MSB Group Ltd. passes second round of IAMSP Oversight checks

In the effort to continually keep you updated on the progress of the MSB Group, Ltd. as we said we would, we have found that the IAMSP  has completed another round of checks for the group. This seems to really be a good project for not only the Maritime Security industry, but for the shipping industry as a whole. As stated on the MSB web site 

IAMSP, the International Association of Maritime Security Professionals, has today announced MSB Group has passed the second round of its oversight checks and is now proceeding into the the third round of checks.

The second round checks ensured that the administrative control system will offer all member states the means and ability to continuously monitor the full system. This transparency will provide the member states, shipping companies and underwriters with the ability to have full confidence and awareness of the system in near real time.

These checks also ensured that the system is configured for access by Customs organizations and  other international bodies with an interest in overseeing and monitoring the movement of small arms and light weapons (SALW).

We will update further as more progress comes.

Piracy-MSB Group Ltd issues career openings

As we have been watching closely and promised to provide an update, the MSB Group Ltd seems to be moving along pretty quickly. Again, this is explained as a multi-state effort of logistical support and standardization of the movement of arms. Obviously this is a state controlled program and would be fantastic in the maritime security industry.

In having a look at their web site this morning, we now find a Careers page looking for some pretty interesting experience as below:

Logistical Support Staff:

"MSB Group is calling for curriculum vitae (cv) for the position of Logistical Support Staff. At this time, this is a general call for expressions of interest. Those with a background in the Navy or Coast Guard as small boat coxswain, armourer or in logistics / supply are welcome to submit their cv.
In addition to the experience listed above (minimum 2 years experience), individuals should be able to work to tight deadlines in reasonably austere conditions and interact tactfully and respectfully with other cultures and nationalities.
In addition to having a general understanding of the maritime environment and international arms regulations, the submitter must be fluent in both written and spoken English and have a strong (advanced) knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Outlook and PowerPoint.
If submitting your cv, please be clear with respect to the level skills associated with basic radio communications (maritime), small boat operations, the ability to operate computers, your knowledge of inventory control, weapon safety and handling, and basic inspection and audit techniques.
During the call for applications, those selected to submit applications are advised that there is a requirement for a state-coordinated background screening and reference checks. These will also include (but are not necessarily limited to) international background checks. Particular attention will be paid to the following attributes: reliability, trustworthiness, discretion, tact, and judgment.
We thank all those that will submit cv’s but wish to advise people that MSB Group is a logistical support group operating in a non-hostile environment. While we respectfully appreciate your former service, we are not seeking personnel who are looking to apply for on-board or on-shore security positions."

This seems to open up some land based opportunities for people with particular skills. Again, we will be keeping an eye on this for further developments.

Somali Piracy-Coastal States-Weaponry Program

We have been keeping a close eye on the new MSB Group since I found it posted on the net. I said I would bring more information as it comes and now we have found a new page on the site http://msbgroupltd.com/registration/ which is the Registration page.

This page now has a download link to access the information of how this process will work. The member coastal states however, are not yet listed as the site says they are awaiting the formal announcements of these coastal states.

What is the most interesting, is that any Private Maritime Security Company that applies to the system, is vetted by the State itself, and any employee of these companies is also vetted by the state. This will add a lot of consistency to the industry and some serious oversight.

Now we will wait for the formal statements from these Coastal States and provide any update we may find.

Piracy - Somalia - Movement of Arms

We have been keeping an eye on a new group: MSB Group Ltd., and have found a bit of new interesting information. Should this come to fruition, this could really take off and solve a lot of the issues in the maritime security industry.
http://msbgroupltd.com/

We are pleased to announce that the MSB Group Ltd project has completed its pilot project and passed its oversight markers. The MSB Group is a coalition of like-minded states and private entities who have come together to offer a clearly legal and supported logistical structure.

Under the third-party oversight of IAMSP, MSB has formed the framework of a public-private partnership that will address industry major needs. First, shipping companies will be able to verify that the security company that they are considering have met certain vetting criteria. This vetting criteria is based on a range of authoritative requirements, including those of the Coastal States, reducing the risk of disruptions while adherence to unique requirements are met.

Finally, it affords the private security company with a clear and concise point with which to communicate and coordinate its activities and logistics. Working within this framework will demonstrate to all those involved and external to the process, that each of the major parties in this activity are working together to counter the proliferation of grey and black market arms, reduce the potential for disruptions in supply chains and operate in a way that is respectful of the needs of the overall maritime shipping community.

