Foiled attack on Saudi oil facility

A Saudi refinery
Reported here:

Saudi security forces have foiled an apparent suicide car bomb attack on a major oil production facility in the eastern town of Abqaiq, reports say.
At least two cars carrying explosives were fired on at the plant, Saudi officials have said.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the attack is the first direct assault on Saudi oil production.

The al-Qaeda network on the Arabian Peninsula has long called for attacks on Saudi oil installations.

About two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's oil is processed at the Abqaiq plant, one of the largest in the world.

Oil security analysts have estimated that a serious attack on the Abqaiq facility could halve Saudi exports for up to a year.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said the kingdom's oil output - the largest in the world - was unaffected by the attack, AFP news agency reported.

More here:

Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attempted to attack an oil processing facility that handles about two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's petroleum output on Friday, but were stopped when guards opened fire on them, causing the cars to explode, officials said.

The Saudi oil minister said the blast "did not affect operations" at the Abqayq facility, denying an earlier report on Al-Arabiya television that the flow of oil was halted briefly.

The facility "continued to operate normally. Export operations continued in full," the minister, Ali Naimi, said in a statement.

How big is the refinery? Well, very bighttp://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/saudi.html:

Most of Saudi Arabia's crude oil is exported from the Persian Gulf via the huge Abqaiq processing facility, which handles around two-thirds or so of the country's oil output. Saudi Arabia's primary oil export terminals are located at Ras Tanura (6 million bbl/d capacity; the world's largest offshore oil loading facility) and Ras al-Ju'aymah (3 million bbl/d) on the Persian Gulf, plus Yanbu (as high as 5 million bbl/d) on the Red Sea. Combined, these terminals appear capable of handling around 14 million bbl/d, around 3.0-3.5 million bbl/d higher than Saudi crude oil production capacity (10.5-11.0 million bbl/d), and about 4 million bbl/d in excess of Saudi crude oil production during the first half of 2005. Despite this excess capacity, there have been reports that the Saudis are planning to conduct a feasibility study on construction of an oil pipeline from the Empty Quarter of southeastern Saudi Arabia through the Hadramaut in Yemen to the Arabian Sea.

I suspect security will be tightened at these export terminals and along pipelines in a hurry.

UPDATE: The Counterterrorism Blog coverage here.

UPDATE2: More here, with this unnecessary quote:

A USA Today report says that Matthew Simmons, a Houston-based investment banker who specializes in oil and gas ventures, said that he was alarmed by the light security at Saudi Arabia's massive Abqaiq oil processing plant.

To cripple the Saudi oil network, "All you'd need to do would be to get a big fire raging at Abqaiq," Simmons says. "It's got a chain-link fence around it. Chain-link fences aren't exactly the Maginot Line."

Well, they didn't have to be, did they? The "best" protection is a watchful eye...

UPDATE3 (2/25/06): The al Qaeda gang sends a few more of its "true believers" to their reward as it claims responsibility for the attack. Maybe it was a moral victory...

It's manifest -Sen Schumer doesn't know what he's talking about

See Chuck Schumer: Terrorists Could Alter Ship 'Manifolds' .

Despite his apparent ignorance on the subject of shipping documentation, Schumer took credit for exposing the Dubai ports controversy, insisting: "I was the first one who mentioned it, as you know, a week ago Monday."

Big deal.

"Mass attack" on tanker

Reported here:

PIRATES using fleet of nine fast speedboats attempted to board a chemical tanker sailing through the Gulf of Aden in broad daylight last Saturday. According to the latest weekly report from the ICC International Maritime Bureau, six speedboats doing 20 knots surrounded the tanker while it was underway. The master altered course, increased speed, raised the alarm and mustered the crew. Three more speedboats joined the attacking group.

The source of the report is the Wekly Piracy Report from ICC Commerical Crime Services (to Feb 20) which is found here.

Here's an explosive Press Release

From India a PIB Press Release:

The Government is conducting an investigation into the loss of the explosive consignment meant for use by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for its Project in Afghanistan while it was being shipped from Mumbai to Afghanistan between 22nd and 23rd December 2005. Six containers containing explosive cargo for the BRO were swept over board from the deck of the ship MV EUGENIA.
From the six containers, four have been extricated and their contents verified and found to be in order. Two containers are yet to be traced and the Navy is of the opinion that they may have merged with the wrecks of 2 ships, lying in the same area or drifted away. The four containers have been shifted to the premises of the manufacturer M/s Premier Explosives for destruction.

I'm glad they cleared that up. I mean, we could be wondering about 6 missing containers of explosives intead of just two...

Port security- the real issues

Nicely done explanation of the real port security issues here:

Ultimately, U.S. ports to a large extent are dependent on security measures in foreign ports, making the issue a global problem, experts say. Mr. Flynn points out that Israel operates one of the most comprehensive security systems in the world, and yet found itself nearly facing catastrophe because it had no control over cargo security procedures at the foreign port where the suicide bombers smuggled themselves into a container.

Congress will, I am sure, be able to confuse the issue as the silly political games continue.

And some reality from the Baltimore Sun here:

Just about any given time, it's possible to find a Greek-owned ship flying a Liberian flag, employing a Filipino crew and carrying cargo from China into a U.S. port terminal managed by a British company that hires American longshoremen.

This is how Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and others get their socks and stereos for the U.S. consumer.

So, some in the shipping industry have been taken aback in the past week by growing criticism in Washington and in state capitals to a deal that would transfer control over some operations in several major U.S. ports from a British company to one owned by the government of Dubai.

"To be fair, we're on the edge of the world and we haven't done a good job explaining how we work, so people are confused by it," said Art Wong, a spokesman for the port of Long Beach, near Los Angeles.

...In the major U.S. ports where Dubai Ports World would operate terminals - Baltimore, New York, New Jersey, Miami, New Orleans and Philadelphia - many of the shipping lines, the stevedores that load and unload ships and terminal operators have foreign owners.

The top 10 containership fleets are based in Denmark, Switzerland, Taiwan, China, Germany, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, said Peter S. Shaerf, managing director of AMA Capital Partners LLC, a merchant banking firm that focuses on the maritime and transportation industries. All call on U.S. ports, and some of the shipping lines manage terminals.

..."The real risk is in a poorly run port. A badly run port is more of a terrorist target than perceived bad ownership," Shaerf said. "This is an international business. If you welcome their commerce, you have to welcome them."

Many U.S. ports, including Baltimore's, have offices and agents overseas to drum up business from foreign companies. Some want shipping lines to visit their terminals, and some want them to run and invest in their operations.

Cosco (owned by the Chinese government) was operating at Long Beach when the political questions arose in 2000, Wong said. The company still operates there, bigger than ever because of record imports coming to the West Coast from Asia. Although Cosco was barred from moving to the former Navy location, other companies moved to that site, freeing land around Cosco's operation where it could expand.

By its very nature, sea transportation is an international busniness.

Continuing Legal Education

Spending a couple of days fulfilling my Continuing Legal Education requirements.

Which, for the benefit of you non-lawyers, is the opportunity for me to spend a couple of days not doing meaningful legal work in my field of expertise while attending lectures for which I have paid a hefty price.

I know, I'll be a better lawyer for it.

The Ports Issue -The President is right on this one

President Bush takes on the rascist and ethnic stereotypes behind the port flap here:

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought to go forward," Bush told reporters who had traveled with him on Air Force One to Washington. "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

As you might gather from reading this blog, I am big on protecting the US, but I find the uproar over the issue of a Dubai company taking over six ports to be completely misplaced. We need to get everyone connected to the global economy, not shut them out. The President is exactly right on this one.

UPDATE: The CounterTerrorism Blog offers a differing view from an alleged former DP employee (and UAE resident) and also offers up this:

My personal opinion: If we're going to engage in "business profiling" to prevent companies from Arab companies from buying national security-related assets, we might as well start "personal profiling" to keep Arab terrorists from penetrating our border and transportation security. It doesn't make sense to me to do one and not the other.

Uh, wait, my Lenovo Thinkpad is beeping an alarm. More connectedness is better.

