Modern Piracy

Seafarers' Trust Celebrates 30 Years With London Event

The ITF Seafarers’ Trust will celebrate its 30th birthday with a conference in London tomorrow exploring how best to provide for the welfare needs of the world’s seafarers in the 21st century. The event will share the experiences of the welfare community, unions and shipping industry, and explore new ways of helping seafarers. “The Trust has 30 years of experience to draw on and a superb network of people we’ve worked with who are leaders in this field, and many of them will be here tomorrow,” said Tom Holmer, administrative officer of the Seafarers’ Trust.  “Legislative, social and technical factors mean that seafarers’ needs are changing, and we have to be ready to change to meet them. The much hoped for ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, for example, will throw up new challenges and opportunities for welfare providers, and this will be firmly on the agenda.” Roy Paul, program manager of the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program and Seafarers’ Trust assistant administrative officer, added: “This event will draw on and share the knowledge built up over the last three decades, right up to the recent experience of the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program, which is addressing the profound human cost of modern piracy, and the lessons of other recent events.”

Naval Coalitions Rely on TracPhone V7 for Counter-Piracy

Commercial ships are the most cost effective and fastest means of transporting goods globally but pirate activity is a significant threat that costs the world economy between $7 and $12 billion annually according to a recent estimate by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), a coalition of 22 nations led by the United States, is now engaged in efforts to promote security and stability in response to the growing threat of piracy across approximately 2

IUA Supports LibDem Call For Action on Piracy

Marie-Louise Rossi, chief executive of the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA), has applauded a call by politicians in the U.K. to support measures to crack down on piracy and armed robbery at sea. And,in commending the initiative of the Liberal Democrats in drawing attention to increasing concern over piracy, Rossi also applauded the work currently being undertaken by IMO to address this issue. At their annual conference in Brighton this week

Piracy Off the Horn of Africa

Remarks by Andrew J. Shapiro, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, given to the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC (March 27, 2012).   Thank you for inviting me here today. I want to thank the Center for American Progress [CAP] for having me here to speak on the important subject of piracy off the Horn of Africa. CAP is a tremendous leader in developing new ideas and in approaching issues in new ways

Navy, Coast Guard Aim to Prevent Piracy

U.S. Navy and Coast Guard officials are determined to stop pirates from threatening Americans and American interests. Incidents of piracy have become even more prevalent over the last two years, especially off the coast of Somalia and in the South China Sea. In 2004, 330 incidents of piracy were recorded worldwide, of which almost 180 took place in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy conducts maritime security operations in various parts of the world and, most recently

World Piracy Jumps 40% In 1999

Pirate attacks worldwide surged 40 percent in 1999 as economic and political troubles in Indonesia spurred a dramatic increase in incidents in Southeast Asia. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in its annual report that the number of actual and attempted pirate raids increased to 285 last year from 202 in 1998. However, the number of seafarers killed fell to three last year from 78 in 1998. "This could be due to greater efforts by governments to combat piracy," the report said

Introducing ‘Lo-Jack’ For Ships

New Anti-Piracy Website Tracks Hijacked Vessels For Ship Owners A successful anti-piracy tracking system supported by ICC's International Maritime Bureau (IMB) now has a dedicated website that demonstrates how ship owners can log-on and view the exact position of their vessels at any time. Shiploc, an inexpensive tracking system, is based on a small device that reports to ship owners the position of their vessels via a satellite network several times a day. The launch of www.shiploc

Asian Piracy Takes Center Stage

This week's kidnapping crisis in the southern Philippines has thrown the spotlight on the growing problem of piracy in Asian waters, delegates at an international maritime conference said. Maritime authorities from 15 countries -- including Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and South Korea – are meeting in Tokyo to discuss piracy in the region, mainly the armed robbery of commercial ships sailing through Southeast Asia.

Acts of Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships

The IMO released its list of acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships based on reports received during April 2004. During this period, 65 such acts were reported. Source: HK Law

IMO: Piracy Up 4%

The IMO issued a Maritime Safety Committee circular providing the annual report for 2002 of reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships. The number of such acts reported to the IMO during 2002 was 383, an increase of 4% over the figure for 2001. The most affected area was the Far East, with 140 incidents reported in the South China Sea alone. MSC.4/Circ.32 http://www.imo.org/includes/blastDataOnly.asp/data_id=7215/32-b&w