Tag Archives: piracy

Ukrainian Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, February 22, 2013. Atlantic Council Photo

NATO and Ukraine: Unlikely Team in Piracy Fight

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Ukrainian Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, February 22, 2013. Atlantic Council Photo

Ukrainian Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, February 22, 2013. Atlantic Council Photo

When it comes to maritime security, piracy has become one of the most prevalent issues for NATO to deal with. In considering which nations are most involved in combating maritime piracy, Ukraine is probably not the first name that comes to mind. As it turns out, this non-NATO, non-EU Eastern European nation is heavily involved in the fight against piracy at sea. Ukraine has even become a valuable ally to NATO in anti-piracy campaigns, something not exactly expected from a nation so closely aligned with Russia on the geopolitical map. Read More →

A US Navy visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team, approached a suspected pirate after the Motor Vessel Nordic Apollo reported being under attack and fired upon by pirates in 2011. US Navy Photo

Defense Cuts Could Increase Piracy, Experts Say

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A US Navy visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team, approached a suspected pirate after the Motor Vessel Nordic Apollo reported being under attack and fired upon by pirates in 2011. US Navy Photo

A US Navy visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team, approached a suspected pirate after the Motor Vessel Nordic Apollo reported being under attack and fired upon by pirates in 2011. US Navy Photo

After a six-year low, Somalia-based piracy is likely to grow if international military budget reductions force a reduction in ships patrolling in and around the Gulf of Aden, an international piracy expert told USNI News in a Monday briefing. Read More →

somal

An Alternative Piracy Defense

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somalForce, or the threat of force, is an important factor in countering pirate attacks off Somalia.

That unsurprising conclusion can be inferred from the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report for 2011. IMB noted that incidents off Somalia increased in 2011, but the number of successful hijackings decreased from 49 to 28. Pottengal Mukundan, director of IMB’s Piracy Reporting Center, credited “pre-emptive naval strikes, the hardening of vessels in line with the best management practices and the deterrent effect of privately contracted armed security personnel” with the drop in successful hijackings.

Vigorous action by international naval forces in the Gulf of Aden and northwest Indian Ocean, weather, and shipboard defensive measures likewise helped reduce attacks year-over-year during the first quarter of 2012. Increasingly, those defensive measures have included armed security teams embarked on merchant vessels; anywhere from 15 to 35 percent of the ships transiting the region now rely on them. And according to industry sources, no ship embarking armed guards has been hijacked to date.

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