U.S. Cargo Ship Attacked and Robbed

Aug 19, 2010 0 Comments by nathan

In a relatively lightly published and un-noticed event, the U.S. flagged cargo ship M/V SAGAMORE was attacked and robbed on Aug. 8th by two men with AK-47s near the al-Basrah Oil Terminal, which lies about 19 miles from the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. The SAGAMORE is operated by Sealift Inc., a privately held company [...]

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Coast Guard to U.S. flagged operators: step up actions to protect ships

May 14, 2009 0 Comments by nathan

The Coast Guard issued a press release on May 12th stating that it had issued Maritime Security Directive 104-6 (rev. 2).  You won’t find the specific Directive anywhere unless you are a ship operator that is being effected by the directive.  It is apparently being distributed as a sensitive document directly to U.S. flagged ship [...]

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Are pirates as dumb as we think?

May 07, 2009 0 Comments by nathan

I’ve seen several news articles titled “How could they be so stupid!” “Idiot pirates attack warship” etc. While the liklihood of pirates actually overtaking a warship or even a auxiliary naval vessel and taking the ship hostage are extremely unlikely, the likelihood of them severely damaging a warship or auxiliary ship is significant. Remember the USS Cole? They simply need to get close enough, and any ship could find themselves in serious danger.

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Multiple pirate attacks thwarted with no arrests made

Apr 20, 2009 0 Comments

Several attacks by Somali pirates have been successfully thwarted in recent days by NATO and other foreign warships patrolling in the region, unfortunately the pirates in those attacks were left still roaming the high seas, albeit minus a few weapons.  Here is a brief listing of the attacks thwarted that I know of and their outcome. 18 [...]

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Japan deploying patrol aircraft to Horn of Africa

Apr 17, 2009 0 Comments

Lloyd’s List is reporting that Japan is deploying at least 2 P3-C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) to be based out of Djibouti and used exclusively for anti-piracy patrols.   The P3-C Orion MPA is specifically designed to conduct long range maritime patrols, up to 14 hours in duration and at a range of 4,600 miles [...]

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