quiet back-door negotiations and discretion are the buzzwords of the day, it would seem, with everybody being advised to stay away from the media.

All this would be well said and done if issues were reaching some form of closure as well as sustainable resolution. However, reality is that things are going from bad to worse, and across a variety of parameters. Pirates are reaching out further and deeper into the Indian Ocean as well as striking closer to the coasts of countries not just in Africa but also in and around India. The SUSAN K, for example, was hijacked just 35 miles off the Omani coast, and reports of attacks from close to the Indian coast have been filtering in.

Reports on how seafarers are being tortured onboard, as well as beaten or even killed, are also filtering through. Pirates seem to have gone forward from treating captives reasonably well to outright violence and terror. One case of "keel hauling", where a seafarer was tied to a rope and then pulled across the bottom from one side to the other has already been reported - pulled too fast, the barnacles would rip him apart, and pulled too slow, he would drown.

Other cases, involving Indian seafarers, include a Chief Engineer and a Master being locked up in the fridge room for half an hour at 17 below zero centigrade - hung to the meathooks so that they could not move. There ave been a few cases, reportedly, of people being tied naked on to a hot steel deck, with heat applied to the genitals. Being hog tied with wires being tied around the genitals has also been reported. A few cases of seafarers having been killed have also now surfaced. And ofcourse, the regular beatings as well as terrified calls home, with automatic weapons going off in the background.

It is also obvious that the issue of vastly increased insurance costs are now beginning to impact all parties concerned - and will not remain something that the shipping lines and ship owners/managers can hope will just go away somewhere else. Furthermore,the various naval forces involved are also reaching a point where they soon will provide assistance preferably to ships which have taken some pre-emptive action on their own, so that they can board and take action in case of pirate attacks basis certain minimum guidelines and safety precautions followed by the ship itself.

One of these preventive defence measures has to do with what is called "citadel". Till now, for many ship's crew, that meant a re-modified steering gear, with access to the after-peak tank for sanitation purposes. Or being cooped up inside a control room. Either way, the pirates have been smoking people out, or simply breaking through the steel doors using explosives or basic tools. Maximum period of safety would, typcially, be a few hours.

It is increasingly clear that something more will have to be done. Just a few fire-hoses and axes are not enough anymore either. From making the bridge bullet-proof, to installing stern facing radars for coverage of vessels coming up from aft, and installing electric barbed wire running along the shipside at the bare minimum to vessel hardening by making the complete below decks accomodation area into a citadel which is explosion proof and more.

Idea is in brief to provide the complete ship's company an opportunity to move into a secure area, in case all other options including armed guards have failed and the vessel has been boarded by pirates, where they can remain in communications as well as see what is going on for a period of atleast 3 or 4 days. This will also imply that due care has to be taken for ensuring safe ventilation and de-activation  of halon or other gases used variously for fire-fighting and otherwise.

The 3-4 day period is important because naval intervention in case of piracy attacks in the further reaches of the ocean will often take that much time.

It is important for seafarers and ship owners/managers as wel as flag state and port state authorities to come together and find ways to resolve these issues. And soon.

if we DO NOT want to see shipping become a pigsty like civil aviation in India . . .

One way of looking at the recent controvery on fake and fraudulent licences in the aviation industry in India and also in some other countries is to say, oh hey, it doesn't impact us in the Merchant Navy. We have this wonderful system of flag state, port state and every other state possible which will protect our reputations as well as ensure we are competent. In addition, the paperwork is so long and cumbersome, that it automatically sifts out the chances of any problems. Plus, because of security and customs regulations, nobody will come near our ships anyways.

The other way of looking at things is to realise that, hey yes, there are deficiencies in the whole system, not just in India, but all over the world. And that the sooner we take some pragmatic steps to fix things, the better for us as individuals and for the industry as a whole and most importantly - for the Nation as a larger National Interest. And even if they don't come near our ships, those who want to find out will stand outside the Ministry and DG Shipping and find out what they want - after they've hired boats to take photos of ships outside ports and visited family members.

So, without pointing any fingers, what can be done rapidly to clean up things in the whole certification programme and training in India - so that we are not caught with our pants down if somebody does the equivalent of a nose landing on an aeroplane, at sea? What, for example, could be amongst the most stupid things a seafarer could do?

Here are two simple examples of two of the biggest news-making marine accidents in recent past. They made news because of possible pollution issues as well as passengers in danger. But hardly any news on the real cause of the incident. Mainly because the shipping lines along with their flag state, port state and classification societies were able to keep the noise level down. Very simple - keep the media away, and keep the people onboard silent.

# Go aground on an island, thinking it was a dense cloud, sighted only on the radar, making coffee instead on the bridge taking precedence to looking out.

# An uncontained crank-case explosion leading to leakage of a thin film of diesel causing a total engine room fire, because the duty engineers had no experience of how to react.

Luckily for us, the mainstream media does not have the faintest clue of what happens on board ships, and almost all of us from the old school of thought believe that the media is a terrible animal to be kept at bay. When was the last time any shipping company invited media onboard their ships, for example, other than for a fancy party during launching or taking over, and even that ashore at a hotel? Like a response to the various questions put by a Superintendent ashore - please let me know this, this, and this - and also please let me know if you understand the effect if media comes to know, and provide a response by 0800 hours tomorow morning Singapore time.

At the same time, for piracy and criminalisation and other increasingly relevant problems, the industry wants to use the media, by one means or the other - and that is a simple truth too. The media, the mainstream meida, is a double edged sword, and once an industry rides the tiger, there is no getting off.

So, before the s___ really hits the fan - and the way social media is growing, especially with seafarers at sea increasingly having access to the internet as well as other mediums to propagate their views - it is a question of time before people onboard ships start coming out with their truths. instead of keeping quiet. Already younger people are writing in direct to this magazine, as well as to some of the writers here, and if not allowed to maintain blogs on board - then saving up material, photographs, evidence, to publish at a later date. A few photographs of oil being pumped out, dirty food, unsanitary conditions on board, safety irregularities, rusty conditions, or anything like that - and by chance any of them go viral - that's it. Owners of the MSC CHITRA will know what one is writng about, and the KHALIJA III even more so.

So here are a few suggestions to the powers that be, and SAILOR TODAY invites comments as well as further responses on the subject.