UPDATE2: A range of views here at the National Review Symposium on Dubai Port Deal on National Review Online. I thought the following was particulary good:

James Jay Carafano
Foreign companies already own most of the maritime infrastructure that sustains American trade — the ships, the containers, the material-handling equipment, and the facilities being sold to the Dubai company. It's a little late now to start worrying about outsourcing seaborne trade, but congressional hearings could serve to clear the air.
Sure security is important. That’s why after 9/11, America led the effort to establish the International Ship and Port Security code that every country that trades with and operates in the United States has to comply with. And compliance isn’t optional—it is checked by the U.S. Coast Guard. And the security screening for the ships, people, and cargo that comes into the United States is not done by the owners of the ships and the ports, but by the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, both parts of the Homeland Security department. Likewise overall security for the port is coordinated by the captain of the port, a Coast Guard officer.

What happens when one foreign-owned company sells a U.S. port service to another foreign-owned company. Not much. Virtually all the company employees at the ports are U.S. citizens. The Dubai firm is a holding company that will likely play no role in managing the U.S. facilities. Likewise, the company is owned by the government, a government that is an ally of the United States and recognizes that al Qaeda is as much a threat to them as it is to us. They are spending billions to buy these facilities because they think it’s a crackerjack investment that will keep making money for them long after the oil runs out. The odds that they have any interest in seeing their facilities become a gateway for terrorist into the United States are slim. But in the interest of national security, we will be best served by getting all the facts on the table.

Enough said

From here.

Interesting warning from Maritime Liaison Office Bahrain

Posted here:

BACKGROUND On 24 April 2004, terrorists conducted suicide attacks against the Al Basra Oil Terminal (ABOT) and a Coalition warship near the Khawr Al'Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT). The terrorists used ordinary dhows, fishing boats, and speedboats to conduct the attack. Their unlawful actions are intentionally designed to put innocent persons at risk.

RECENT EVENT On 3 February 2006, a cargo dhow sailed into the KAAOT Exclusion Zone after repeated warnings to change course. Coalition Maritime Forces and KAAOT security forces warned the dhow via bridge-to-bridge VHF radio, ship mounted loudspeakers, the firing of flares and other means. The cargo dhow was repeatedly warned to turn and repeatedly failed to do so. Only after shots were fired, did the dhow finally comply. Thankfully, no lives were lost in this incident.

All mariners are reminded to identify themselves and make their intentions known when operating near Coalition warships. If queried, mariners should immediately clearly identify themselves, state their intentions, and if given directions from Coalition warships, they should promptly execute such directions so as to make their intentions known. Mariners are reminded that Coalition warships are prepared to take defensive measures, including if necessary the use of deadly force, against any contact whose identity or intentions are unknown or which poses a threat.

WARNING AND EXCLUSION ZONES Warning zones are established around the Khawr Al'Amaya Oil Terminal and the Al Basra Oil Terminal as follows:

Khawr Al'Amaya Oil Terminal (GEOREF 29-46.8n, 048- 48.5e). The warning zone extends 3,000 meters from the outer edge of the terminal structure, in all directions, creating a racetrack shape 6,990 meters long by 6,107 meters wide, oriented northwest to southeast, centered on the terminal. This warning zone is distinct from, and in addition to, the exclusion zone established later in this advisory.

Al Basra Oil Terminal was formerly known as the Mina Al Bakr Oil Terminal (GEOREF 29-40.8n, 048-48.5e). This warning zone extends 3,000 meters from the outer edge of the terminal structure, in all directions, creating a racetrack shape 7,030 meters long by 6,107 meters wide, oriented northwest to southeast, centered on the terminal. This warning zone is distinct from, and in addition to, the exclusion zone established later in this advisory.

VLCC traffic to the terminals remains at high levels. In addition to berthing and departing VLCCs and assisting tugs, Coalition warships conducting maritime security patrols maneuver unpredictably within the Warning Zone.

Vessels are advised to remain clear of the ABOT and KAAOT Warning Zones. Transit should not require entry into the Warning Zones. If transit requires entry into the Warning Zone, vessels are required to contact Coalition Maritime Security forces via marine VHF Channel 16, identify themselves, and make transit intentions known. If Coalition Maritime Security forces advise a vessel to depart the warning area, the vessel should immediately depart.

Additionally, EXCLUSION ZONES are established and the right of innocent passage is temporarily suspended in accordance with international law around the KAAOT and ABOT oil terminals within Iraqi territorial waters. The exclusion zones extend 2,000 meters from the outer edges of the terminal structures in all directions.

Only tankers and support vessels authorized by terminal operators or Coalition Maritime Security Forces are allowed to enter the exclusion zones. VESSELS ATTEMPTING TO ENTER THE ZONES WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION MAY BE SUBJECT TO DEFENSIVE MEASURES, including when necessary, the use of deadly force. All reasonable efforts will be taken to warn vessels before employing deadly force; however, deadly force will be employed when necessary to protect Coalition maritime security forces, legitimate shipping present in the exclusion zones, and the oil terminals.

Fighting for the soul of Somalia?

Warlords against Islamists. Reported here. It's not Predator v. Alien, but the consequences could be very important.

Nigeria troubles begin to impact oil prices

Reported here:

Oil rose the most in a month in New York as Nigerian rebels threatened more attacks after cutting output from Africa's largest producer by about 20 percent.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc closed 455,000 barrels a day of production after militants began a series of attacks on oil facilities and kidnapped nine foreign workers three days ago. The rebels blew up a pipeline yesterday. New York futures, which didn't trade on Monday, also rose because talks in Moscow failed to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

``The difference between now and previous attacks is that this looks a little bit better organized,'' said David Thurtell, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``If the Iran issue escalates, I guess we could get to the $70 mark pretty easily.''

Earlier reports on "total war" of Nigerian rebelshere, here, and hereand at the links therein. And for Nigeria's place in the US import totals here. Map above is of oil and gas areas of Nigeria.

UPDATE: Econbrowser takes note in Nigeria back in the news and says "And the news is not good." Amen.

Jail time for some Indonesian pirates

Reported here:

Nine Indonesians, mainly from the tsunami-hit province of Aceh, have been jailed for seven years for a pirate attack on a Malaysian-owned tanker, local media said Monday.

The Sessions Court on Sunday sentenced the group for carrying out the armed, pre-dawn attack on the Nepline Delima off the northern resort island of Langkawi in the Malacca Strait last June.

The tanker was carrying RM12 million (US$3.23 million) worth of diesel from Malaysia's Port Klang to Myanmar when it was boarded.

The attack was foiled when a quick-thinking crewman from the tanker leapt into the pirates' boat and sped off to alert police.

Original report on the attack here and a follow-on here.

Dilbert is soooo right!

Heh!



Of course, the meaning of fungible is...

StrategyPage: Syrian ships for Iranian nukes?

Strategy Page raises the issue of the use of Syrian merchant hulls as possible delivery vehicles for the Iranians here:

Syrian involvement in seaborne smuggling is one of the reasons it got tagged as part of the Axis of Evil. Get Syria out of the terrorism business, and you might get them out of the smuggling business as well. But that's unlikely. The Syrian government needs the money. Iran was generous with its "foreign aid" because Syria provided support for terrorists Iran backed. Now Iran is keen on getting nuclear weapons. The first ones Iran will get will be large and delicate. The only feasible intercontinental delivery system will be a ship. A ship that is accustomed to moving illicit goods.

Earlier reports of Iran experimenting with missiles on merchant ships here and here. Strategy Page names names of the suspect shipping companies.

New Philippines-US security agreement?

Reported here, negotiations for a "more modern" agreement between the Philippines and the US.

al Qaeda bomb maker in Turkey discovered by the WaPo

WaPo discovers Louai Sakka, the man who would bomb Israeli cruise ships and more here:

He showed up in Antalya last summer with tens of thousands of dollars in cash and a face altered by plastic surgery. After his arrest, he told investigators he had planned to die steering a yacht laden with explosives into a cruise ship he believed was filled with U.S. soldiers and which was already approaching across the turquoise Mediterranean.

The attack, just 48 hours away when the chemicals ignited, was intended to crown a wide-ranging career in terrorism. Sakka played a role in the so-called millennium plot to attack hotels in Amman, Jordan, on Dec. 31, 1999. Turkish prosecutors also describe him as the planner of the 2003 truck bombings that killed 57 people in Istanbul, financed with $160,000 in al Qaeda funds...

