The hijacking of the Sirius Star, an enormous Saudi oil tanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil worth more than $100 million, has captured the world’s attention. Indeed, the attack makes the Sirius Star the largest tanker ever to be hijacked.
Worldwide, the number of piracy attacks have fallen by almost 50% during the last five years, from 452 incidents in 2003 to 282 in 2007. However, off the coast of Somalia such attacks have grown by 100 percent during the past year alone.
Authorities are now looking to new technology to help solve the problem and ensure the safety of ships, crew and cargo.
One such solution may be the use of Long-Range Audio Devices (L-RAD) and Magnetic Acoustic Devices (MAD) — gear that many ships are now beginning to deploy.
The devices are considered ‘non lethal’ weapons, and create sound waves that can travel much farther than those produced by a conventional loud speaker.
“We create our sound through what we call a plane sound source of information, which means a message can be heard a long way away,” Vahan Simidian, CEO of HPV Technologies, who developed MAD, told BBC News.
“If the captain had concerns about a vessel, they would activate siren mode on the MAD. That will definitely get their attention. You would then tell them that you know that they are there, and that they do not have the element of surprise.
“Should they keep on closing, the captain would commence evasive actions and switch on ‘tone’ – this is a piercing sound that will irritate and disorientate them.”
According to experts, when set to full power this could knock someone off their feet, although the technique is currently only used to communicate to a potential attacker that the ship is aware of their presence.
“For now, the speakers on a merchant vessel aren’t capable of hurting a person. Is our technology capable of hurting someone? Absolutely,” Mr. Simidian said.
Nick Davis, a former pilot who runs the organization Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions that help protect merchant vessels, has deployed three-man teams to work on vessels in the Gulf of Aden.
He advises that ship owners need to take precautions to protect themselves.
“There are certain types of ship that are liable to pirate attack. It needs to be slow moving – less than 20 mph – and have a low freeboard (that’s the distance between the water and the deck),” he told BBC News.
“For vulnerable vessels, the usual measures employed when a ship leaves port is to hang barbed wire all the way round it, flood the ballast tanks, keep the fire hoses on full power and maintain a permanent deck watch.
“If any [small] ship comes within a mile, you sound the general alarm and crank up the Long-Range Audio Device (L-RAD) and get all the crew on deck,” he said, adding that having technology such as MAD or L-RAD can make all the difference.
Davis’ team recently helped deter an attack on an 8,500-ton chemical tanker.
“The team identified three boats coming at speed – once they got within a mile, they activated the piracy general alarm. The ship increased speed, and called local coalition forces on VHF,” he said.
“The L-RAD was activated and the crew got on deck. The pirates got within 400m brandishing weapons. However, we were sending warning tones via the L-RAD and eventually they withdrew.”
However, crews must frequently repel boarders. The conventional tactic is to use a high-pressure hose to push an attacker off the ship. A Dutch company has developed a 9,000-volt electric fence, called Secure Ship, which could serve as a simple solution to the problem. Secure Ship is a set of electrified guardrails that would surround the ship, much the same way as similar systems protect military installations.
However, International Maritime Bureau manager Cyrus Moudi believes Secure Ship is not appropriate for every ship.
“The electric fence is non-lethal and can help deter attackers. But it’s not strictly safe and you cannot use it on vessels carrying flammable cargo. Electricity and explosive vapor is not a good mix,” he told BBC News.
“We don’t advocate the use or carriage of weapons on board a vessel. There are better ways of securing your ship. And the primary defense is having a good lookout.”
The job of maintaining proper watch typically falls to radar, unless the crew is on alert. However, many attacks are conducted in small vessels and identifying them is not an easy task, especially if the suspect vessels use wave ‘clutter’, which can confuse radar.
A company in East Anglia is developing a system that can both spot and identify targets.
Gordon Oswald, technology director for Cambridge Consultants, the firm developing the holographic radar, said that while the technology is still nascent, it had the potential to be an indispensable tool for ships and their crew.
“The holographic radar looks all round a ship, rather than seating a beam in a 360 degree circuit. Which means you can continually observe the target and get more information on what it’s doing, rather than having to plot a course,” he told BBC News.
The device works on a fixed line of sight and would complement traditional radar. However, unlike other devices, it can form an image of its target.
Worldwide there are now at least 12 vessels and 250 crewmembers that remain in captivity with pirates. Among them is the Ukrainian freighter MV Faina, which carries 33 tanks and other military hardware and was seized in September.
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Image Caption: The AbQaig, an oil tanker of similar capacity as the Sirius Star. (US Navy)
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