1) To start with, face it, the best thing in the Indian Merchant Navy's certification system is that the main Competency Certification is still done by the regulatory authoirty - the MMD and DG Shipping. You can not be a certified deck or engine officer unless you have cleared your "tickets", issued by the Government, wonderful. Luckily for us, unlike in the aviation sector, this has not been left to the training schools. Except for the entry level. Still, there is ample room for manipulation even there, and it is about time that the examinations for aspirants leaving training institutions need to be carried out by a government body before the youngsters are allowed to even step onboard a ship. Even as cadets.

This may certainly place a heavy load on the already overloaded and creaking system - well, so be it. There are ways of using infotech to do this, online exams under supervision are only one way, but  atleast there will be some standardisation on who steps on board a ship and who doesn't. Currently all sorts of lack of capabilities along with well trained people manage to get documents enabling them to get onboard - that has to be fixed.

2) Next, for the Certificate of Competencies, the courses need to be reviewed, rejuvenated and renewed with urgency. The British in their wisdom left us an examination system in the Merchant Navy that still works on learning by rote, memorising vast amounts of often useless and defunct information, and then spilling it out in large volumes on paper. The whole method is geared towards memorising solutions of questions, so that books published decades ago can continue to be sold, in a mutual backscratch venture that would put cats and monkeys to shame. This has been said umpteen times before, then people get their tickets, and forget about the whole thing - meanwhile, the system goes on. Same holes are there on the same charts for ROC, right?

This has to be changed - more syllabus drawn from actual life on modern ships as well as even more importantly - from future design and technology expected on ships. For reasons of my own I took 27 years between two subsequent levels of competency - and the syllabus was exactly the same as done by my batchmates who cleared well in time. In between, I had moved on, headed a Silicon Valley tech company where skillsets were changing every three months - and saw how the youngsters coming in were keeping up in those industries. Matter of fact, the rise of employment potential in the shipping industry for Indians could have been as exponential as in the IT industry, if only the system had moved on with the times.

Here, the young people doing their "tickets" with me were actually being asked to regress back in time, learn about stuff that had gone out 3 decades ago - and then go on really state of the art modern ships to unlearn everything so that they could work on things they had to learn from scratch on their own using tech manuals provided by the equipment supplier. What was the use of the examination, then?

3) The grand wonder called "orals". Sit with the younger people doing their tickets nowadays and listen to them - it is almost as though we are living in archaic times. Such and such surveyor demands that you must wear a suit. Another one expects you to wait for hours and sometimes days before calling you in. Yet another one expects you to wear a shirt in such and such colour and shoes of a particular sort. Many of them are keen to show what they know rather than extracting from you what you know or don''t know. Some will argue about what you were taught by somebody because they don't like that college or instructor. Yet some more will go out of course. And bar none, it seems that almost all of them treat the candidate like SHIT, because of their own insecurities or because that is how it was always done.

It is about time that all orals were video recorded, and that candidates were given a chance to go in for appeal in case they felt their results were incorrect, and in a manner that prevents those candidates from being harmed in revenge by vindictive surveyors. A certain percentage of failed candidates along with those who have asked for appeals to be given repeat attempts very soon after being failed needs to be introduced, and the process being done in such a way that the candidates have more faith in the system. In addition, minimum and mximum time limits to be set for orals, so that schedules are not disturbed.

4) The reality of non-Competency courses, also known variously as Modular or STCW and similar courses, is well known. With 100% pass percentages, lax attendance criteria and very often dis-interested instructors, this is one reality that is going to come back to bite us one day. Here again, some institutes are very thorough and professional about the seriousness with which they take charge of these courses, and at some other institutes it is simply a pay your fees kind of formality.

It is about time that the exams for the non-Competency courses were also streamlined and held by a central government agency, so that there could be some standardisation, especially since some of these modular courses deal with extremely important topics which can impact life and limb.

5) And last but not the least, the document trail, especially things like the linkage between the INDOS number, the CDC, the CoC and the rest of the documents. This needs to be sharpened up very rapidly, and details available online, as was supposed to have been done years ago.

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The future success of the Maritime certificate of competency system in India, and therefore subsequently and as a result the credibility of the CoC, will depend totally on the open-ness and transparency shown by the authorities. As well as their willingness to change with the times.

Otherwise, we have the example of the DGCA in front of us - and believe me, it is like people are baying for the blood of officials there. Interim, the credibility of pilots of Indian origin has taken a very big beating.

We do not want to see that happening to the Indian Merchant Navy.


Do we??

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The israelis And russians do it better

More about piracy here.

http://moneylife.in/article/piracy-on-the-high-seas-how-do-israel-and-russia-combat-this-menace/14705.html


Piracy on the high seas: How do Israel and Russia combat this menace?
March 14, 2011 03:19 PM |
Veeresh Malik

A number of foreign flagships have their own armed personnel on board, they call them “seamen”, and organise documents for them from the flag state. But India has made it extremely difficult for armed personnel to sail on board Indian merchant  flagships

In the world of shipping, flags and nationalities often have interchangeable meaning, and it is not unusual for ship-owners and ship-operators to not just burn the candle on both ends, but also cut the candle up into small pieces, burn it at every end, and then burn it lengthwise too.

The history of almost every major shipping company is littered with evidence and anecdotes of what could best be called "extreme free enterprise"-slave trade, narcotics, arms, sanctions, colonial ambitions-nothing is or was impossible.

A roll-call of some of the major shipping interests around today, especially the 'Old Money' sorts from Western and Middle Europe, will show how as recently as during World War II, fleets were literally divided up to serve on both sides. That's nothing new. Somebody has to win, it made sense to cover all bets-this is also called hedging.

Some day soon, we shall also discuss derivates in the same context.

And of course, yesterday's gunrunners making their futures in and around Africa and Asia are today's corporate darlings, with shipping histories conveniently ignoring the truths. The only loyalty is towards turning over a faster profit, at any cost, especially when new flags can be rented by the hour.

Mongolia's maritime ambitions are the latest example, where anything goes.

So, in a way, why blame the poor Somalians-after all, if they were wearing suits tailored from bespoke outlets and could just knot their ties better than they do their lungis, they would not really look very different-and the flag would not really matter. Every European nation worth its colonial history has a few dozen flags lying spare here and there in the rest of the world-so what if they had to let go a Hong Kong or Singapore?