...In Antalya, Sakka spent lavishly preparing for the attack. Using an alias, he put down $60,000 on a villa in the Beldibi neighborhood, insisting on the unit closest to the beach, with a panoramic view of the resort city and its harbor. "His criterion was it had to be directly on the water, no matter what the price was," said Mehmet Yildirim, the watchman.

The two-bedroom Apt. 1703 was closer to town, in a complex overlooking the marina where Sakka moored a 27-foot yacht, the Tufan. On board was diving equipment and a submersible water scooter, capable of running for 45 minutes at a depth of 75 feet.

Karahan said Sakka spent days chatting with Israeli tourists, who flocked to the Turkish coast in summer, and learned the precise arrival time and route of the ship he planned to attack as it approached Antalya. In a rented Hyundai, he ferried the ingredients for a one-ton bomb -- hydrogen peroxide, aluminum powder, acetone -- from the port city of Mersin. Then he scoured Antalya's industrial zone for a shop that worked with chrome.

Sakka needed someone to build a distiller, a glorified pressure cooker to concentrate the hydrogen.

The guy was captured back in August 2005 as was noted at the time here

Northwest Africa, too

Also of note is this article titled "Funding Doubled for "Anti-Terror" Forces in Africa" (scare quotes in title provided by the IPS):

Last year, the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI) was allocated just 16 million dollars -- pocket change compared to other U.S. military incursions across the globe. But funding for the exercises, described as enhancing regional security and stability, is expected to grow steadily in coming years.

For 2006, the initiative has been allocated 31 million dollars. The big push comes in 2008, when the administration hopes to get 100 million each year for five years.

To those keeping a close eye on the situation, the question arises whether there will be an accompanying U.S. military build-up in the region.

"The answer is no," according to Maj. Holly Silkman, a public affairs officer for the U.S. military's European Command, or EUCOMM, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. Besides Western and Central Europe, EUCOMM also claims West Africa as part of its defensive responsibility.

"There are no plans for forward deployed forces in the region," which is U.S. military parlance for bases, Silkman told IPS. "There's not an African nation that wants us there."

But Silkman does not downplay what many know: The U.S. military -- albeit in small numbers -- is on the move in Northwest Africa. Joint anti-terror training exercises, along with some humanitarian development projects, with forces from Chad, Nigeria, Mauritania and other countries are ongoing, she says.

US Navy asked to act as Somali "fishery patrol"

In a sort of logical follow-on to anti-piracy efforts off the Somali coast, the "Somali government" has asked for some help from the US Navy in keeping its coastal waters free of illegal fishermen, as reported here:

The powerless Somali transitional government has asked the US Navy, which last month arrested pirates in the country's coastline, to extend its patrols in the Indian Ocean and curb illegal fishing along its vast coastline.

The request came nearly a month after the US Navy's Fifth Fleet arrested 10 pirates who had attempted to hijack a merchant ship in Somali waters.

"Somalia is grateful for recent initiative taken by the United States Navy aimed at curtailing rampant sea piracy that has been taking place in the territorial waters of Somalia," Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Hassan Abshir Farah said in a statement Sunday.

"But it will also be pleased if similar action could be taken against illegal fisheries in the Somali territorial waters. The illegal international fishing vessels cause serious damage to Somali marine resources and its environment," he said.

Farah said curbing piracy and illegal fishing could be beneficial to the impoverished Horn of African nation of about 10 million people that has been wracked by lawlessness since 1991.

"As Somalia's coastline is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, curbing sea piracy and illegal fishing will not only be beneficial to the Somali people but also to the international community," he added.

The Somali government "is making every effort to address these serious problems of sea piracy and illegal fisheries in its coastal waters. Therefore, the government calls upon all the international community to join and support noble efforts being made by the United States," Farah said.

The map to the left shows the natural resources of Somalia, and fishing is one of the "biggies."

Back in November, 2005, I posted on the problem of fish poaching off the Somali coast and referred to this piece:

For many Somalis, especially marine experts and coastal dwellers, it all began when foreign fishing boats started invading the country's fishing grounds after the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s. When the various rebel groups that had toppled the government failed to fill the vacuum and instead turned on each other, an opportunity arose for foreign vessels to invade the country's territorial waters and marine economic zone to fish for diverse species.

The unscrupulous foreigners were simply taking advantage of the confusion created by the civil war to catch whatever they wanted. Their vessels were widely reportedly to be using universally prohibited fishing equipment, including nets with very small mesh sizes and sophisticated underwater lighting systems to lure fish to their traps.

Somali coastal dwellers have been crying for help to stop this fishing for nearly a decade, but nothing has been done.

"The trawlers began to come closer to the coast - looking for lucrative fish species - triggering direct confrontation between the foreign vessels and Somali inshore fishermen," Omar Abdulle Hayle, a Mogadishu based fishery expert says.

"Criticism of the illegal fishing came from the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC), a United Nations body, but its words were not backed by deeds, ending up having no effect," Mr Hayle added.

In recent months, fishing trawlers from Taiwan, China, Ukraine and other countries have been captured by Somali pirates, and released when ransoms have been paid. Since there is no government, it might be understandable if the Somalis are attempting, in the only way they have, to keep their waters free of foreign fishing craft. The argument is diluted, however, by the capture of non-fishing vessels and attacks on merchant shipping passing through the area (or up to 160 miles offshore).

As to why the US ought to get involved, it seems, after several years of Somalia disintegration, that almost no one else gives a damn or has the capability of doing the job. I remain convinced that it job the UN, EU, NATO or some sort of African group ought to be handling since the sea lanes involved are not high priority to the US. On the other hand, since Somalia is perhaps the prime example of a failed state that needs help to participate in the global economy (a one state example of Barnett's "gap") - it may behoove the US to become the prime mover in organizing (and even paying for) the effort to reconnect Somalia. Some of the same logic that Thomas Barnett is talking about here. Further, it cuts a leg off the argument of the pirates that they are filling in to do what their ineffective "government" cannot do and undercuts the support of the warlords who use the "protection" of the local fishermen as a means of earning and maintaining support.

StrategyPage offers up a piece on the "pirate fishermen " of Somalia here.

UPDATE: (2-20-06) A "breakaway" Somali province has taken matters into its own hands and arrested 84 Yemeni fishermen as reported here.

CH-53's down

Two US Marine CH-53E helos are down near Djibouti as reported here:

The cause of the crash was unclear and there was no indication of hostile fire, said Maj. Susan Romano of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, a U.S.-led military force headquartered at Camp Lemonier, a former base of the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti.

The CH-53E transport helicopters that went down Friday were carrying a dozen troops. Two were rescued in the initial search not far from the coastal town of Ras Siyyan, in northern Djibouti.

Our prayers are with the aircrews, troops and their families.

Info on CH-53E here. Info in US CentCom's Horn of Africa mission here. Photo from a training exercise involving Marine CH-53's here. Sample Caption:

Members of the Force Protection Company, assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa, watches for simulated hostiles while a U.S. Marine Corps CH53 Super Stallion, lands to pickup patients during a simulated patient rescue exercise, February 14, 2006, Camp LeMonier, Djibouti, Africa. Photo By: USAF Staff Sgt. Nic Raven

UPDATE: (2/19/06) Ten dead, two rescued as reported here. Bless them all.

Attacks on Nigerian oil businesses

After a declaration of "total war", it probably shouldn't be a surprise that attacks on oil companies in Nigeria have begun, as reported here:

Armed militants launched a wave of attacks across Nigeria's troubled Niger delta Saturday, blowing up oil and gas pipelines and seizing nine foreign oil workers in the latest violence to strike the troubled region.

US Navy ships to help in Philippines mudslide disaster

Reported here:

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Brian Maka, said that in response to a Philippine government request, the U.S. military was dispatching the USS Essex and the USS Harper's Ferry, and possibly other ships. He said Army and Marine Corps ground forces that happened to be in the Philippines also were available to help.

USS Essex on top, Harper's Ferry below. Info on disaster here.

