Gulf of Oman oil tanker attacks fuel maritime security demand
https://www.dw.com/en/gulf-of-oman-oil-tanker-attacks-fuel-maritime-security-demand/a-49327183...The locations where the June 13 attacks took place are not within the designated high-risk area of the Indian Ocean. So we cannot operate with weapons in those areas. Now, the concern from vessel operators is for ships going into the Persian Gulf, trading within the Persian Gulf, and then exiting the Persian Gulf. So if we are to provide security services to those vessels we cannot embark weapons, which can only exist where there is a mandate for an armed response.
DW: So what's your strategy?
Dimitris Maniatis: What we have devised is an unarmed security service. These three-to-four member teams will assist the crew in order to prepare the vessel for this voyage with additional passive security measures and additional training to the crew in order to mitigate this risk. So looking at the way all these incidents took place, we feel there are very effective measures that you can take without the use of weapons in order to protect those vessels.
DW: Could you please elaborate on some of those measures?
Dimitris Maniatis: Ships are big and go quite fast. They can do a lot of different things in order to evade anything that's incoming. We don't believe that the June 13 attacks were done with projectiles such as missiles or torpedoes or anything like that. We believe that earlier in the night, under the cover of darkness, somebody in a small craft approached the vessel from the back and basically managed to stick an explosive — a water-borne improvised explosive device or any other explosive device — on the hull of the ship.
If the officer on watch on the ship realized that something was incoming, there would be a lot of things he could do in order to avoid the incident. However, when vessels are transiting the Strait of Hormuz, navigation is key and safety is also very important. It's a narrow stretch of water. You cannot go left or right. You have to maintain a position within the separation scheme.
So the officer is only looking forward and only paying attention to safe navigation. If we embark an unarmed security team on board, their job is not the safe navigation of the vessel but the security of the vessel. So they will be looking where the crew can't.
If an incoming target is identified, then the standard operating procedures are very specific. The vessel will advance to its maximum operating speed. It will perform evasive maneuvers basically causing a wake. This wake is going to make it very difficult for anybody who's trying to approach the hull of the vessel. All lights will be switched on. Other parts of security measures such as the fire hoses will be activated. So there's going to be a water curtain. There are going to be flares fired at the incoming craft. So it's not going to be easy at all. And if by any chance that small craft manages to come alongside and place something on the vessel then we know it's there. So the naval forces in the region will be immediately notified and there's gonna be an adequate response....