Here a fact: reading up on the small nation-states that still owe allegiance to the victors of the World War II, ostensibly fought on the basis of "freedom for all", is indeed extremely revealing. Thing is, there are so many of these little-little countries, mostly islands here and there, that it is quite a long read.

But it helps to understand shipping, and to figure out why shipping companies love them, too. It may be a bit difficult to memorise and sing so many new National Anthems, but hey, they can always buy a CD. Here's another fact: newer the country, easier the Flag of Convenience, and often prettier the flag.

But there are always exceptions. For some people, for some flags, never forget. And the Israelis stand very, very tall in this. In fact, their flags are the tallest in the world. Today, their ships sail past the pirate areas of the Indian Ocean, without challenge. A friend who was a Master on one of their Zim Line ships relates an episode of how while other ships would creep past in full black-out conditions, they would barrel through the piracy areas with all lights on and with floodlights shining on the funnel as well as name and port of registry. Every time. Nobody knows if the pirates out there can read Hebrew, so the name is also painted on in English.

Into this world we bring our gentle and loyal readers a small touch, a faint whisper of a part of a chapter in a huge book actually, of the amazing real-life story of the Ofer Brothers. Apart from owning the Israeli shipping behemoth, Zim, the Ofers are also known to own and control Tanker Pacific (one of the largest oil-tanker operators in the world) as well as a few other shipping interests-including the companies that owned the St James Park and the Asian Glory, that were hijacked and released in 2009.

One version is here:

http://www.oferg.com/Aboutus/History/tabid/125/Default.aspx

Another version is here:

http://www.oferg.com/Aboutus/History/tabid/125/Default.aspx

And here too, the third version, where you will notice that our old friends-the banks and the insurance companies-make their now usual grand appearance, as private investors too.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/the-shakshuka-system-a-view-from-2009-1.271235

But this report is about piracy and Israelis. For that, please and kindly look carefully at the timeline below:

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This is a statement issued by the operators after the release of their ship, the St James Park, mid-May 2009. "The company does not wish to jeopardise the safety of crew members held on its second hijacked vessel the Asian Glory or other vessels and crews that are still being held by Somali pirates in the area," Zodiac said in a statement. (The vessel St James Park, with a British flag, was hijacked on 28 December 2008 and released on 14 May 2009, with Indian, Pakistani and Bulgarian crew).

This is the statement issued by the operators after the release of their ship, the MV Asian Glory in mid-June 2009-"Zodiac said in a statement on its website that all crewmembers were well, but declined to provide further details." (MV Asian Glory, with a British flag, was hijacked in early January 2009 and released in mid-June 2009-its crew consisted of Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Indians and Romanians.)

But there has been no statement issued by the owners or operators, as yet, pertaining to the hijack and release of their ship the MV Arctic Sea, from the North Sea, in highly-controlled Western Europe waters. On voyage from Finland to Algeria with "timber", but suspected to have been carrying weapons likely destined for certain Arab interests. (MV Arctic Sea, Malta flag, primarily Canadian owned-beneficial owners unclear-was hijacked in late July 2009 and "found" in mid-August 2009 in the Atlantic Ocean).

+++

The buzz in the maritime world in India and elsewhere has been loud and clear after this-Ofer's ships will simply not be touched again. In fact, any Israeli interests will not be touched again in the Indian Ocean piracy areas. Buzz also has it that on the waterfront in Puntland and the rest of the Horn of Africa, word is out that you don't mess with the Star of David, or those whom they protect.

So you now have MSC, (Med Shipping of Geneva, Switzerland, another shipping company with a history of its own, operating from that great maritime nation, Switzerland) the largest operators of cruise ships, openly declaring that their "security staff" was and is Israeli.

Here's another episode: April 2009, the MSC Melody with a "large number of passengers onboard" repelled an attack by boats and boats of pirates about 500 miles off Somalia. Apparently it was a planned attack. Initial news reports spoke about the ship taking successful evasive action, but truth is that the security forces onboard used firearms "and more" to drive off the attackers, and then actually doing some more too-which cannot and will not be repeated here.

But put it this way, there are videos circulating on the Internet of how security men from another nation captured some pirates, released the hostage crew who were being forced to operate the mother ship, and then, what the heck, tied the pirates up and then blew up the ship.

Some people got very, very, wet-and unhappy. Russian ships don't get attacked in Somalia any more, either, for some time now.

So this is what the MSC Melody's ship-owner's statement said: "Security work onboard our cruise ships is very popular with young Israelis just out of the army, the job is seen as a chance to save money and travel at the same time. Hundreds of veterans and reservists of elite Israel Defence Force units, including Naval commandos, are employed in security work on cruise ships and oil rigs in areas subject to pirate attacks."

And in the bargain, another amazing factoid is emerging in Africa-the Israelis are fast becoming important players in all forms of commercial enterprises in and around the emerging African countries. One country, (actually three of them), is reported to now permit nuclear tests as well as Armed Forces "training" on their territories. (South Africa stopped in the post-apartheid era, that is what one understands, and Angola is not all that big).

The Chinese are now facing competition, because cheap labour costs the same for both of them, especially if it is from Third World countries. And most of all, Israeli interest ships continue to flow through safely-which is more than what many other countries can claim.

+++

Where is India on something like this?

1) All sorts of important people in Delhi are debating on whether Indian ships should have armed guards on them or not. Popular sentiment fashioned on some old traditions going back to, where else, the British, has it that merchant ships should not be armed. This is usually after lunch and before dinner, after which they all go home to their well-protected homes, mostly with heavily armed guards outside.

2) The Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai, in its own brilliance has made it extremely difficult for ex-Indian Navy personnel to sail onboard Indian merchant flag ships. The background of this is somewhere else totally, and involves Supreme Court judgements, so it will not be discussed here, other than a single simple comment: "own goal". Or better, still, "self
hit-wicket."

3) Foreign flagships which have their own armed personnel onboard declare the security people as "seamen", and organise documents for them from the flag state. The actual arms are either declared and kept in bonded locker stores, or simply, sometimes, not declared, that's also life. Releasing a ship from official pirates in India is easier than getting it released from unofficial pirates in Somalia.