The "ABOUT" page has added even more bits to it as you can see here: http://msbgroupltd.com/about/ 

MSB Group Ltd has been created as a catalyst to provide an umbrella to bring together like-minded coastal states to standardize a logistical support mechanism for the use and movement of small arms and equipment used in the protection of merchant vessels sailing high risk waters.

In the near future, maritime security companies will be invited to undergo the vetting process in order to participate in this group. These applications will be vetted by the member states through their national security elements. 

This is getting even more interesting and we will keep an ear out for more information as it comes in.

Anti-Piracy Leadership

As Reported In Global Insight

The first priority for the international community seeking to address the proliferating scourge of piracy is to bring together a community of capable and well-intentioned entities and organizations. The stark truth is that critical information is not shared and anti-piracy efforts are not harmonized to best effect.

ISSG Holdings has been providing leading-edge ship protection services in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of
Aden for over four years. Registered in the Seychelles, the Company provides a model for leveraging expertise and
technology for excellent client service. It has also been a leader in the efforts to professionalize maritime security
services. The management of ISSG are delighted to have the opportunity to share their insights into modern antipiracy
efforts with the readers of Global.

The fi rst priority for the international community seeking to address the proliferating scourge of piracy is to bring
together a community of capable and well-intentioned entities and organizations. Today, these communities are
fragmented and operate within silos. This is not to say that organizations are not attempting to discharge their
individual duties as they are best able. Many are doing more than that and under diffi cult conditions—whether it
be the various naval forces, customs organizations, shipping companies, agents, or Private Maritime Armed Security
Contractors (PMASCs). The stark truth is that critical information is not shared and anti-piracy efforts are not
harmonized to best effect.

A key element of this is in the passage of the information that is required for risk assessment. The system is broken.
For those assessing risk, few reporting centers are in agreement. Often events are reported differently (at
different locations even), late or sometimes not at all. On many occasions reported attacks are never broadcast back
to the anti-piracy community. In some cases, this failure to report is due to government reluctance to support
armed security personnel and companies. Given that many of these reports come from those same entities, the argument is
ludicrous. Reluctant governments need to assess their priorities as domestic policy considerations are
far outweighed by the need for the community to work together. The second priority must involve
the communication of operational requirements. The issue here is not that states have
controls—that is expected. Nor is it that the PMASC believes the state should bend to its will. The challenge arises
when the requirements communicated to the PMASC change, essentially forcing the PMASC into a state of noncompliance.
Two clear acts would alleviate this situation. First, provide a single location where the PMASC can go to
fi nd all the regional requirements. The second is to allow for the Customs Offi cer to have some discretion when it is
known that the ship was between ports of call when the transitions took place. These two factors eliminate needless
risk and waste.

The final priority for the community is to embrace and implement professionalization. Not industry selfregulation
(regulation belonging to the state), but proper professionalization and internal capacity building. If we
can work towards adopting professional standards and practices across the community, we will be in a much
better position to implement worthy protocols such as the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service
Providers and in time many of the problems hampering anti-piracy efforts today can be resolved. It is important to
note that professionalization is not simply a question of establishing ineffective industry guilds and
lobby groups. Of the organizations that are genuinely attempting to build industry capacity and
promote excellence, the International Association of Maritime Security Professionals has made particularly
noteworthy progress.

These are only three of many challenges facing the anti-piracy community – but by seriously
addressing these priorities the community will have made huge strides towards a return to law and order on the
high seas. ISSG Holdings is determined to play its part in achieving that objective, and we remain committed to
assisting those ships that require protective services. We also hope that our efforts, and the efforts of the anti-piracy
community, will also deliver a brighter future for the law abiding people of Somalia.

Allan McDougall (BA BMASc PCIP CMAS CISSP CPP)

www.issg-seamarshals.com

Ministers Approve On Board Arms

As Reported HERE

Ministers approve onboard arms

The Norwegian government has approved ships to carry weapons in efforts to resist piracy.

