Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - March 2005

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Piracy Armed robbery on the high seas By Klaus Walderhaug and Frode Bjørklund Seafarers have always been exposed to the perils of the sea: hostile weather, collisions and grounding, fire and noxious fumes, flooding, sinking, capsizing, loss of propulsion or steering and any other hazards resulting from the unique environment of the sea. The list of dangers is long. The topic has been a popular motive in paintings, a thrilling background in film and literature, and the inspiration to many a song and tune. Dramatic incidents are always thoroughly covered by the press. Modern technology and an increasingly risk adverse society have made both the marine venture and the sailors’ lives safer. However, another external threat still remains which authorities and the shipping community are struggling to combat: Piracy. Ancient piracy Piracy has been an adverse side of life at sea for thousands of years. Both the old Egyptians back to the days of the Pharaohs and the ancient Greeks tell of piracy on the Mediterranean trade routes, attacks mostly originating from North Africa. The Romans struggled with Vandal, and later also Muslim, pirates, disturbing the trade routes to Africa and the East. The eastern part of the Mediterranean was particularly infested with pirates, operating out of the coast of what today is Turkey. Despite being an obstacle to the sea trade, Rome was still reluctant to crack down on the pirates as these were also prime suppliers of slaves to the Roman Empire. The Romans actually had fairly strict anti-piracy laws, opening for prosecution of pirates and imposing heavy fines for those harbouring them, but these were rarely enforced. Rome were struggling with civil wars as well as conflicts on many of its borders, and was not able to free the necessary resources to combat this evil. To avoid being plundered and terrorized, many port cities around the Med started providing services and facilities to the pirates or paid tribute to them. The pirates grew bolder, started raiding islands and cities, taking prisoners for ransom. As a young man even Julius Caesar were captured by pirates. At a time the pirates, operating more than 1,000 ships and having captured or raided 400 cities, were so dominating that trade throughout the Mediterra-nean virtually halted. Finally, Rome had to act, and in 67 BC Commander Pompey was awarded the task of getting rid of the pirates. With a force of 120,000 troops, 4,000 cavalry, 270 ships and sufficient resources to fund his mission, he managed to scare most of the pirates into obedience and to defeat the rest. Saturday March 12th 2005, a gang of 35 pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers boarded the Indonesian product tanker Tri Samudra in the Malacca Strait, on its way to Belawan, Indonesia with a full load of oil cargo. The pirates took control of the tanker and ordered it to sail towards Dumai. Later they abandoned the ship, kidnapping the master and the chief engineer. The owner received a ransom demand for a 2 billion rupiah, approx. US$ 210,000. 17th century naval warfare. The golden age of piracy In the 16th century piracy was again growing as a menace to the sea trade. European colonial expansion in South America, Africa and Asia resulted in ships carrying gold, silver and other valuable goods. Better, bigger and faster ships were being built, allowing the pirates the advantage of manoeuvring equality or even superiority to their preys. Competing interests and ambitions of the colonial powers gave room for ambitious and ruthless sailors to find ways of legalizing even the worst acts of piracy, as several countries recruited privateers to act in the interest of their respective crown. In this way English privateers could, with impunity, attack and rob Spanish ships, whilst North African pirates were licensed to rob English ships. In the early 1500s, the so-called Barbarian states in Northern Africa became centres for pirates. The sultans of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco encouraged piracy as an important source of revenue, and during the 17th century these pirates became a menace to the European merchant navies. By 1650 more than 30,000 captives by pirates were imprisoned in Algeria alone, and many European sailors were sold as slaves or, if coming from a family of means, exchanged against a ransom. In many countries there were organised "ransom relief funds", giving aid and loans to families trying to bring back their loved ones from imprisonment in Northern Africa. Several countries, among them Denmark/ Norway and the United States, were paying to the Barbarian sultans for immunity against piracy attacks. A number of attacks were made against the pirate nests, and finally in 1830 the French managed to end the North-African piracy. Perhaps the best known of the pirates, and the ones mostly pictured in books and by the movie industry, are the buccaneers operating in the Caribbean Sea during the 16th and 17th century. The term buccaneer comes from the French 'boucan', a grill for smoking dried meat, referring to the fare on board the ships. The buccaneers were English, Dutch and French seafaring adventurers who preyed mainly on Spanish ships going to and from the Spanish American 16 ODFJELL Quarterly March 2005