4) The ITF, BIMCO, Intertanko, Interbulk and the International Chamber of Shipping are meeting in London again next week. Apparently they plan to issue another joint appeal, after lunch and before dinner, and then launch another Web campaign. However, they are also not in favour of placing armed guards on merchant ships-though this is also being debated. To the best of my knowledge, the Indian government is not represented here this time, though some other Indians in shipping are.

+++

There is no too ways about this-piracy at sea is now a very important component of what is increasingly being referred to as "MCO". (Multinational Crime Organisation). History teaches us that the New World was conquered by buccaneers and they were supported brilliantly by their backers-state, church or commerce. Things really haven't changed that much lately, either.

Getting our people back - the RAK AFRIKANA

My exclusive on the RAK AFRIKANA, as carried first at MONEYLIFE.

http://moneylife.in/article/the-rak-afrikana-inside-story-heres-how-the-crew-was-released/14674.html

The ‘RAK Afrikana’ inside story: Here’s how the crew was released
March 11, 2011 03:34 PM |
Veeresh Malik

The inside story behind why Somali pirates released the 23 crewmembers on board, after nearly one year of captivity 

First of all, for all those in the media and outside going shrill about wanting the Indian Navy to go into 'hot pursuit' on pirates hijacking ships, a small question-would you send the Indian Army to chase and capture bandits hijacking Indians on an Isle of Man registered bus in Albania or Montenegro, for example? No. We would not.

The days of sending gunboats up the Yangtze Kiang River or the Hooghly to motivate the natives are also now over, and if we try it near the Horn of Africa, then an established system of maritime realities and truths will soon put paid to things. And some poor Indian Navy officer will be strung up, likely at the Hague, for war crimes.

And besides, it is simply not feasible-too many small boats operating out of a large number of 'mother ships' and trawlers, over an ocean area larger than a few continents put together, an entity, concept and aspect which people ashore will simply not be able to relate to.

Besides, this is largely business as usual, though on a rapidly growing curve-so unless we are trying to establish our colonial rights there, it would be better to send in our bankers and evangelists, rather than our sailors, which is also the established wisdom of ages. Already, everything the "pirates" need is easily available, and if Amex, MasterCard and Visa are present, and doing very well, thank you, then can the rest of the organised retail and wholesale trade be too far behind? It is only the transaction cost and underwriting expenses that go up, which is also good for the bottom-line of the FIIs (foreign institutional investors), so everybody plays happy campers.

Next, barring some dhows and other local sailing craft which in any case are regulars on that route, so they know the game-no Indian flagship has, so far, been successfully hijacked.

Certainly, many have been attacked, more than a few have had near escapes-but they've all got through. There is what appears to be a reasonably efficient escort system by the Indian Navy for Indian flagships, facts on which one cannot and will not speak or write about, which is working as of now especially in the piracy impacted areas-but this is also a cause of concern as the piracy-impacted area is simply growing larger and larger.

From near coastal Horn of Africa to Socotra a few years ago, it extends now to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, along the coasts of the Indian Subcontinent as well as Africa till Madagascar, and reaches almost 70 degrees east and now well below the Equator.

See that on a map, and see how it is spreading.

http://www.icc-ccs.org/home/piracy-reporting-centre/imb-live-piracy-map-2010/piracy-map-2010

 You can use this link to see annual growth rate of piracy, too, and make pretty graphs if so desired like in an annual report.

Incidentally, there are a large number of piracy attacks in the South China Sea area too, which often go unreported because they are far more violent, often leaving no survivors, and ensuring that the ships, their crew, and the cargoes disappear. No body, no crime. The African hijacks, by comparison, are more humane-but they go and on, without closure.

Likewise, many more seafarers die every year due to run-ins on unseaworthy ships which have gone to the bottom and therefore that, their being unseaworthy, cannot be proved.

Barring the famed Derbyshire case, where friends and family of those who went down, actually spent large sums of money to find out what really happened.
 
http://www.bsnet.co.uk/derbyshire/

Third, and most importantly, this business is no longer 'controlled' from Somalian ports or towns. The money trail, which is now well-established apparently, goes right back to the "developed" countries, often through the "oil-rich" countries.

There are "rules" and "systems" for everything now-it seems that the pirates also have an "instruction book" on how to deal with the hostages as well as their family members when they call up. The whole process is run like a stock exchange, and at last reports, there were 72 entities in the business in Puntland, whose shares were literally traded depending on success or failure at sea. It is, what do we say, a bull market on over there.

Some accounts on how the ransom money is distributed, often dropped by chopper or light plane into the ocean next to the hijacked ship, are amazing. About the best collection of reports on the pirate organisations and their commercial methods can be found here:

http://www.idaratmaritime.com/wordpress/?category_name=pirate-organizations-methods

More worrying is the political state of affairs in Saudi Arabia, especially the ports in the Red Sea, which are accessed only through this piracy-impacted area.

(Other than through the Suez Canal, of course, but that is not currently an issue).

It is a simple fact of life that the piracy business cannot survive without strong backing, and for long it has been suspected that the commercial routes are through Saudi Arabia, which is a part of the world which itself has had a long tradition of piracy, before the Bedouins got their act together and made it a Nation. The writ of the Arab pirates was said to extend to Gibraltar at one end and well into Malacca on the other.

So, to get on with this report, what are the numbers like?

Take the case of the RAK Afrikana, recently in the news, where crew onboard have been released after 11 months in captivity. Incidentally, of the 26 people onboard, 25 are reported to now be onboard another recently ransom-released ship called the York currently heading under escort for Mombasa. About the RAK Afrikana itself, what is known is that she is taking water from a large hold in the hold, and is likely to sink soon, if not already sunk.

The RAK Afrikana is a 30-year-old cargo ship, small as ships go at about 8,000 tonnes DWT, flying what is called an "open register" flag, or Flag of Convenience (FOC).

But this vessel is basically an ageing rust bucket surviving on the deficiencies in this system of "anything that goes flags". In this case, St Vincent & Grenadines, which just happens to also be blessed with a Governor General and a Queen, both from England, thank you very much.

But not British enough to send the British Navy, sure. She was based in Ras Al Khaimah, part of the UAE, where she functioned as a cadet-training ship, preparing young people for a career at sea under the New Zealand marine system, with a link also to BIT, India.