 

Trade and Industry Minister Trond Giske and Minister of Justice Knut Storberget presented new rules and regulations, Wednesday, following ongoing discussions since March.
The Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean are witness to increasingly common and violent piracy. Approximately half of the Norwegian-owned 1,000 vessels sail under the Norwegian flag off the Somali coast, and several sailors in the Indian Ocean have been killed.
Up to 300 Norwegian citizens are in the Indian Ocean region at any one time, NTB reports.
“We see that other countries are also introducingsimilar legislation. The pirates have goodintelligence. They know the contents of the cargo, who the creware, and whether there are armed guards aboard. We want our sailorsto feel safe,” said Minister Giske.
Shipping companies can already apply on behalf of contracted security firms from tomorrow, but according to the minister have to prove “that allother measures have been tried first.”
Conducting their own risk assessments of the need for armed guards, as well as presenting security company documentation about training, qualifications, recruitment, proper weapons storage and deployment procedures also for part of the requirements.
Seafarers unions have been split on the issue of carrying arms, with pirate researchers fearing this could lead to revenge.
However, today’s move by the government makes previous practises and statements by different shipping companies history, and was greeted positively by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.
“Nobody is served by cowboy conditions at sea. It’s good, therefore, that the rules of armament are now clear,” says Haakon Svane, Director of the Contingency Planning Secretariat.
Underlining the Association only advocates having armed guards aboard when the shipping company feels they are necessary, however, he concludes, “Pirates threaten ships and crewsaggressively, and unfortunately, passive safety measures are not always sufficient. Wemust realise that armed guards make the difference between being hijacked and not.”

www.issg-seamarshals.com

Pirates Add Ammo - Men to Hijacked Ships

As Reported HERE

Pirates add ammo, men to ships after 4 US deaths

NAIROBI, Kenya Pirates in Somalia said Wednesday they are ferrying ammunition and men to the 30 hijacked vessels still under their control, and they threatened to kill more captives following the violent end to a hostage standoff that left four Americans dead.
The U.S. military said that 15 pirates detained after the Americans were slain Tuesday could face trial in the United States.
The military, FBI and Justice Department are working on the next steps for those pirates, said Bob Prucha, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Florida. The Somalis are currently being held on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which is in the waters off East Africa.

A pirate aboard the hijacked yacht Quest on Tuesday fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. warship that had responded to last Friday's hijacking. Then gunfire broke out aboard the yacht. When Navy special forces reached the Quest, they found the four American hostages had been shot and killed.
The FBI is investigating the killings of Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle, Washington, and Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, near Los Angeles, who had made their home aboard their 58-foot yacht Quest since December 2004.
The Adams handed out Bibles around the world, but a pirate who gave his name only as Hassan told The Associated Press on Wednesday that played no factor. He said the pirates reacted violently after the U.S. forces blocked the yacht's path.
"We had plans to either take the hostages to the inland mountains or to move onto other hijacked ships because we knew that the U.S. Navy was serious about carrying out a rescue operation," Hassan said. "The hostages pleaded with us not to harm them or take them to dangerous places. They cried when we captured them ... and asked us to release them because they were too old and couldn't endure captivity."
The killings came less than a week after a Somali pirate was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison by a New York court for the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. That hijacking ended when Navy sharpshooters killed two pirates holding the ship's American captain.
Pirates reacted angrily to the sentencing and have since vowed that they will kill hostages before being captured during military raids and being sent to face trial.
Pirates once were believed to be disgruntled and financially motivated Somali fishermen angry that international trawlers were illegally fishing Somalia's waters. Now criminal gangs dominate the piracy trade, and have begun systematically torturing hostages, including locking them in freezers.
"What we're seeing is that because of the business model the pirates have adopted is so lucrative that you're now getting organized criminal gangs involved as opposed to fishermen who just decided to have a go at piracy," said Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy, spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force.
"Criminal gangs are more violent than your average fisherman who's turned to piracy," O'Kennedy said.
A pirate in Somalia who gave his name as Adowe Osman Ali said fellow "soldiers" had ferried the reinforcements to hijacked ships in their hands on Wednesday in a bid to deter more hostage rescue attempts. He said after Tuesday's incident, captains of hijacked ships have been ordered to tell navies not to approach or hostages would be killed.
"In the past, 20 or so soldiers used to guard every ship but now the numbers are ranging between 60 and 70 soldiers," said Ali, a pirate in the coastal village of Gara'ad.
"We are more alert than anytime before," he said. "In the past, we allowed the foreign navies to approach us but now we have warned them to not get nearer to us."
Piracy has plagued the shipping industry off East Africa for years, but the violence used during the attacks - and the money demanded in ransoms - have increased in recent months. Pirates now hold some 30 ships and more than 660 hostages.
The average ransom now paid to pirates is in the $5 million range, a huge leap from only three or four years ago when it was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House. One ransom paid last year was just shy of $10 million.
"It's really gone up, really an enormous amount," Middleton said. "If you think you can get a $9.5 million ransom, I suppose the logic is that you try any means possible to get there, and if that means scaring some crews and owners more, I guess that's what you do," he said, alluding to the recent reports of torture.
Industry experts warned Wednesday it's too soon to say whether the Americans' deaths will require a wholesale change in the way the shipping industry operates along with the militaries patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
It's still not known publicly whether prompted a pirate to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at a Navy war ship, and it's unclear whether there was an internal pirate fight or if there had been a hostage escape attempt.
"We don't know what happened yesterday so we're not going to make any knee-jerk decisions," O'Kennedy said. "But our policy remains the same. Nothing is off the table. All options are open to us as a military force."
Pirates blamed the deaths of the American hostages on the U.S. Navy, saying the pirates felt under attack.
"We warned them before that if we are attacked, there would be only dead bodies," said a man who gave his name as Abdirahman Abdullahi Qabowsade. "We have been killed and arrested illegally before, so we can't bear with such attacks anymore. We will respond to any future attacks aggressively."