Attention bunker dwelling scum- US technology is on the march

In what can't be good news for bad guys who hide in deep holes: adeep-drilling bomb reported here:

Deep Digger is different. It does not depend on the kinetic energy of the warhead at all – in fact, it parachutes down. Then it stars drilling. The weapon is limited only by how deep the drilling process can go, which is a matter of how deep it can ‘muck’ (clear debris from the shaft). And although the details are classified, that is much, much deeper than any kinetic weapon will ever go. In the tests last year, it demonstrated a tunneled down ten meters -- about 50% more than the BLU-113, which is the current record holder.

It has numerous other advantages. One is a thinner casing which means more payload. Another is that it does not undergo a shattering 10,000g impact. Other penetrating bombs need special insensitive explosives; Deep Digger can carry a range of warheads, as well as sensors and communications. It can stay in touch with the launch aircraft and report its progress; multiple Deep Diggers could be co-ordinated to detonate simultaneously producing a combined shockwave.

Part of the secret is the rock-breaking projectile, developed like the cannon at ARDEC, the US Army’s Armament Research Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny. David Burns, the Program Manager, describes it as being a special .75 calibre round, a monolithic design which is more robust and performs better than earlier projectiles. In place of the blasting gel used earlier it now employs a solid high explosive called PAX-11, one of Picatinny’s own special recipes.

Give the US a reason to come after you, and we'll figure out a way to make it happen...

And, yes, the North Koreans and the Iranians better be thinking about this new technology.

Navy future?

Interesting piece on how to get more bang for the buck here by Jane Dalton. At least part of the changes will see more employment of civilian mariners:

The U.S. Navy currently maintains a force of approximately 550,000 full-time employees, about 35 percent of whom are civilians. At any given time, 130-plus of the Navy’s 283 ships are under way, about 45 percent of the total ship inventory. In 2004 the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), then Admiral Vern Clark, directed the Navy to maximize capabilities, minimize payroll, improve productivity, and eliminate unnecessary billets. One way to meet those goals is to remove sailors from billets that have little to do with war fighting and replace them with civilians. At sea, for instance, sailors cut hair, serve meals, maintain the engineering plant, chip paint—all tasks that civilians are equally capable of performing, and in fact do perform at commands ashore. Placing civilians on warships to perform those functions is a logical extension of the CNO’s guidance and would free sailors for combat-related activities.

Accordingly, one of the Navy’s answers to the CNO’s challenge is an experimental program to place federal civil-service mariners on board warships. These mariners perform tasks naval personnel have traditionally performed on board warships but that civilians have performed on board naval auxiliary vessels for decades and on board merchant vessels for centuries—navigation, engineering, and deck seamanship. For example, in early 2005 USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20) deployed to the European theater as the new U.S. Sixth Fleet and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) command ship. One of the most sophisticated command, control, communications, computer, and intelligence (C4I) ships ever commissioned, Mount Whitney today is manned by a composite crew of 157 U.S. Navy sailors and 143 civilian mariners employed by the Military Sealift Command. These three hundred personnel represent a reduction of 276 from the previous all-active-duty Navy crew. “By supplementing the crew with civilian mariners,” the Sixth Fleet Public Affairs Office reports, “the Navy is operating the command ship at a reduced cost and employing captured uniformed personnel billets on forward combatant vessels.”

...Of particular interest for this discussion is the role of the MPF-F cargo ship. The MPF-F is designed as the replacement for today’s logistics-force cargo ships and would act as a floating logistics center. One report notes that it would be “nearly as large as an aircraft carrier” and would “accommodate heavy-lift helicopters and perhaps cargo planes as large as the Air Force’s C-130. It would be able to move supplies and equipment to those aircraft and other ships while at sea.”8 Another report, however, depicts a role directly involved in combat operations. It refers to the MPF-F as a replacement for the big-deck Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships, describing it as a “fighting logistics ship with a flight deck big enough to send hundreds of Marines ashore in rotorcraft and launch Joint Strike Fighters.”9

Civilians who assist in operating and maintaining a warship engaged in international armed conflict might be viewed as having lost their protected status.

If the MPF-F is manned as prepositioning ships are today, its crew will consist entirely of civilian mariners. There is no legal prohibition against manning naval auxiliaries, such as oilers, ammunition ships, supply ships, and prepositioning ships, with civilians. In fact, these seamen have a recognized status under the Geneva Conventions as “civilians accompanying the force” and are entitled to prisoner-of-war status if captured.10 Issues arise, however, if the MPF-F is indeed to become part of the “assault echelon”—if Marines or soldiers actually launch from the ship into combat operations ashore. Similar issues will arise if USS Mount Whitney, with its hybrid crew, is employed as a C4I platform in an armed conflict.(footnotes omitted)

There's a lot more, go read.

(Hat tip: NOSI)

US Navy officer testifies in Kenya against captured Somali pirates

Reported here:

A Navy officer testified in a Kenyan court Friday against 10 Somali men accused of piracy, saying U.S. sailors detained the suspects after firing warning shots that forced their vessel to stop.
Lt. Lucas Michael Grant told the court that the sailors, who are part of an anti-terrorism task force based in Djibouti, detained the 10 Somalis on Jan. 22 in an operation involving U.S. military helicopters and a warship that fired several warning shots.

Grant said the U.S. troops, who were responding to a hijacking report from the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur, tracked down an Indian-based vessel that the suspected pirates had taken over and were using to attack other ships.

Rebel leader: "Total War" against oil interests in Nigeria

Reported here:

Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta has told the BBC his group is declaring "total war" on all foreign oil interests.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has given oil companies and their employees until midnight on Friday night to leave the region.

It recently blew up two oil pipelines, held four foreign oil workers hostage and sabotaged two major oilfields.

The group wants greater control of the oil wealth produced on their land.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of US oil imports, but despite its oil wealth, many Nigerians live in abject poverty.

It is the first time the military leader of the Mend movement, Major-General Godswill Tamuno, has spoken publicly of his group's aims.

He refused to be interviewed on tape or for his location to be disclosed.

He told the BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar that they had launched their campaign, called "dark February", to ensure that all foreign oil interests left.

As has been noted here before, the US is highly dependent on Nigerian oil...

See this for import figures from all countries to the US.

Greenpeace ship is locked down

As Nelson from the Simpsons would say -"Ha Ha!" because the law seems to be catching up with Greenpeace's anti-whaling pirates as reported here:

The chained Farley Mowat floats under police guard in Cape Town harbor, out of reach of the whaling ships its captain seeks to destroy.

For seven weeks, the crew of the tiny activist ship harassed Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters, chasing the hunters through thousands of kilometers of icy seas.

Now, the Canadian-registered ship has been forced to rest.

Last month, it was detained on arrival in South Africa by marine officials who say it does not meet safety requirements.

Let's see... people who admit they break the law for a "higher calling" complain of a "conspiracy" against them when the law is (partially) enforced against them. Must be some word that covers that situation...

Latest ICC Commercial Crime Services Weekly Piracy Report (to 13 Feb 06)

Latest ICC Commercial Crime Services Weekly Piracy Report here. Highlights:

08.02.2006 at 0450 UTC in position 15:21.7N - 052:34.1E, Gulf of Aden. Several high speedboats approached a RO RO ferry underway at forward and stern. Boats came within 400m at stern. Several persons in each boat had what appeared to be weapons. Master increased speed and after 10 mins boats sped off in a southerly direction.

07.02.2006 at 0120 LT in position 01:15N - 104:07E, Singapore straits.
An unlit speedboat approached a chemical tanker underway at port bow. Master altered course and took evasive manoeuvres. However another speedboat with three persons came close to stern and tried to board. Crew took anti piracy measures and boarding was averted. It seems the boat at port bow was meant to create a diversion.

I can see the future - Iran's leadership before and after photos

Even the French have developed a prickly attitude toward the lying leadership of the Iranian government as evidenced here:

France has for the first time explicitly accused Iran of using its nuclear programme as a cover for clandestine military nuclear activity.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told French TV no civilian programme could explain Iran's activity.

The present Whack Jobs in Charge (WJIC) of the Iranian dictatorship pose in photos like this:


However, if they continue on the present path, I see the future holding more WJIC posing for pictures like this:

Pirates of Strait of Malacca leading to sea lane control race?

Might be, it says here:

Nevertheless, the race to secure the straits has highlighted a potentially more destructive threat on Asia's sea- lanes as a result of growing competition for naval supremacy in the region.