The operators are of Indian origin, as are some of the crew, though it was long thought that the financial backing was from Italy and China, blessed by the local RAK (UAE)  Government, who were justifiably very proud of these efforts to re-launch ancient maritime traditions. And finally, various other Governments and shipping companies also wanted to take this concept further, which is why she went on a voyage to Mauritius, after picking up some cargo on the way to make the voyage commercially viable too-and give the cadets some real experience.

And then she got hijacked. North of Seychelles.

The initial stages of negotiation were handled by an Indian who went by the code-name 'SADMAR', who was also the single point contact for the hijackers/pirates and their representatives. There was also a gentleman of European origin, let us call him 'JOE', who was an "advisor" functioning vaguely on behalf of the insurance companies and beneficial owners-both of whom were not fully declared.

At a meeting with the family members in a south-west Delhi 5-star hotel in the summer of 2010, it was made clear to the family members that if they wanted their kith and kin back safely, then they would have to keep the peace-interim financial sustenance was offered and accepted.

At that juncture, the pirates were demanding $3 million-$5 million, and 'SADMAR' had the authority to offer $700,000.

Then, very sadly, probably because the negotiations were literally killing him, 'SADMAR' died, and negotiations came to a grinding halt, while fresh channels were set up-trust being an important part. At all points of time, however, safety and good treatment of the crew onboard was paramount, as also looking after their families back home, so this episode did not make the shrill headlines.

For that, full marks to the owners, the Kotwals. Interim, 'JOE' tried hard to build confidences with the pirates as well as the crew onboard, but everybody wanted 'SADMAR', which was not possible as by now he had been cremated in Kochi.

Long story cut short, a few days ago, the ransom was paid out, and the pirates abandoned the ship, which was literally on its last legs anyways. The sum is rumoured to be around $1.2 million. A total of 25 of the seafarers onboard were first transferred to an Italian warship, and then again to another merchant ship recently freed, and now headed for Mombasa. The Captain of the ship, who played a stellar and strong role throughout, as well as his
Noida-based wife, are amongst the many heroes of this episode.

Which may or may not ever be really told again.

At the end of the day, however, it was all about how the fiscal aspects of the whole "transaction" were handled. From ensuring that family members were provided sustenance, to spending money on keeping communications going, and getting solid good professional advice from 'JOE'-the owners and pirates played the rules by the book.

Going to the media while negotiations are on, is not playing by the rules-and only endangers the lives of those on board.

___

My view on piracy at sea - from India

Already published here, and there are a whole lot of other articles on this and other maritime subjects published there so do visit the good people at Idarat:-