Associated Press Writer Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.

CS Daisy Chased by Pirates

As Reported HERE
By Sunny Lee

BEIJING — A South Korean cargo vessel, which was being chased by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, was rescued by the Chinese navy, China’s state media said.

The CS DAISY was being pursued by multiple speed boats late in the afternoon on Feb. 10, according to the state-run Liberation Army Daily, which reported the incident first.

The vessel radioed for help from a nearby Chinese naval escort group, which dispatched a ship-borne helicopter to protect the Korean ship from pirates until it sailed out of the danger zone, the report said.

An official at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing confirmed the news. A foreign ministry official in Seoul also verified the episode, adding all the crewmembers on the CS DAISY were safe.

The Chinese goodwill operation in the pirate-prone Gulf of Aden came as South Korea was occupied by the case of the 11,500-ton freighter Samho Jewelry, hijacked a month ago by pirates in the same seas off the Somali coast. South Korean naval commandos successfully rescued all 21 crewmembers onboard and retook the freighter.

It is not immediately clear how many crewmembers were onboard the CS DAISY at the time of the incident. The pirates were armed with automatic guns and rocket propelled grenades, the report said.

The naval group was able to offer help to the cargo vessel as the former had just completed its own escort mission earlier in the day and was in the vicinity.

It instructed the frigate Xuzhou, about 40 nautical miles away from the scene of the incident, to act. A helicopter took off from the warship and reached the Korean ship within 20 minutes.

While hovering over the merchant ship, the helicopter sent warnings to the pirate boats as the cargo vessel continued to move away from the pirates.

Although South Korea and China are part of a multinational anti-piracy patrol in the area, the goodwill rescue mission by China was refreshing, given the strained ties the two neighbor countries experienced last year over their differences on how to deal with North Korea.

After the successful mission, the South Korean Navy ship in the region sent a message of appreciation to its Chinese counterpart.

Somali Anti-Piracy Force

As Reported HERE

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Legal adviser hopes mystery country financing Somali anti-piracy force will be revealed soon

|Medeshivalley.com| By: Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press|
The legal adviser to Somalia's government says the private training of an anti-piracy force in the capital Mogadishu is being hindered because the country that wants to finance it doesn't want to be named.
Pierre Prosper, a former U.S. ambassador for war crimes who was retained by the transitional government as an adviser on security, transparency and anti-corruption issues, said in telephone press conference Friday that he has made clear to the donor that it's important to remove the mystery because it has become the focal point of the project.
"To have this kind of disclosure, everyone can come to the table and talk about the substance rather than talk about the mystery," he said, adding he hoped the donor would agree to reveal its identity by January.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that the Somali government is considering allowing the security company, Saracen International, to train a 1,000-man anti-piracy force in Mogadishu that would hit the pirates on their land bases. The company is already training a 1,000-man force in northern Puntland, an autonomous region where the pirates have havens.
Prosper said 156 people attended the first eight-week training course and a second class of similar size is currently being trained.
A multinational naval armada has been trying to protect international shipping, but there are no forces on land trying to tackle the pirate problem on land.
The AP reported that the training project in Puntland — and the one in Mogadishu — would be funded by an unknown Muslim country.
It's unclear how any of the Saracen-trained forces could be supplied with arms and ammunition.
Somali Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nur told the AP in Nairobi that the projects would be careful to obey a U.N. arms embargo on Somalia and not import weapons, but the arms embargo also forbids the provision on military services to any faction unless it has been cleared with the U.N. sanctions committee.
Prosper said he visited Nairobi twice in recent weeks and met with members of the U.N. expert group monitoring sanctions "to better appreciate their issues, their concerns, to help ensure that the process as it goes forward is in compliance with the sanctions regime, the arms embargo."

