By Michelle Wiese Bockmann - May 17, 2011
Shipping companies are turning to guards armed with AK-47 assault rifles to protect vessels from pirates, a trade group for security professionals said, after record numbers of attacks last year added $2.4 billion to costs.
About 20 percent of ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden will use armed guards within the next 18 months, up from 12 percent, Peter Cook, spokesman for the Security Association for the Maritime Industry, said after a presentation yesterday in London. The group represents a fifth of private security firms offering services to shipping companies in the region, he said.
Average ransom payments jumped to $5.4 million last year, from $150,000 in 2005, Louisville, Colorado-based One Earth Future Foundation estimated in January. Attacks off Somalia were also at an all-time high, with 49 vessels and 1,016 crew members hijacked, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
“There is a wish by some shipowners to have armed guards on board and you can’t dispute the fact they are successful,” said Andrew Bardot, secretary and executive officer of the International Group of P&I Clubs, which insures 90 percent of the world fleet against liability claims. There have been no successful hijackings on ships with armed guards, he said.
Most companies have three to five guards on their payroll and hire extra staff on a freelance basis, Cook said, adding that shipowners pay about $100 million a year for the services. There are between 50 and 80 four-person teams of guards on vessels at any one time, mostly toting AK-47s, he added.
Vetting Procedures
There have been 145 attacks and 22 ships hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean so far this year, according to the International Maritime Organization, the shipping division of the United Nations. Somali pirates added at least $2.4 billion to transportation costs in 2010 as ships were diverted to avoid attacks off east Africa, said One Earth, a non-profit group.
The IMO, which had advised shipowners to avoid using armed guards, will probably approve vetting procedures for security operators this week, paving the way for their increased use, Cook said. The organization will discuss guidelines for hiring private armed guards this week, it said by e-mail on May 9.
“The maritime security industry wants to be regulated,” said Cook, adding that his newly created trade group for companies seeking to protect shipping will allow owners to distinguish “good maritime companies” from “entrepreneurs.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Wiesebockmann in London at mwiesebockma@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alaric Nightingale at anightingal1@bloomberg.net
®2011 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Top 100 Comic Book Heroes - IGN
Top 100 Comic Book Heroes - IGN: "IGN picks the top 100 heroes from comic books. Find out if your favorites made it!"
Fright Night make Vampires scary again
The 1985 horror/comedy get a face lift with Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
US Navy Crowdsourcing Pirates Plans
Gaming News
US Navy crowdsources pirate-catching plans using online game
Aims for safety on the high seas
By Kate Solomon
The US Navy is hoping to find new ways of stopping Somalian pirates by crowdsourcing ideas from a multiplayer online game.
It seems that the pirate-repelling laser isn't exactly doing the trick, and more ideas are needed to foil the scourges of the seven seas with the game intended to "encourage out of the box thinking about contemporary pirate issues."
The catchily-named Massive Multiplayer Online WarGame Leveraging the Internet (MMOWGLI) will see players posing as naval officers or commercial ship crews, and has no connection with The Jungle Book.
Players can also take on the role of the pirates themselves, although it's not clear exactly what that will achieve other than fulfilling childhood daydreams and that kind of thing.
The idea behind the Warcraft-alike game is to come up with new ways to tackle the pirates so any strategies that work well in the game may be tested in real life.
There are three scenarios to play out in MMOWGLI: protecting sea lanes, sea attacks and hostage rescue. We already have Peter-Pan-inspired ideas for all three.
Unfortunately, it's not a free-for-all; only around 1,000 military personnel and some specially chosen civilians will be allowed to play the online game, so it's back to World of Warcraft with you.
Update: Looks like there's another version of MMOWGLI set to go live in which you - yes, you! - can suggest pirate-tackling ideas in a brief, character limited text box, Twitter-style. Other users can then vote on or amend your idea, leaving the Navy with onehumongousflow chart chock full of pirate-busting game plans.
Register on the MMOWGLI website now if you want to get involved.
From ONR via Kotaku
Tags: Pirates, US Navy, World of Warcraft, MMOWGLI, gaming
Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/us-navy-crowdsources-pirate-catching-plans-using-online-game-954513#ixzz1M9gGnc5a
US Navy crowdsources pirate-catching plans using online game
Aims for safety on the high seas
By Kate Solomon
The US Navy is hoping to find new ways of stopping Somalian pirates by crowdsourcing ideas from a multiplayer online game.
It seems that the pirate-repelling laser isn't exactly doing the trick, and more ideas are needed to foil the scourges of the seven seas with the game intended to "encourage out of the box thinking about contemporary pirate issues."
The catchily-named Massive Multiplayer Online WarGame Leveraging the Internet (MMOWGLI) will see players posing as naval officers or commercial ship crews, and has no connection with The Jungle Book.
Players can also take on the role of the pirates themselves, although it's not clear exactly what that will achieve other than fulfilling childhood daydreams and that kind of thing.
The idea behind the Warcraft-alike game is to come up with new ways to tackle the pirates so any strategies that work well in the game may be tested in real life.
There are three scenarios to play out in MMOWGLI: protecting sea lanes, sea attacks and hostage rescue. We already have Peter-Pan-inspired ideas for all three.
Unfortunately, it's not a free-for-all; only around 1,000 military personnel and some specially chosen civilians will be allowed to play the online game, so it's back to World of Warcraft with you.
Update: Looks like there's another version of MMOWGLI set to go live in which you - yes, you! - can suggest pirate-tackling ideas in a brief, character limited text box, Twitter-style. Other users can then vote on or amend your idea, leaving the Navy with onehumongousflow chart chock full of pirate-busting game plans.
Register on the MMOWGLI website now if you want to get involved.
From ONR via Kotaku
Tags: Pirates, US Navy, World of Warcraft, MMOWGLI, gaming
Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/us-navy-crowdsources-pirate-catching-plans-using-online-game-954513#ixzz1M9gGnc5a
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)