This inter-state naval posturing has been fueled by the importance of the waters for international trade, as well as the presence of a series of long- standing maritime territorial disputes and reports of oil and gas deposits in the disputed waters of the region.

Furthermore, while these territorial disputes are over tangible resources, many of them are rooted in intangible issues of national identity.

Can't we all just get along?

Speaking of terrorism from the sea...

Interesting Denver Post article with this spicy lead:

A federal agent working with port authorities in South Asia sounded the warning: A cargo container had tripped sensors that detect possible chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The container was gliding west through the Mediterranean Sea on a ship bound for New York.

Here, at the military's homeland defense headquarters in Colorado Springs, surveillance crews melded that tip with radar and satellite data. Surrounded by wall-sized screens, the high-tech trackers located the ship and followed it across the Atlantic Ocean.

About 200 miles off the East Coast, Coast Guard forces intercepted and boarded the freighter and searched the cargo containers until they knew all of them were safe.

Military officials wouldn't say more about this classified incident that occurred in November, but the way it was handled begins to reveal how secretive military forces in Colorado - the center for airspace surveillance through the Cold War - increasingly target the high seas to reduce what commanders see as a major vulnerability.

I would hope so.

Somali pirates are mean and they lie, too.

Probably not a news flash, but Somali pirates beat Indian crew of ship.

And more on pirates here:

Security forces in central Somalia have apprehended a suspect in the hijacking of a humanitarian aid vessel at the town of Merka town four months ago.
The man is alleged to be one of three people who hijacked a vessel chartered by the World Food Programme.

I wonder if it's "torture" to allow this guy to starve to death, as his actions did to numerous Somalis who failed to receive their food aid because of him.

And:

Meanwhile, the trial of 10 alleged pirates arrested by the US navy has begun in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

The trial in Mombasa follows last week's ruling that the court can hear the case, even though the alleged offences took place on the high seas.

The men have denied the charges and said they did not know why they had been "abducted" from their fishing boat.

But Indian sailors taken hostage by pirates have identified the men.

They just don't sound honest to me...

More on the rescue of another pirate attacked ship here:

he U.S. Navy rescued a 3,000-tonne cargo ship attacked by pirates off the coast of lawless Somalia, the vessel's captain said late on Monday.

In a spate of attacks along the unpatrolled waters off Somalia, gunmen stormed the United Arab Emirates-owned Al Manara last month, captain Deaa Naseh said.

U.S. sailors arrested and left two suspected pirates locked up aboard the ship, Naseh said, adding that it was unclear what action would be taken against them.

After the rescue mission, the ship suffered engine failure and drifted for 15 days before being towed at Naseh's request by the Seychelles coastguard into the port of Victoria on Saturday.

"The attackers kept boarding and leaving the vessel at will going and coming back by smaller boats, but when the U.S. Navy personnel were about to board, the gunmen threw away their weapons into the sea," Naseh told Reuters.

Looking tired and weak, he said he used makeshift sails to reach the Indian Ocean island.

Anti-RPG weapon and more cool weapon news

Someone let let the genius loose: Mr. Completely: Raytheon's Quick Kill System for RPG's. Way cool!

Hat tip: Castle Argghhh!

UPDATE: While you are at it, here's something the bubbleheads will like:

Mark Russell, vice president of Raytheon IDS engineering, said that the recent test launch also represents a significant step toward enabling the submarine force to strike targets with surprise from shallower coastal waters. Now, in addition to MK-48 torpedo and the Tomahawk cruise missile, submarine forces will have the option of another weapon system making them a more versatile player in the integrated battlespace. "Successfully demonstrating the AIM-9X lock-on-after-launch mode from a vertical orientation launch is a major step toward providing our submariners
with an unprecedented offensive and defensive capability," said Brock McCaman, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems Air-to-Air Product Line. "It's another example of the tactical flexibility of this proven weapon system."
"This test is the first step toward an AIM-9X missile being launched vertically from a submarine," said John Cochran, the Raytheon IDS program manager. "Ultimately, the missile will be encased in a launch capsule. When the capsule broaches the surface, the missile will launch and then acquire and engage its target."

More on the AIM-9X here and here. A new wrinkle in anti-air warfare for subs.

Vertrep fun

A MH-60S Seahawk assigned to the “Black Jacks” of Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Two One (HSC-21), transports ammunition from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) fast combat support ship USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10). Nimitz is currently preparing for a major propulsion plant examination off the coast of Southern California. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Melissa Vanderwyst

Moving munitions at sea. Whoohah!

Taking OBL seriously

Refreshing reminder that some people in the right places are capable of assuming that when Osama bin Laden says he wants to reestablish the "caliphate" he ought to be taken a face value here:

The recently released Quadrennial Defense Review, which reveals long-term military planning, shows a top brass worried about the ideology of hate preached by imams across the Islamic world. This ideology, though twisted, is somewhat coherent and calls for using terrorism to create a "caliphate," a unified Islamic state, stretching from Afghanistan and Iran all the way to Spain and including most of North Africa. For a lack of a better term, some American military planners call this ideology "bin Ladenism."

Gen. Douglas Lute, director of operations for U.S. Central Command (which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East), dropped by the offices of The Wall Street Journal recently. He noted that bin Ladenism has deep roots in many Islamic countries and that bin Laden isn't the only terrorist leader trying to appeal to populations oppressed by dictators. There are some 18 terrorist organizations that are part of what the military calls al Qaeda and Affiliated Movement. The military, he said, even has an acronym for it: AQAM.

To counter bin Ladenism, the military is planning a two-stage war. The first is being fought in open battles in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere and looks a lot like the kind of war most Americans assumed we'd wage on al Qaeda and terror-sponsoring states after the Sept. 11 attacks. The second stage is what senior military planners--including Mr. Rumsfeld--call "the Long War." It involves countering one set of ideas with another.

It occcurs to me, as I am re-re-reading Eric Hoffer's The True Believer, that OBL has the vision thing working for him- the "caliphate" will not build up the individual downtrodden Islamisist, but will create the world of "equality" among the masses that Hoffer writes of as being an aspiration of those masses (their motto might be:"If I can't be great, let me be part of a movement to bring others down to my level"- though, of course couched in much more inspiring terms ("Death to the Great Satan" "Death to America" - or "Restore the Capliphate and be part of something great you otherwise pitiful loser"). As Hoffer put it:

Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
Section 75, The True Believer

If the Pentagon plans are to improve the lot of the masses and help them become part of the Thomas Barnett "functioning core", then full speed ahead, I say. It may be the only way to cut OBL's legs out from under him.

UPDATE: Of course. this is not helping. It simply feeds the notion of the fanatics that they are being held down. Thanks, Crazy Uncle Al.

UPDATE2: CDR Salamander is tracking down the same path, I think, here.

Iraqi's protect their oil terminals

Reported here:

The Iraqi navy consists of two squadrons — a patrol boat squadron and an assault boat squadron. It also includes one marine battalion, which serves both squadrons.

The patrol boat squadron uses Predator class patrol boats to conduct 24-hour security operations and sector patrols around the oil terminals and in Iraqi territorial waters.

The assault boat squadron has 24 fast assault boats that routinely patrol the inland waters and approaches of the Kwar Abd Allah up to the port of Umm Qasr which is Iraq’s largest and only deep water port.

According to Price, both have seen tactical successes in combating smuggling and piracy as well as conducting a couple of successful rescues at sea for injured mariners.

“Incidents of piracy have continuously declined since the Iraqi Navy began 24/7 presence operations in the [Kwar Abd Allah] and their territorial waters,” Price said.

“Last July, merchant ships were afraid to come into our port due to pirating, but that is no longer the case because our squadrons have been successfully patrolling the port,” Iraqi Navy Commodore Adel said.

Info on the "Predator" patrol boats here.

A nice bit of praise for the US anti-Somali piracy action

Noted here:

It is now official. Pirates, like terrorists, can run but they cannot hide. Not only along the coast of Somalia, which is currently the world's most dangerous waters for pirate activities, but also along areas in Southeast Asia such as the Straits of Malacca that are traditional havens for pirates.

