If you think the piracy and hijacking in the Gulf of Aden

is dead now, you need to think again.

Yes, it has declined considerably but it still exists. And

the pirates are looking for a window to strike again.

Blaming illegal fishing trade in Somalian waters, Somalis

are considering the piracy again.

The recent hijacking incident in this area was as early as

in March 2017.

On 13 March 2017, M/V Aris 13 came under attack from

two skiffs and was taken hostage.

When sailing in these areas, we cannot let our guards

down.

Good news is that with little preparation and by

following the developed guidelines, the risk reduces

considerably.

In this post, we will discuss the entire procedures of

transit through this high-risk area.

 But before we begin, let us understand these terms.

High-Risk area

The high-risk area has been designated based on the

pirate’s activities and areas where most of the attack

took place.

This is the area where it is considered that there is a

higher risk of piracy.

This high-risk area is bounded by

 In the Red sea: Area south of Latitude 15 N

 In the Gulf of Oman: Area south of Latitude 22 N

 Eastern Limit: Area west of Longitude 65 E

 Southern Limit: Area North of Latitude 5 N

The Admiralty chart Q6099 is the guidance chart for

these areas and must be on board before transit to the

high-risk area.
The chart shows the clear picture of the area designated

as High-risk area.

View the full chart here

Voluntary reporting Area

Apart from HRA, UKMTO has set a voluntary reporting

area where vessels are encouraged to report their

activities.

This area can be seen as purple color in the Admiralty

chart Q6099.

Internationally Recommended Transit

Corridor (IRTC)

The area near the Gulf of Aden is the most crucial area

when it comes to the Somalian piracy.

Most of the naval and Military forces focus on this area.

But this is still a large area and the resources are

scarce.

To allow the Naval and military forces to concentrate on

a comparatively smaller area, a transit corridor has

been identified.
Ships are strongly advised to use this corridor to pass

the Gulf of Aden.

The use of this area to transit gulf of Aden was

also endorsed by the IMO’s sub-committee on

navigation.

Source

A group transit schedule has also been developed for

this area based on the ship’s transit speed.

These timings are the recommendations. Of course, no

one would like to delay the ship for 16-18 Hours to

transit in these timings.

But if we can arrive the IRTC on these timings with just

a couple of hours of delay, we must follow these transit

timings.

The group transit through IRTC is not a convoy.

There will not be any naval escort ships either. The

corridor just provides the security forces a defined area

to concentrate upon.
When we arrive in this area, we must not wait for

anyone in this area even if we do not see any other ship

or warships.

Reporting Part of Gulf of Aden crossing

When we are transiting this high-risk area, there are

lots of reporting that we need to make.

We must comply with all these reporting.

Let us see what all reportings we need to make.

1. Reporting to the hull insurance company (if

required)

Most of the Hull & Machinery insurance companies

would want to be notified if the ship intends to cross the

HRA.

If so, follow the company’s instructions to notify the

H&M insurer. The initial notification may be required

well before the vessel’s entry into the high-risk area.

Some H&M insurers may need to be notified 48 hours

prior entering HRA, other may need 7 days notice.

These instructions must be followed to avoid losing on

any damage claims during the vessel’s transit through

HRA.

2. Register the vessel with MSCHOA

Before entering the VRA, the vessel must register the

vessel to the MSC-HOA.

What is MSCHOA?

The Maritime security center – Horn of Africa

(MSCHOA) is the planning in coordinating center for EU

Naval Forces (EUNAVFOR).

The MSCHOA collects the data from the ships and has

that available to the naval security forces when required

in case of rescue or providing help to the ships.

But, MSCHOA needs to have the ship’s voyage data for

it to be able to share it with naval forces.

The vessel is required to send this data to the MSCHOA

as a process to register the vessel.

To register with MSCHOA, the vessel needs to fill and

send the MSCHOA registration form to the email

postmaster@mschoa.org

After successful registration, the vessel will receive an

email as the response to the vessel’s registration with

MSCHOA.
3. Report to UKMTO

The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations

(UKMTO) acts as an information bridge between

international maritime trade and the security forces.

When vessel enters the voluntary reporting area, an

initial report needs to be sent to the UKMTO.

Thereafter vessel needs to send the daily position

updates at 0800 Hrs UTC.

Any suspicious activity or attack on the ship need to be

reported to UKMTO. For this purpose, it is advisable to

 have the contact details of the UKMTO ready near the

communication console of the ship.

Finally, upon exit from the high-risk area, vessel need

to send the final report to UKMTO.

Prepare the vessel for transit

The most important part of Gulf of Aden transit is

preparing the vessel. Before the vessel enters the high-

risk area, the ship needs to be ready in all respect.

Vessel’s preparedness can be divided into three parts

 Preparedness of the ship to deter boarding

 Preparedness of the ship’s Citadel

 Preparedness of the crew to detect and respond to the

security threat

1. Preparedness of the ship to deter boarding

The 4th edition of best management practices for

protection against Somalia based piracy (BMP4) gives

detailed instructions on deploying the barrier to deter

boarding of the pirates.

This along with the company’s circulars and SSP should

be referred to deploy the available barriers.

These barriers include

 Fixing the razor wires along the ship’s side.

 Water-jet guns on the ship side

 Spikes on the ship side

Some ships may even have the electric fencing along

the ship side which can give a non-lethal electric shock.