http://www.idaratmaritime.com/wordpress/?p=317

As an ex-seafarer with a mosaic career ashore, spanning media, shipping, technology, politics, banking, as well as bouts of unemployment, every now and then – and now looking at going back to sea, if possible to write a book, it is difficult not to end up having an informed view and an opinion which is at variance with the views of many others, who have not had a similar variety of exposure. This is especially so when one sits down for longish evenings with shippie buddies, the sailing types as well as those ashore, variously. Some may call it arrogance. Others may refer to it as cynical. Those who know me will recognise the concept of battening down the hatches before sailing out of port. But yes, the fact remains, the big topic lately when old salts meet in India is more often than not, through the evening – piracy; and the criminalisation of seafarers. This has moved up, incidentally, ahead of last year’s favourite which used to be fatigue.
In other segments of society – and living in Delhi, there aren’t too many people with a grip on matters maritime beyond the random holiday on the coast or the once in a lifetime cruise – much of the perception of piracy is courtesy of a couple of very shrill television news (noise) channels with the usual bunch of sad crying elderly relatives and hysterical vapid young people with microphones in their hand. The reactions here are really not very relevant, either, which in a way also passes judgement on the Save our Seafarers movement which is aimed at trying to evoke public pressure. Face it – an average of 11 people die every day on Mumbai’s local train tracks – this is India’s premier city – and it has never made a difference to, or put any pressure on, the other 20 million there.
The point is this, and at the risk of sounding very cruel, there are a variety or realities at play here on the subject of piracy and risk to health; as well as other such terrible things to cargo and cargo owner interests, also the shipowners, in and around the Indian Ocean. This short article shall try and address them as well as try and place things in a way that may make sense to a largely European audience and readership. Without in any way being condescending, supercilious or patronising – or expecting others to be so too. However, all are requested to remember that when a ship went down anywhere in the world, a bell used to be rung at Lloyd’s – but today the calculators come out to figure out the bottom line in accounts – often before the hull touches the bottom of the ocean.
So, first off, right off the bat – and I have reconfirmed this from a friend who is the boss of a very large ship management company, and who has first-hand experience of his ships being held up off the Horn of Africa. When you increase wages, place higher insurance cover for the humans, underwrite suitable death and disability benefits, and cover the family for wages for the duration. And there will thenbe long lines of prospective applicants, certified or otherwise, outside recruitment offices from Mumbai to Marseilles, Shanghai to Salalah. Please accept and understand, that those who even imagine that piracy is causing a shortage of potential seafarers do not understand the economic realities in many parts of the world. Incidentally, this was not an original thought even when Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22.
Next, most real seafarers are still in “the sky is falling on our heads” position, when they are not surveying deckheads horizontally, they’ve been hit so often and so badly in the past that the reality of piracy does not strike them, it cannot happen to me. People coming back after being released from months under pirate control vanish off the radar rapidly – and many don’t get jobs at sea again for a variety of reasons. Yes, there are a few survivors hanging around the clubs and offices waiting to score a beer, or some money, while they relate and re-tell their tales, but they are simply not making the numbers and the right kind of waves. It is a bit like the family relative who has a sad story, is disfigured and ugly as well as full of woe, we all feel sorry for him, but we would rather not have him ride in our car to the family get together.
And thirdly, not just here in India, but in many other parts of the world, fatalism comes with the territory, as does tunnel vision. This, again, is something that the present generation of perception makers in the West with their quaint black and white notions on selective human rights (Libya Dictator bad man, Saudi Dictator good man) do not seem to get to grips with. Kismet plays a large part in our lives, and nothing seems to take this option further than being at sea on substandard ships sailing at reduced optimal manning levels, so what can a couple of pirates do that an FOC rust-bucket can’t. Be aware, there are jobs being offered on “LPSV” (Large Pirate Support Vessels) in some ports in Asia, and people apparently accept. Just like young men from this part of the world accepted jobs as cleaners and cooks in Afghanistan and Iraq – it didn’t matter to them which side they worked on as long as the money reached home.
Right and wrong, pirate and banker, these are shades of grey which do not cut much moral ice with many people. They would love to be what are called investment bankers, but failing that, they see no reason in not putting similar skillsets at work for what is called piracy, too. Listen to “Ride Across the River” by Dire Straits, who sang it very well, indeed.
Having got this off my chest, another truth is this – things are changing now. There are people who simply refuse to want to go back on deep-sea voyages ex-India anymore. One indication of this is that the lower-paying, fully-taxed, jobs on coastal ships are suddenly full. No more room, thank you – and ‘till a year ago, you couldn’t get healthy people with two or three working limbs and decent eyesight to go near some of these coastal ships in India. That’s a solid truth, too.
Which brings us to the Government, currently busy pretending they don’t know that others know, that they know who actually whacked and hid somewhere in Europe on a small island or similar, what sounds like the total of all national turnover revenues since the British left – and therefore expect everybody to continue believing that the British are still responsible. It is very difficult to explain to our Government in India that even the British don’t believe that Cameron or Major before him had the skills to be able to do so. But we digress; we need to get back to the pirate kind of pirates, not our friendly colonial versions and their cohorts back home.
I am therefore directed to inform you, in triplicate, that the Government of India is currently busy passing the buck. Frankly, that is how it has always been, committees are appointed, reports sought and distributed and modified and discussed and opined on, mostly ending with a sumptuous dinner for all including the drivers. The Shipping Ministry issues notifications and adds another day to the SSO course that shippies on board are supposed to wave at the pirates; the Defence guys have their ships out there, but distractions like Libya have them racing up and down Suez like Iranian butter, and the External Affairs Minister rattled off Portugal’s speech the last time he went to the United Nations, so we know what he’s got upstairs is probably better than the khat the pirates chew.
But yes, the Government will do something someday soon, we just don’t know what and how, since it is probably an important secret matter of State impacting security so as honest citizens we are supposed to drink our tulsi ka juice and go to sleep in the corner, Government has said it will all be OK, it is OK. Not for nothing was George Orwell born in Motihari, Bihar, India. Truly, Big Brother’s best hope has been to officially hope that the pirates will have a change of heart towards Indian citizens currently in their captivity. In any case, who told them to go to work on ships; couldn’t they have stayed back and voted? Or paid bribes. Or something.
And then there are the shipowners. Here’s how it goes – the silence from Indian shipowners has always been and is even now, resounding. They have an association; it is called INSA, short for Indian National Shipowner’s Association. Their charter has not changed since they were formed, and it had more to do with disagreeing with the Government from London those days, to try and benefit Indian shipping. The Brits have come and gone, we hope, but INSA is still disagreeing with Government. Anyways, they are a strange bunch, and so we really don’t expect to hear much from them on the subject of countering piracy. Other than the dinner after the meetings, of course, somebody has to pay the bills.
Which leaves – nobody, Nil, Nada. Nobody else cares about things.
Wait – one lot does. There is always the grapevine to take into account and usually they are also closest to the truth.
And the grapevine says that this is no longer piracy. Nor is it somebody’s idea on how to collect tolls and taxes.
The grapevine says that the larger money managing corporates of the world have got into the game. As of now the skillsets are being refined in and around the Horn of Africa – but once finessed, the next locations could be anywhere. South Med, Malacca, South China Sea, East Africa, West Africa, Bay of Bengal – even the North Sea, remember the amazing case of the “Arctic Sea”, anybody? After all, I did say I had a background in technology – and that was in the payment processing industry. Some of what I have uncovered is not in any way different from the way, for example, some types of legit businesses make and move money on the flesh and porn business. Or the way multiple small remittances are moved across borders for making payments in the narcotics business. In billions of dollars every year.
Piracy in the Indian Ocean is increasingly another form of business rapidly going legit by simply being there. And seafarers have always been Giffen goods, replaceable, that’s the truth too.

The best article so far on the piracy situation in the Indian Ocean

Long read.


http://www.idaratmaritime.com/wordpress/?p=261


http://www.idaratmaritime.com/wordpress/?p=261&cpage=1#comment-10928

About the best I've read on the subject. This is not just Somalia or Puntland - this impacts the complete Indian Ocean now - and beyond. Read it!!

"Some seafarers have been beaten, some have suffered mock executions, and some—fortunately, not many—have been killed.Their plights, and that of their families anxiously awaiting news, are often overlooked when the consequences of piracy are examined.  Since the year 2003, pirates worldwide have kidnapped or taken hostage more than 4,000 seafarers.  Some seafarers who have been captured by pirates are so traumatised by their experience that they are unable to go back to sea after their release[54], while the possibility of a hijacking is one of the factors contributing to a general shortage of merchant sailors."

Actual email received wrt piracy off Indian Coast

Here's an email from a friend onboard an Indian flag ship sailing India to Red Sea, left East Coast, stuck close to the west Coast but then struck out towards the Gulf of Aden . . .

+++


dear veeresh,

left indian shores on 2/03.

managed to thwart piracy attack on us on 3/03  evenning abt 260 miles off goa.
had two crafts one  on port bow sailing parrallel to us other approaching from
stbd side managed to ivade by altering to port n increasing cpa to more than 2
miles. more than ten guys on deck of the boat.

tdy morning joinrd  naval convoy in gulf of aden. proud to be in cnvoy led by 
ins talwar.

convoy is from entrance of gulf of aden to 100 miles short of babel mandap.

cheers

SAVE OUR SEAFARERS / (SAVE OUR SAILORS) / SOS

Here's a link to an article on the experiences of the South Korean captain of a ship hijacked by the Somali pirates, and used as a "mother ship" to capture other ships.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/02/16/58/0301000000AEN20110216006600315F.HTML

Suffice it to say, the piracy issue gets worse for seafarers by the hour, without much being done in the real sense of the word - especially for those sailing on FOC / Open Register ships.

So what should we do?

Watch this space.