The United States does not anymore see the difference between pirates and terrorists, and with good reason. A study carried out by the Piracy Reporting Centre says that freighters carrying payloads of fuel could be hijacked and used in terror operations similar to the 11 September attacks on America. There is real fear that terrorists could, for example, use a ship transporting liquefied natural gas as a weapon.

In any case, action by the US Navy will benefit Kenya because of the dangers posed by pirates to the country's tourism and maritime trade. The shores off the East African coast are important sea-lanes for cargo ships and luxury cruise liners. And many of the cargo ships are oil supertankers and attacks on them could trigger environmental disasters through crude oil spillage.

The modus operandi of the pirates makes such possibilities real. Pirates in Somali waters attack with heavy firearms everything that floats, from fishing vessels and yachts to bulk carriers, general cargo ships and tankers. Their aim is to steal valuables from the ship, or hold the crew for ransom. IMB says it has received reports of Somali pirates armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, firing indiscriminately in attempts to force such vessels to stop.

"The lack of any stable or coherent government in Somalia is contributing to this lawlessness in its waters. Local warlords are interested in making money above all else, and hijacking commercial vessels has proven to be an expedient method of doing so," notes Captain Pottengal Mukundan, director of IMB.

The good news is that all pirates are international outlaws triable by any and every state. Any state may seize a pirate ship or aircraft, arrest the persons, seize the property on board and try the persons or hand them over to another state.

Not only Kenya benefits, but so do those other African states dependent on the port of Mombassa (see here).

Oil consumption

Examine this chart provided by the fine folks at Chart of the Day (chartoftheday.com).

Certainly, the US uses lots of oil. Throwing in Germany (population 82,431,390) without including the rest of Europe is a little odd. For comparison, Japan has 120.000.000 people, the US over 300,000,000 and China has 1.3 billion. Europe has a population of around 710,000,000 (EU alone is 456,953,258).

Now, let's have a chart that shows oil consumptiono on a per capita basis. The US may still lead, but I bet that there are lots of others in the running...

UPDATE: Found a chart of oil consumption per capita here. US is 17th (behind 16 small, mostly island places) with .677 barrels per day. Canada is 19th at .668. Germany is 53rd at .325.

On the other hand, the US is the world's 3rd largest oil producer, according to this. Germany is 47th, in case you were wondering. But then there are the following charts from here and here:

An explanation here:

The industrialized countries are the largest consumers of oil but until 1998 had not been the most important growth markets for some years. The countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for instance, account for almost 2/3 of worldwide daily oil consumption. In contrast, however, oil demand in the OECD grew by some 11 percent over the 1991-97 period, while demand outside the OECD (excluding the Former Soviet Union) grew by 35 percent. The Former Soviet Union presents a special case. The collapse of the Russian economy that accompanied the collapse of Communism led to a decline in oil consumption of more than 50 percent over the 1991-98 period.

The developed economies use oil much more intensively than the developing economies, and Canada and the United States stand almost alone in their consumption of oil per capita (see graph). For instance, oil consumption in the United States and Canada equals almost 3 gallons per day per capita. (The difference is these countries' transportation sectors, with their dependence on private vehicles to travel relatively long distances.) Oil consumption in the rest of the OECD equals 1.4 gallons per day per capita. Outside of the OECD, oil consumption equals 0.2 gallons per day per capita.

Regionally, the largest consuming area remains North America (dominated by the United States), followed by Asia (with Japan the largest consumer), Europe (where consumption is more evenly spread among the nations), and then the other regions. As the regional graphs illustrate, Asia was the region with the fastest demand growth until the 1998 economic crisis in East Asia. The region's economic upheaval is a central reason for the oil price collapse of 1998.

The United States and Canada use oil more for transportation than for heat and power, but the opposite pattern holds for most of the rest of the world: most regions use more oil for heat and power than for transportation. As a result, global demand for oil is highest in the Northern Hemisphere's cold months. There is a swing of 3-4 million barrels per day (some 5 percent) between the 4th quarter of the year, when demand is highest, to the 3rd quarter, when it is lowest. (The precise amount varies from year-to-year, depending on weather, economic activity and other factors.) While the 4th quarter is not the coldest in any region, estimated demand calculations are swollen by the traditional stock building that occurs during the period.

Demand for crude oil is derived from the demand for the finished and intermediate products that can be made from it. In the short-term, however, demand for crude oil may be mismatched with the underlying demand for petroleum products. This misalignment occurs routinely as a result of stock changes: the need to build stocks to meet seasonal demand, for instance, or the desire to reduce stocks of crude oil for economic reasons. In the longer term, blending non-petroleum additives into petroleum products (such as ethanol or other oxygenating agents into gasoline) can also reduce crude oil demand relative to demand for finished products.

US Navy to help out in Africa

Noted here:

Through the planned use of interconnected radar sites, west African nations in the Gulf of Guinea - and possibly U.S. military forces- are hoping to be able to track "ships engaged in suspicious activities," according to a U.S. European Command.

Naval Forces Europe Commander Adm. Harry Ulrich has been in Africa over the past week, talking with leaders about the U.S. Navyís presence in the region. Ulrich met with Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuour, along with other military and civilian officials, to discuss cooperative naval efforts, and maritime safety and security issues.

Ulrich touted the radar plan as a way to "economically benefit" the region by allowing legitimate shipping easy and safe access to nations' ports while keeping tabs on those "suspicious" ships.

For historical reasons, the eastern part of Africa is under the eye of the US European command.

Game theory and terrorist targets?

Reported here:

A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor is working on a computer model that she says can identify the targets that terrorists are most likely to hit, which would help authorities figure out how to best allocate their limited security resources.
Vicki Bier, a professor of industrial engineering and engineering physics, uses a combination of game theory and risk analysis to predict where terrorists might strike next. Her efforts are part of a collaborative three-year, $12 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"The potential number of terrorist threats is enormous," she said. "But we can't defend everything. We must pick and choose where our resources are needed most."

I think it help to think big. No need to protect the bridge over Fat Dog Creek, I would guess. Maybe that will help narrow the target field...

Iran: Silkworm on the Hormuz

Reported here:

Iran's Mehr news agency reported that Shura Council national committee for security and foreign policy member Sulaiman Jaafar Zadeh said, 'If a ban is imposed on our oil exports, we will not allow oil tankers to sail in the Gulf waters.'

...At its narrowest point the Strait of Hormuz is only 21 miles wide, two 1-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound tanker traffic, as well as a 2-mile-wide buffer zone. Iran has deployed Chinese HY-2 'Silkworm' anti-ship missiles along its Persian Gulf coast and its Abu Musa, Qeshm and Sirri islands. Over 14 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day.
There is an ominous precedent for the Iranian threat. During the 1980-1988 'tanker war,' between Iran and Iraq, there were 543 attacks on ships, with approximately 200 merchant sailors killed. More than 80 vessels were sunk or written off, causing more than $2 billion in losses and a 200 percent increase in global hull insurance rates. The U.S. State Department urged the government to re-flag 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers, which it did as well as providing naval escort through the Strait of Hormuz.
Any Iranian action to carry out its threat would undoubtedly involve the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, home-ported in Bahrain.

Silkworm range in the Hormuz map from here. Explained in comment #151 here:

The pink zone reflects the range of a silkworm missile. The pink bars left and right are the rough East & West limits, between which large tankers would be forced to travel 'under their guns'.

Fire may have doomed ferry

Reported here:

Survivors visibly suffering from the effects of cold have been coming ashore at the Egyptian port of Hurghada early on Saturday, describing how the fire burned on board before the ship finally sank.

One shouted: "It was like the Titanic on fire," according to the AP news agency.

The fire started less than two hours after the ferry sailed from Duba in Saudi Arabia on Thursday night, survivors said.

"There was thick smoke. We asked why and they told us they were putting out the fire but it got worse," Rifat Said, from from Giza near Cairo, was quoted by Reuters agency as saying.

"The ferry sailed on for two hours listing to the side. Then it just went onto its side and within five minutes it had sunk."

On the road

I'll be on the road for a few days. Back to the Gulf Coast. Family stuff.

Blogging may be spotty.

But thanks for tuning in.

Oil tanker fights off pirates

Reported here:

The crew of a Japanese oil tanker have used powerful fire hoses to fend off an attack by pirates in the Singapore Strait.