www.issg-seamarshals.com 

MV Renuar Hijacked

As Reported HERE
Somali pirates hijack Liberian ship with all-Filipino crew in Indian Ocean
(philstar.com) Updated December 12, 2010 08:37 PM Comments (0)

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked a Liberian-owned bulk cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, about 1,050 nautical miles east of the Somali coastal village of Eyl, EU anti-piracy force said today.
EU Naval Force spokesman Paddy O'Kennedy said the Panama-flagged MV Renuar was attacked early on Saturday with 24 crew, all Filipinos, in the distance of 550 nautical miles from the coast of India.
"The attack was launched from two attack skiffs, supported by a mother ship, with pirates firing small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the merchant vessel," O'Kennedy said. Since the attack, he said, the pirates have confirmed that they have control of the ship which is now heading West towards the Somali coast.
The MV Renuar has a deadweight of 70,156 tonnes, and was en route to Fujairah (UAE) from Port Louis (Mauritius), when pirated. "The 24-man Filipino crew attempted to evade the pirates for some time causing the pirates to make several determined attacks before finally boarding the vessel," O'Kennedy said
"There are presently no communications with the ship and the condition of the crew is not known."
Hijackings off East Africa are a cause of growing international concern, spurring a number of international navies to patrol the pirate-wracked Gulf of Aden. Hundreds of other people remain hostage aboard hijacked ships in the Gulf of Aden and its surrounding seas.
An estimated 25,000 ships annually cruise the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast. The Gulf of Aden has the highest risk of piracy in the world.

ISSG Maritime Security Training In Gulf of Aden

This video taken 2nd week October, 2010 as ISSG men conducting Fire and Movement Drill's and training with the Yemen Coast Guard while in transit in the Gulf of Aden.

www.issg-seamarshals.com

Somalia Criticizes Pirate Trial In US

As Reported By BBC NEWS

So, Where do you try a pirate that attacked a US Flagged ship over 450nm from shore?

A Somali official has criticised the US for prosecuting a man over a piracy incident off the Horn of Africa.

Jamaal Cumar, a US-based Somali official, told the BBC there were "serious concerns" over jurisdiction in the case of Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse.
Mr Cumar questioned the authority of any foreign country to try Somali pirates active off East Africa.
Muse, from Somalia, faces 27 years in a US jail after admitting an attack on the Maersk Alabama in April 2009.
He was captured by the US Navy, whose sharpshooters killed three other pirates trying to escape on a lifeboat, saving the captain.
He is due to be sentenced in October.
'Extrajudicial practice' Mr Cumar told the BBC's Network Africa he had been trying to work out why the US would have any authority to try Muse's case and those of several other suspects in custody in the US.
"The Somali government's position has always been that we questioned the jurisdiction of this case," he said.
The Maersk Alabama was carrying aid bound for Somalia when attacked "We felt that it was an exercise in extrajudicial practice of the law and we asked the US to return those pirates back to Somalia."
Mr Cumar says he wants a UN-backed international tribunal to deal with piracy cases.
Somali pirate suspects have been tried in various countries across the world, as Somalia has no functioning central government.
Legal experts have been struggling with the problem of where to try piracy cases for years.
Foreign forces have frequently caught pirates off Somalia, disarmed them and then put them back to sea because there is no local authority to deal with them.
Previous attempts to form an international tribunal have failed because of a lack of funding.
'Very sorry' During Muse's trial in a federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors described him as a ringleader of a gang of four pirates who seized the Maersk Abalama some 450km (280 miles) off the coast of Somalia.
Court documents said Muse was the first to board the vessel, firing his AK-47 assault rifle at Captain Richard Phillips.
On Tuesday, Muse said through an interpreter: "I am very, very sorry about what we did. All of this was about the problems in Somalia."
It is said to be the first piracy trial in the US in decades.
The vessel, which was carrying food aid, was seized by the four pirates in April 2009.
Capt Phillips then told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men.
He was later taken hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was soon shadowed by US warships and a helicopter.
The stand-off only ended several days later when the US Navy intervened.

Equipment for Anit-Piracy Security

With our experience, it is known that certain weapons and equipment may only be loaded on the vessel in specific locations due to existing laws, rules and regulations of various countries. ISSG Holdings, ltd. Will not attempt to circumvent these laws and place our team members, company or client in a position of legal compromise. Firearms are expressly forbidden in Egypt, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen except by local authorities. Night vision, ballistic helmets and ballistic vests may be restricted in certain jurisdictions.

Shipping companies that are requesting armed security teams on their vessels should be careful, and aware of the legalities not only of having weapons on board, but how they are obtained.