As part of a SAILOR TODAY initiative, we will be launching an initiative, very soon.

SAVE OUR SEAFARERS. Really. SOS.

Capt. Sahil Puri's research on Criminalisation at Sea

Conclusion

“Wake up higher authorities .I am young and energetic and pretty much optimistic towards my sea service. Kindly take short notice action on criminalisation. Best regards.”

                                                                     - One of the respondents, a Pakistani cadet 

The above statement in my opinion symbolises the crux of the problem that this research was aiming to address. It has shades of despair which reflects the helplessness of the respondent, much the same feeling shared by majority of the seafarers that participated in the survey. Whether it was the insecurity of being treated like a criminal or lack of confidence in the international bodies and governments to deal with this issue, the results were disappointing for the morale of the workforce that is supposedly the engine of the global economy. The results clearly reflected that this problem is deep rooted and no matter what level of shipboard organisation, what department or what type of ship, the issue has had a negative impact.          

On the contrary the above statement also has shades of hope and optimism. Same was apparent in the majority of the respondents who actively came forward to put across their point of view and their suggestions on how to deal with this issue. The wide acceptance that the solutions mentioned in the questionnaire received, is in itself a sign of optimism that ‘Something can be done’.

The only question however that remains unanswered is “Will it be done??”  

(With permission from Capt. Sahil Puri.)   

+++

Here is the conclusion from Capt. Sahil Puri's most interesting research on criminalisation at sea. I shall be placing his work here, as it becomes available for publishing, on a regular basis. In this case, though, the conclusion was what was more important - so.

So, how many of us are there in the vastness of the oceans out there, then?

There is no cogent number on how many seafarers there are in the world, simply because there is a vast range - mainstream ocean going ships, armed forces, research vessels, coastal fleets, inshore transport, pleasure craft, support services, port auxiliaries, and the rest of it. Then, add to this, the vast number of "ir-regulars", from pirates in the Indian Ocean to people forced to work on fishing boats, and on to pure and simple "unknown ventures". The last known figure for seafarers on mainstream ships alone was about 1.2 million, by BIMCO - but way back in 2005. The ballpark figure for seafarers of all sorts, worldwide,  qualified in some form or the other, is around 4-6 million - and may well be more if one takes into account the number of people who are at sea variously and absolutely unqualified.

Add to this the number of people from other trades who, for one reason or the other, also work on ships - as inspectors, security personnel, repair workers, hospitality workers on cruise ships and similar - and can be said to have acquired reasonable seafaring skillsets - and you have an even bigger pool of people who can, in some way or the other, work on ships. And who will, obviously, impact the supply-demand economics. Ideally, much of this group of people should have been organised, in one way or the other. Truth is, the number of seafarers who are part of any ITF affiliated agreements, is said to be around 600,000 (ITF, 2010). So, at a modest estimate, almost 90% of the people who are "at sea" are really that - disorganised groups of people without direction or collective strengths.

Organised or otherwise - and it is important to remember that the global bastion of worker rights, People's Republic of China, does not permit its seafarers to be part of unions - all seafarers share one thing in common, though - being party to the tendency and economic requirement on the part of the owner and operator to always keep cutting costs. Sure, suitable noises are made about "quality", but if you compare quality of life ashore in other professions with the way quality of life onboard has evolved for the seafarer over the last few decades, then one thing is clear - the shipowners of the world are absolutely aware of how the largely "open register" system of ship-owning works towards making the seafarer a commodity which can be exploited almost at will.

There is yet another deeper issue at play - if salaries at sea are increased, and quality of life improved, then more people from the costlier developed countries will want to come to sea. These people will then certainly be well organised, as well as lobby with good success rates with governance in their own countries, to ensure reservations and jobs for themselves. However, at the same time, higher salaries will also lead to more qualified people from these countries coming to sea - and then leaving seafaring early. Because (i) they would have saved up enough in a short time and (b) their qualifications would find a ready market ashore.

This, if you are a shipowner looking at a bottomline before anything else, is disaster. First you spend a lot of money training up a lot of expensive people which will also make your ships uncompetitive. Next, these very people will move on rapidly, leading the shipowner into a fresh spiral of high training costs. So, basic truth Number One if you want to be a succesful shipowner is to ensure that the system works to keep seafaring as an inferior career choice, depending more on people coming in from poorer countries, where some minimum levels of competency can be obtained. After that, they have to ensure that their ships are able to employ such people, which is where the conflict between "better than just technically seaworthy" and "open reigster" comes in.

Are we, then, likely to see an improvement in quality of life at sea and for seafarers in the near future? Or will it always be a situation where salary is driven by supply/demand as well as cyclical surplus/deficit scenarios, tweaked around a tipping point, where 2% makes all the difference between good times and bad?

The answer, as always, is not as simple as pure numbers would lead many of us to believe. Here are some possibilities that may impact things:-

# The "Black Swan" effect - where a logical but unseen effect may suddenly cause a huge change in seafarer dynamics. Increasing prices of oil, shut-down of a major trade route, unpredictable weather, and more. The lessons of Suez Canal being shut down in the '70s are not all that far behind us, nor the effects of the various defaults and failures in the financial markets, or simply the possible effects of more regulations impacting shipping.

# Higher unemployment ashore in many countries, including the traditional seafaring countries in Europe which saw seafaring going on the back-burner, which could see more people come "back to sea". This, incidentally, is already being observed in England and Scandinavia. Shipowners will always prefer people from their own countries, choosing to save on the foreigners they end up hiring - sanctified by ITF, by the way.

# The faint chance that life at sea may well become better soon - with better communications, lesser working hours, bigger complements on board and most of all - introduction of suitable relevant HR practices pertaining to seafarers more than "crewing department" kind of treatment most seafarers are subjected to. Another simple truth and influencing factor - the freshest air is still what you get at sea.

In all this and more, morality and ethics have hardly any role to play, especially as far as shipowners and operators are concerned. The drivers are always, but always, purely economic. Due sounds are made, of course, towards flags and nations - but if true beneficial ownerships are analysed, then these seldom, if ever, stand any test of truth.

The seafarer, on the other hand, is expected to perform at sea as per a variety of unwritten traditions, the most important one being "ship before self". Never mind double book-keeping on wages, substandard food, tremendous over-work. The psychological demand on seafarers is simply unrelated to the reality of numbers whether onboard or ashore.