colonies. In contrast to the privateers who had official government commissions for their sea robberies, the buccaneers rarely had valid commissions. Under the leadership of Henry Morgan, the buccaneers got organised in larger bands, and managed to capture Portobelo in 1668 and Panama in 1671. During the 17th and 18th centuries piracy peaked, with Francis Drake, Black Beard and Henry Morgan being some of the main characters. Piracy then decreased again, following international treaties to outlaw it and the growth of the English and American navies to enforce the decree. Quite a number of the pirates were brought back to London and hanged in public. Henry Morgan, one of the most infamous buccaneer leaders. kidnapped the master, the chief engineer and the second engineer and escaped. IMB piracy reporting centre alerted Royal Malaysian marine police who sent out patrol boats to escort the tug and barge to port. The captured officers on the tug 'Idaten' and the tanker 'Tri Samudra' have later been released unharmed. Apparently a ransom was paid, at least for the Tri Samudra officers. Piracy today Worldwide recognition of piracy as an international offence, naval patrolling, the growth of a strong central power in most countries, modern communications technology and the increased size of merchant vessels, all contributed to piracy declining substantially in the 19th and 20th century. However, at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century piracy seems again to be on the rise. Statistics from the International Maritime Bureau shows a steadily growing trend over the last decade. In 2004 there was a total of 325 piracy attacks reported worldwide, the major hot-spots being the Malaccan Strait and Indonesian waters. Although a decline compared to 2003 (445 attacks), the assaults are getting more violent: 30 mariners were killed by pirates last year, up from 21 casualties the year before. Even if the numbers of attacks may appear minor compared to the vast numbers of ships trading worldwide, it is still a serious case for the ones being hit by pirates. Crewmembers having experienced being threatened with guns and knives, tied up, beaten or even kidnapped, find it hard recovering from the trauma, and many never go to sea again. The financial consequences of a piracy attack may also be severe. Most shipowners, including Odfjell, have developed security procedures for how to handle such incidents. The authorities and the shipping community are also working to find ways of limiting or even eliminating the danger of piracy attacks. Several means of beating piracy are being discussed and tried, some of them being more naval patrolling and more policing on shore. Another possibility considered is to fend the pirates off, e.g. through sailing ships in convoys, by the use of electrical high-current railings or through arming the ships. Needless to say, such options inflict substantial costs, and there are also a number of practical and operational aspects to examine. Books and films, maybe in particular those for children, have given pirates a fully undeserved aura of romanticism and glamour. Pirates through all times are nothing but ruthless criminals, bringing suffering and grief to their victims, and the shipping community should welcome the finish of these robbers on the high seas. The Far East also had its piracy problem. Two of the most well known names are Pinyin Zheng Zhilong, a 17th century Chinese piracy leader who preyed on Dutch and Chinese ships, and Cheng Ch'eng-kung, a notorious pirate who in fact controlled the island of Formosa for a long time, refusing to surrender to official forces. By the end of the 17th century, with the growth of a strong central power in Japan and in China, most of the piracy in the region was eliminated. On March 14th 2005, several pirates armed with guns in three fishing boats boarded Japanese tug 'Idaten' towing a barge in the Malacca Strait. They Piracy attacks 2005 by area (source: International Maritime Bureau, 2005). ODFJELL Quarterly March 2005 17
Page 1 and 2: Company Magazine for the Odfjell Gr
Page 3 and 4: Dear Colleagues... On March 7th, Od
Page 5 and 6: Commemorating the loss of Bow Marin
Page 7 and 8: Basic training for 2005. Aside from
Page 9 and 10: During drydocking sium where a few
Page 11 and 12: The weakest link Safety and the shi
Page 13 and 14: YoungShip Shipping for the younger
Page 15: The pilot and bridge crew. From lef
Page 19 and 20: Transhipment in Singapore By Captai
Page 21 and 22: Tricky discharge at the Mhes Zi ter
Page 23 and 24: Sailors in snow White Christmas in
Page 25 and 26: Postcards from Chile Odfjell Quarte
Page 27 and 28: Owners and Managers Safety and Qual
Page 29 and 30: IN SERVICE FOR ODFJELL 40 25 25 YEA
Page 31 and 32: REGIONAL TRADE YEAR STAINLESS NUMBE

Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - March 2005

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