MARITIME PIRACY PREVENTION IN SOMALIA COAST

Maritime piracy prevention in Somalia coast

Table of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction3

Introduction3

Piracy and maritime terrorism5

Definitions5

Chapter 2: Literature Review9

Geographical distribution and development9

Weapons14

The international legal instruments15

UNCLOS16

The SUA 1988 and the SUA protocols 200520

Navigation23

Cargo Safety24

The PSI interdiction principles and RMSI25

Types of Boarding to vessels26

The ISPS code28

The M/V So San incident33

The M/V Sabrax incident35

The F/V Chern Maan Shyang 1 incident36

The F/V Full Means 2 incident37

Crew37

Improvements to draft shipboarding article for SUA convention39

Chapter 3: Methodology40

The threats42

Movement of terrorists and their means of financing42

Shipment of weapons of mass destruction and conventional arms42

Piracy and armed robbery at sea43

Migration by sea44

Drug smuggling by sea44

International responses44

Maritime security45

Smuggling and unsafe transport of migrants by sea46

Piracy and armed robbery at sea46

Drug smuggling by sea48

Enforcement at sea: shipboarding procedures48

Terrorism conventions49

Chapter 4: Discussion50

Developments at LEG 8650

Safeguards:53

LEG 8756

Chapter 5: Conclusions66

References70

Maritime piracy prevention in Somalia coast

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, serious concern has risen within the maritime communities in respect of the potential for terrorist attacks against ships or against targets such as port facilities by using ships as terrorist weapons, much in the same way that planes were used as weapons in destroying the Twin Towers located in New York. As noted by Ng and Gujar (2008), 9/11 had exposed the potential brittleness of the transportation systems which could lead to unprecedented disruption of the global trade system. On the other hand, piracy, as a traditional serious threat to maritime security (Mejia, Cariou, & Wolff, 2008), had never been eliminated. Quite the contrary, given the intentional nature of both types of incidents (Talley & Rule, 2008), piracy on the high seas is currently becoming key tactics of terrorist groups - many of today's pirates are also terrorists with ideological bents and a broad political agenda. The intertwining of piracy and maritime terrorism poses substantial risks for global markets as most of the world's oil and gas, as well as numerous cargoes, is shipped through the world's most pirate-infested waters, e in Somalia coast etc. As the turmoil due to the financial tsunami since September 2008 spreads around the world, the maritime industries are now confronting the tests of the economic environment.

Hence, maritime security has become an increasingly important issue on the political agendas for many coastal states, of which their national economies can be seriously affected by insecure sea lanes threatened by contemporary piracy and maritime terrorism. Such importance can be exemplified in 2009 by NATO's efforts in providing military protection to deter commercial vessels from being attacks by pirates off the East African coastline. As noted by Mejia et al. (2008), piracy is far from being an extinct phenomenon. Indeed, given its criticality as interaction nodes between land and maritime spaces, the intertwining between piracy and maritime terrorism also ensures that, rather than just ships, port security is becoming more significant in ensuring maritime security, thus the well-being of the maritime industries in the post-2008 world.

Given the complex nature of piracy and maritime terrorism, there is no simple solution to this ...