What, then, is the solution for seafarers? Or are they destined to keep on sailing, generation after generation, with working conditions aimed at keeping them in what is known as "inferior goods" conditions? Truth be told, again, seafaring jobs do tend to fall into the category of "inferior goods", witness the drastic decline in basic courtesies and respect (not) being extended to seafarers by "authorities" worldwide. Be it restrictions on shore leave, criminalisation, or simply the way the juniormost of Customs or Immigration or Health or other categories of people who visit ships officially treat them, it is very clear that the seafarer commands less respect in some case now than, say, a State Transport bus driver. Sad, hard words - but true.

SAILOR TODAY welcomes responses from seafarers - what ARE the solutions, if any? Or is seafaring as a career on a continuous downward spiral, to end up, as have other professions in the past, at the bottom of the options pool - activated only when economic realities ashore become bad?

11 dec 2010, latest on piracy in the Indian Ocean

It is now a rampage, all over the Indian Ocean, with multiple "mother ships" being used by the pirates.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_navy-ship-rescues-thai-national-thrown-overboard-by-pirates_1477984

A Thai crew member thrown into the sea by pirates after hijacking a cargo vessel has been rescued by an Indian warship about 350 nautical miles off Minicoy Island in the Lakshadweep Island chain.
The Thai national's vessel, Prantalay 12, was hijacked a couple of months ago and being used as a mother ship by Somali pirates to launch attacks on other merchant vessels when he was thrown over board by the sea brigands, a navy spokesperson said here today.

India's INS Krishna, which was patrolling in the area noticed Prantalay 12 and was following it when the Thai sailor was thrown out into the sea by the brigands, he said, adding the Thai man was brought to Kochi for further formalities.

"On the evening of December 4, INS Krishna rescued the Thai national while on patrol about 350 nautical miles from Minicoy Island. On sighting INS Krishna, the trawler started heading Westwards at maximum speed away from the islands. One of the Thai nationals held hostage on board was seen to be pushed into the sea," he said.

The pirates later sailed the trawler at high speeds towards the Somali coast.

Prantalay 12 is the second suspected mother vessel that was cleared from the Eastern Arabian Sea. The navy had deployed a multi-ship force in November about 300-400 nautical miles off India's west coast to clear the area of the pirates.

During the course of the security sweep in the area, the navy ship chased another merchant tanker MT Polar, being used as a mother ship by pirates, away from the region.

"Navy and Coast Guard ships and aircraft continue to patrol the areas of reported pirate attacks in an effort to ensure safety of the sea lanes of communication," the navy spokesperson said, reiterating the requirement for all merchant vessels to adopt best management practices, as prescribed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as vital to ensuring the safety of shipping from piracy.
However, a Bangladeshi merchant vessel was hijacked by Somali pirates about 80 nautical miles off Minicoy Island and about 320 nautical miles of Indian west coast in international waters, but within Indian Exclusive Economic Zone.

The vessel, identified as MV Jahan Moni, had raised an alarm that it was being chased by a pirate-operated skiff and sought help, but by the time the Indian Navy and Coast Guard ships that were in the vicinity could respond, the merchant vessel was hijacked, Defence Ministry sources said.

The attack on MV Jahan Moni came on Sunday and the 26-member crew were captured by the pirates, who took the vessel back to Somali coast, the sources said.

The vessel was reportedly carrying 41,000 tonnes of nickel on board and it is believed that the pirates would use both the merchandise and the crew of the cargo ship to demand a ransom, they said.
The attack took place at the 'eight-degree channel' between Minicoy Island and Maldives, which witnesses a traffic of about 40 cargo ships on an average every day.

Post Piracy care of Seafarers

The Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) has published Preliminary Guidelines: Post-Piracy Care for Seafarers, outlining preliminary strategies on caring for seafarers (merchant mariners) affected by piracy. The document, based on cutting-edge mental health research and ongoing discussions with shipowners, crewing agencies, representatives of governments, and other stakeholders in the industry, provides practical guidelines for the maritime industry.

SCI presented the Preliminary Guidelines to Working Group 3 of the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia on January 27, prior to the Plenary Meeting of the Contact Group the following day. SCI also plans to submit the document to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at the meeting of the Maritime Security Committee in May.

Based on experience gained through the clinical study and stakeholder responses, SCI will update Preliminary Guidelines, available online at:

http://www.seamenschurch.org/law-advocacy/piracy-trauma-study

SCI desires to speak with seafarers who have experienced piracy, including attacks, hostage-taking, or simply sailing through high risk piracy areas. Contact Clinical Researcher Michael Garfinkle, PhD at +1 212 349 9090 ext. 240 or by email at mgarfinkle@seamenschurch.org.

SCI researchers strictly protect privacy.

General Average, Piracy, Somalia and a court ruling

So what happens when ranson payments are demanded out of general average, and shippier/consignee take a stand against this?

Here's what a Kenyan importer did, when asked to pay up,or else - and then subsequently, the money was sought to be forcibly withdrawn from his bank account.

Briefly, Absons of Mombasa were going to see substantial funds transferred from the their banks to  the Singapore owners as well as their ransom negotiators till the authorities put a halt to it.

Read more about it here:-

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Bank%20caught%20in%20piracy%20cash%20row%20/-/1056/1055752/-/heroai/-/

These are some interesting parts:-

"The importer, through the firm of Kinyua Muyaa, is now under duress to agree to have the funds referred to as ‘general average’ released to Habib Bank in Singapore, after which they will be remitted to Marine Claims office of Asia, which negotiated with the pirates."

The ship was the PIL container vessel KOTA FAJAR, and the ransom was around 3.3 million USD plus lawyers and megotiators fees.

Hijacked ship with captured crew attacks Spanish naval warship . . .

Good heavens! So now, first you get pirated or hijacked, then you get forced to use your ship to try and ram into a naval ship, which then fires back at you.


http://www.eaglespeak.us/2010/11/somali-pirates-using-big-mother-ship-to.html



The Izumi, a Japanese cargo ship captured in October 2010, was used to try and ram into the Spanish warship Infanta Cristina, which was escorting a merchant ship in the area, off the East Coast of Somalia on the 14/15 of November 2010.

Read the full report . . . amazing.