Even if there is no electric fencing, BMP-4 suggests

placing this placards along the ship’s side on razor

wires.
This warning sign is in Somalian language stating

“Danger High Voltage electric Barrier”.

Apart from the ship side, the barriers need to be there

around accommodation area.

The idea is to avoid the pirates to get into

accommodation for as long as possible.

For this reason, the access ladders to each of the outer

accommodation ladders are fenced with razor wires.

Some ships even remove the ladders on the outer

accommodation decks by removing the bolts with which

it is fixed.

Whatever ways are provided in the ship security plan

and available on board must be used.

All possible arrangements must be in place to deter

pirate’s boarding the vessel and when boarded to deter

them to get inside the accommodation and wheelhouse

area.

Apart from the access barriers, ship security alarm

system must be tested before entry into the high-risk

area.

Check the company’s requirement for testing of SSAS.

2. Preparedness of the ship’s Citadel

The concept of the citadel is one of the most

effective anti-piracy measure used since Somalia piracy

surfaced.

Why?

The pirates invent new ways to break the barriers

installed to deter their boarding.

For example, for the razor wire, they just fix a hook

with a rope. Another end of the rope has some heavy

weight attached to it.

They throw the weight end into the water. This takes

some part of the razor wire down along with the weight.

This part is enough for the pirates to board the vessel.

But even when the pirates have boarded the vessel,

there is still hope of getting rescued. Only if everyone

hides in the Citadel.

What is citadel?
 The dictionary meaning of citadel is

a strong castle in or near a city, where people

can shelter from danger, especially during a war

With respect to ship security, usually engine room is

designated as Citadel.

But to be called a citadel, it needs to have few basic

things for the crew to survive in it for few days.

There need to be

 Water and food for the crew to survive for few days

 Few Blankets
 Iridium satellite phone to make contact with company

security officer and/or Naval forces

 Strengthened entry points to not to allow easy access to

the pirates

Few ships will also have CCTV cameras installed at

various key locations with the viewing screen in the

citadel.

This allows the crew in Citadel to monitor the pirate

activities on the ship while they have locked themselves

in the Citadel.

The content and equipments of the citadel must be

checked before arrival into the high-risk area and it

needs to be as per the company guidelines.

The Iridium phone must be tested by calling a number

in the company or to the ship’s main satellite phone.

3. Preparedness of the crew to detect and

respond to the security threat
The most important part of the HRA transit is the

preparedness of the crew.

Before arrival, crew must be trained for their duties

during the transit period.

As the ship need to have extra look out posted

during HRA transit, a watch schedule must be made and

discussed with all crew.

Apart from that, the access points must be discussed

during the crew briefing.

During daytime, only one access is allowed for the crew

if the crew need to work on deck. This one access must

be agreed and controlled by the officer on watch.

All other access points need to be sealed before entering

the HRA.

The crew needs to be trained for a citadel drill.

If the company has defined the procedures for citadel

drill, that should be followed. If not then a citadel drill

plan can be discussed and agreed with all crew.

Code yellow, Code Red, Lockdown is one of the most

common citadel drill plans.

This plan has three stages.

For Code Yellow, Master then announces “Piracy Piracy

Code Red”. This means that the pirate boat is

attempting to board the vessel.

With this announcement, all crew members muster at

muster station and all persons need to be accounted for.

For Code Red, Master then announces “Piracy Piracy

Code Red”. This means that the pirate boat is

attempting to board the vessel.

With this announcement, all the crew members

mustered at the muster station need to proceed to the

citadel.
In the last stage, Master then announces “Piracy

Piracy Lockdown”. This means that the pirates have

succeeded in boarding the vessel and the bridge team is

proceeding to the citadel for lockdown.

When the bridge team arrives at the Citadel, they say a

pre-agreed password to the crew inside the citadel.

Only upon hearing the correct password the crew inside

would open the citadel.

Transiting with Armed Security Guards

Many companies provide armed guards for crossing the

high risk area. This is the safest option for the vessel

considering the fact that not a single ship with armed

guards on board has been boarded by pirates.

When planned to transit with armed guards, vessel must

report to the relevant departments.

Vessel may need to divert to pick up the guards before

HRA and drop them after the HRA.

In this case, charterers need to be informed well in

advance about this diversion.

Mast should check with the company if Hull & machinery

underwriters need to be informed about the boarding of

armed guards.

In most of the case, H&M underwriters need to be

informed about the time, date, position and details of

the armed guards boarded.

If it is required, inform the H&M underwriters when

armed Guards board the vessel and when they leave the

vessel after crossing the HRA.

Security Assessment by Armed guards

Once armed guards board the vessel, they will do a

security assessment of the vessel and will advise on any

security gaps that may need to be addressed.

They may wish to have the crew briefed about the

security and may require to conduct one Citadel security

drill.

Under their standard procedures, armed guards need to

test fire few bullets. If so, check your company’s

procedures if they are allowed to test fire.

Conclusion

Dealing with the piracy has been one of the main

challenge for the shipping trade for many years.

Piracy and hijacking in the Somalian waters has

increased the stakes many fold.

Security measures highlighted in the “Best management

practices 04th edition” reduces these risks significantly.

If the ship and crew are prepared as per these

measures chances of pirates succeeding to take control

of the vessel would be minimal.