The International Maritime Bureau said pirates in seven fishing boats accosted the east-bound tanker near Indonesia’s Karimun Islands on Tuesday afternoon -- the third attack on a Japanese vessel in three weeks in the busy shipping lane which carries more than a quarter of world trade.

Three times in three weeks? That sounds like a pattern.

Guesses on the causes of the Red Sea ferry disaster

The BBC is not shy about guessing about what caused the al-Salam Boccaccio '98 to sink as seen here. Design flaws to terrorism... covers the water front so to speak...

Latest ONI World Wide Threat to Shipping (to 1 Feb 06)

For the latest ONI WWTTS go here and click on the date. Highlight:

1. SOMALIA: An unidentified bulk carrier was fired upon 27
Jan at 0645 local time while underway in position 11:55.0N 051:19.0E,
off Cape Guardafui, Somalia. Five pirates armed with machine
guns and rocket launchers in a speedboat fired at the bulk carrier.
Master took evasive maneuvers and activated SSAS; crew
mustered and started fire hoses. Pirates firing caused damage
to bridge windows and accommodation. They restocked
ammunition from a nearby wooden fishing boat and resumed firing.
An additional black steel hulled fishing boat came close and also fired
at the ship. A coalition warship responded to the alert and at 0740
local time a helicopter arrived and pirates ceased firing. At 0810
local time a coalition warship arrived at the scene (IMB).

Navy Coastal Warfare Squadron 5 Joins the fleet

Reported here:

The squadron is the first of its kind since the Vietnam War, extending the reach of a Navy that has long dominated the deep-water oceans into the shallow coastal regions.

The squadron's job is to protect harbors and ships from terrorist attacks like the one that crippled the destroyer Cole in Yemen almost six years ago. While it can aid the Coast Guard in protecting U.S. ports including San Diego, most of the squadron's work will take place in overseas hot spots such as Korea, the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

“We've had to expand to this battle space, because that's where the terrorists are,” said Rear Adm. Donald Bullard, commander of the newly created Naval Expeditionary Combat Command in Norfolk, Va., which oversees the squadron. “We need to interdict. We need to go find, fix and kill.”

Coastal warfare has been around since the Navy's earliest days, when ships guarded colonial harbors against the British during the Revolutionary War and defeated the Barbary pirates off the coast of Libya in the early 19th century.

But since small Swift Boats fought the Viet Cong in Vietnam's Mekong Delta nearly four decades ago, the Navy delegated its low-priority coastal work to reserve units. Al-Qaeda's attacks against the Cole in October 2000 and U.S. landmarks on Sept. 11, 2001, spurred the Navy to focus on coasts as well as the oceans.

“The global war on terror is in the harbor, the near-shore, the inland waterways,” Bullard said. “We need a dedicated force so we don't have things like the Cole.”

Once at full strength, the squadron's 325 sailors will go to war in a fleet of speedy 34-foot, aluminum-hull boats equipped with .50-caliber and 7.62mm machine guns and grenade launchers. The boats, each costing $500,000, can be loaded quickly aboard Air Force C-17 transport jets for quick transport to trouble spots...

...Recruiting sailors and officers to the unit has posed no problem, said 1st Lt. T. Wilkes Coleman of Tuscaloosa, Ala., the squadron's information technology officer.

“It's completely different than being on a ship,” said Coleman, 28. “We're about as point-of-the-spear as you can get.”

Petty Officer 2nd Class Johnny Fleming had served 14 months in Bahrain before transferring to Squadron 5 last year.

“I got to choose. I wanted to do something different,” said Fleming, 26, of Salem, Mass.

Neither he nor his buddies had heard about coastal warfare. His friends kidded him about the switch.

Not a new concept, as noted, and one most recently filled by the Navy Reserve Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Units and their affilated boat groups...see, for example, Naval Coastal Warfare Group 2 and this on the NCW Squadron mission. And a recent deployment.

Somali pirate suspects plead "innocent"

As might have been anticipated, the 10 alleged pirates captured by a US Navy destroyer are claiming to be innocent victims of kidnapping by the US Navy as reported here:

Ten suspected Somali pirates captured by the U.S. Navy last month pleaded their innocence on Friday at the start of a trial intended to deter rampant piracy off the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
During the unprecedented judicial hearing in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the ten men argued that they had been illegally kidnapped by a U.S. ship patrolling in waters that have seen an upsurge of attacks and hijackings in the last year.
"We are poor people who were abducted, up to now we don't know where we are," said Hassan Mohamed, who was formally charged with piracy along with the other nine. "We wish a representative from our government to be availed for us."

I suppose the 16 Indian hostages rescued by the Navy ship may have some differing testimony...

Egyptian Passenger Ship Missing in Red Sea

An Egyptian passenger ship carrying 1300 people, including pilgrims on hajj is reported missing here. Apparently there is some bad weather on scene...

UPDATE: Here and here.

A backroad to avoid? Leaping croc hits car...

Reported here:

This was an auto accident with a difference. A two-metre-long saltwater crocodile leapt out of a roadside culvert and slammed into the side of a passing car, authorities said Thursday.
The crocodile died in the collision and was given to local Aborigines, who ate it, said Garry Lindner, crocodile management officer at the Kakadu National Park in northern Australia.

Not, apparently, all that strange, from a scientific point of view, but I don't think I'd hike down that particular road.

"We have taken control of your ship, and we will be obeyed"

Interesting product testing press release notice here:

VIP Systems™ technology will allow the ship to be viewed from the central U.S. Port control location, at any time, and in the event of any terrorist takeover of the ship, the technology will allow the control location to turn-off the ship's engines and thereby disabling it.

All commands will be given through SkyPort International, Inc.'s robust secure satellite link which allows the operator to see the marine vessel at any time, or place in the world.

Picture from the VIP Industrial Solutions web site

Marine Video Security allows you to view a Cargo vessel/Tanker/Ship prior to its approach to a Country’s territorial waters. Marine Video Security allows you to be able to identify a respective Ship’s crew prior entering the Country’s territorial waters.

VIP Systems™ has pioneered an advanced new video surveillance system (Patent pending) that allows US Ports / Coast Guards real time monitoring and video/biometric data on all passenger and cargo ships’ / tankers’ the captain, crew, and civilians from virtually any point around the globe. The confirmation of biometric data along with real time video surveillance monitoring of crew, captain, and passenger is multi-casted (transmitted) from a satellite dish onboard the vessel. This data will be matched with registered files previously obtained and stored with the Port authority. In case of emergency the system offers capabilities to shutting-down the engines via the VIP ACTIVE ACTION CONTROL LINK. This system can play a vital role in the new security regulations and guidelines imposed by Congress related to the improvement in our homeland security structure.

Biometrics? Sort of like a really fancy OnStar for ships, I suppose...

EU official: Be wary of the Strait of Malacca

One day its the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, and the next it's the"anti-terrorism coordinator as reported here:

EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries says the Malacca Strait, the world's busiest shipping lane, is still vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

De Vries noted that the number of pirate attacks has declined in the strategic waterway, where more than half the world's oil and a third of its commerce passes annually. But he said the shipping lane is still a potential target for terrorists.

"The number of acts of piracy in the Straits has gone down significantly, which is testimony to the improvement in regional cooperation in that part of the world," he said. "But I think no one is under any illusion: the Straits are a potential target. And it is important therefore for regional cooperation to continue to be strengthened further."

The US and modern pirates

Odd title, but this has some useful information on the US Navy and Coast Guard anti-piracy efforts.

"The number of reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in waters off the coast of Somalia has increased alarmingly ... and is becoming increasingly common," an official said. "Most of the incidents have reportedly occurred at distances ranging up to 180 nautical miles off the Somali coast, and the reported information suggests a pattern of well-organized and coordinated activities."

The U.S. Navy is attacking the issue head-on. In an attempt to make the seas safer for commerce and to thwart terrorist activities, the Navy conducts maritime security operations in various parts of the world, officials said.

"The primary focus of (such operations) is preventing terrorists from using the seas as a venue from which to launch an attack or to move people, weapons or other material that support their efforts," Naval Forces Central Command spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Breslau said. But "our maritime task forces are always prepared to respond to mariners in distress, whether they are under attack by pirates, experience engineering causalities, or have medical emergencies."

Most recently, the Navy captured a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean about 54 miles off the coast of Somalia and detained 10 alleged pirates Jan. 21.

Several other incidents of piracy aimed at international shipping off the Somali coast have been reported over the past year, including an attack on a Western cruise ship in November and a Jan. 22 incident in which pirates reportedly fired on a commercial cargo ship before hijacking the vessel. The pirates are currently demanding ransom for the release of the 20 crewmembers and the vessel, International Maritime Bureau officials said.

Pirates have even hijacked humanitarian aid vessels, such as a ship loaded with foodstuff headed to Somalia under the auspices of the U.N. World Food Program, IMO officials said.

"In today's world, ship safety and security are inseparable. Events have made us all aware of the vulnerability of transport networks and the potential they hold to be either the targets or the instruments of terror," IMO officials said.

Even though acts of piracy are not common in American waters, the U.S. Coast Guard is vigilant in preventing them from becoming so. Aside from combating drug trafficking and protecting U.S. ports and marine transportation system from terrorism, Coast Guard officials emphasize the importance of stopping the spread of piracy into American waters to protect U.S. citizens and the flow of commerce.

"By its very definition, piracy is about stealing. Our job is law enforcement," Dan Tremper, a Coast Guard spokesman, said. "We're always on patrol -- 24/7. We've got sharp eyes on the water with the goal of protecting the American people and our economic interests."

Well, it's nice to read that the "sea services" are recognizing the problem exists.

Skipper's eye view of piracy

Reported here:

Capt Rodrigues took command of a small container ship after it was attacked en route from Australia to Singapore.

When the 10-men crew heard shots in the night most of them locked themselves in their cabins but the captain and chief officer were later found shot dead.

Captain Rodrigues: You are defenceless once they are on board

It is believed they were killed after the pirates demanded money. The unmanned ship continued on its course for an hour and a half before the crew emerged to find their shipmates killed.

The survivors were first accused of having mutinied but were later accepted as victims.

When Capt Rodrigues took over the helm he had a new crew as the other men were too traumatised to return.

"We agreed everyone was on piracy watch. I never had to force anyone to go out. They were always up on the bridge."

On first boarding the ship, he said: "I told myself lightning doesn't strike twice."

But he may have thought he had spoken too soon when one night a few months later the ship was approached by a couple of speedboats off the Indonesian islands, south of Singapore.

"We got out the search lights and torches and sounded the alarms," he recalled.

The measures worked as the speedboats gave up their pursuit.

But he later heard pirates had boarded another ship, tied up the chief engineer and ransacked the vessel

Palestinian militants claim attack on Israeli ship

Reported here:

Palestinian militants said they fired missiles at an Israeli naval ship in the Mediterranean Sea near the southern town of Rafah on Wednesday, but the Israeli military said it was unaware of any attack.
Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, issued a statement saying they fired two missiles at a navy gunboat.

Is it an attack if the alleged victim is unaware the it has been attacked?

Latest ICC Commercial Crime Services (to Jan 30, 2006)

Latest ICC Commercial Crime Services Weekly Piracy Report here. Highlights:

27.01.2006 at 0645 LT in position 11:55.0N - 051:19.0E, off Cape Guardafui, Somalia.
Five pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers in a speedboat fired upon a bulk carrier underway. Master took evasive manoeuvres and activated SSAS; crew mustered and started fire hoses. Pirates continued firing causing damage to bridge windows and accommodation. They restocked ammunition from a nearby wooden fishing boat and resumed firing. Another black steel hulled fishing
boat came close and also fired at the ship. A coalition warship responded to the alert and at 0740 LT a helicopter arrived and pirates ceased firing. At 0810 LT a coalition warship arrived at the scene.

25.01.2006 at 0152 UTC in position 13:27.6N - 042:59.0E, southern Red Sea.
An unlit speedboat chased a container ship underway. Boat increased speed to 35 knots and came within 1.5 nm. Ship altered course and crew directed search lights. Craft reduced speed and aborted chase.

11.01.2006 at 1600 LT in position 04:49N - 005:21E, 8 miles SW of Dodo River, off EA oilfield, Nigeria.
40 persons armed with guns in three canoes boarded a pollution control ship underway. They vandalized ship's equipment and kidnapped four expatriate personnel. The ship was engaged in a security role with 14 naval personnel onboard. So far the pirates have made no demand. Authorities informed.

You might like to look at the 2005 piracy maps, a couple of examples of which follow (attacks off Somalia and in the Strait of Malacca during 2005):

Another offshore LNG project for California?

Reported here:

A second Australian company has surfaced with plans to anchor a liquefied natural gas terminal somewhere off the coast of Southern California, but the company will not say exactly where the terminal will be placed, although the Malibu coast is a possibility...

...LNG opponents have noted that the possibility of catastrophic terrorist attacks, industrial accidents or midsea collisions would remain under either plan, risking explosive venting of huge amounts of methane that some critics say would spread over miles of open ocean and, if ignited, burn structures onshore.

US Navy and pirates

An interesting report here:

In ordering a U.S. Navy destroyer to capture and board a suspected pirate ship on the high seas in the Indian Ocean, the United States has fired a warning shot across the bow of would-be terrorists who might lash up with pirates in the Asia-Pacific region...

..."This was a maritime security operation," said a navy officer informed of events in the Indian Ocean. That effort, broadly defined, includes tracking thousands of ships, much as aircraft are monitored, knowing what cargoes the ships are carrying, driving off pirates when they attack a ship, or recovering the ship if it is seized...

...The issue is politically sensitive as leaders of Asia-Pacific nations have asserted that they do not want outside powers, notably the U.S., operating in their sovereign waters where many pirate assaults occur. Many Asian naval officers argue that combating piracy is the job of law enforcement, not navies.

Many U.S. Navy officers agree but assert that some Asian nations lack the proper ships -- small, high-speed and adequately armed -- to defeat or capture pirates. Moreover, coordination and intelligence sharing among the littoral nations has not been fully developed...

...On the other hand, U.S. President George W. Bush's war against terror is where much of the action is today and many U.S. Navy officers contend that their service needs to be involved, if for no other reason than to preserve its standing among the U.S. armed forces.

Thus, said a navy officer, "there is no overall policy on going after pirates." Rather, an internal debate seems to be rumbling through the navy.

Greenpeace "battle plan"

Reported here, a plan to take on West African fishing "pirates."

West Africa? Why not take on the illegal fishing off Somalia in East Africa? It'd be more fun for the rest of us...

Sierra Leone Navy captures pirate

Reported here:

As Guinean pirates continue to cause havoc at sea in Sierra Leone’s territorial waters, reports monitored by this press have so far indicated that the Sierra Leone Navy (SLN), an arm of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), has put certain anti pirate and other anti terrorist measures in place with a view to protecting and safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country.

This latest move in this regard bore fruit, when on Friday, January 27 2006 a team of Sierra Leone Navy personnel quashed an attempted sea piracy at the Yeliboya Forward Operational Base (FOB) by a group of 14 Guinean pirates and ending with the capture of one of the said pirates.

Judging by the last two paragraph in the article, Guinea and Sierra Leone seem to be having some difficulties:

Meanwhile, the captured pirate, who gave his name as Abdul Karim Sillah, has been turned over to the police for further interrogation. This latest capture amounts to two such Guinea pirates that have been apprehended by the Sierra Leone Navy in the last two months. Both captured pirates claim to be registered vigilantees of the Guinean Armed Forces (GAF).

The spate of Guinean pirates illegally encroaching in Sierra Leonean territorial waters to carry out criminal activities has been deemed by many as a real provocation. According to some observers, something must be done at the strategic level to put a decisive stop to this persistent provocation.

Threat of Strait of Malacca terrorism catch PacFlt's eye

Reported here:

"The Strait of Malacca is the heaviest trafficked strait in the world, and for that reason any disruption to that commerce, not only would it affect the region, I would suggest it would have global implications," Roughead told Reuters in an interview.
"I am not sure it would have to be of great magnitude. The fact that a vulnerability has been demonstrated is enough to affect trade," Roughead, head of United State's biggest naval fleet, said on the sidelines of a major naval conference in Sydney.