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Security provider Advanfort adds voice to piracy warnings

Security provider Advanfort adds voice to piracy warnings
Private maritime security provider AdvanFort has added its voice to warnings this week that shipowners should not let up on defending their vessels against pirates after the sharp drop in Somali piracy over the last year.

William Watson president of AdvanFort said that yesterday's warning by EU Nervier Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant that piracy is “not over… merely contained”, should be “a wake-up call for those still asleep at the helm of security for their companies”.
 
Watson cited the case of the Blida, carrying 17 Algerians, six Ukrainians, two Filipinos, one Jordanian and one Indonesian, was overtaken by a gang of pirates on its way from Oman to Tanzania, with almost all the hostages freed after a $2.6m in cash was dropped from a plane to the captors. “Those ship owners and operators who have still not hired a reputable private maritime security company continue to risk paying what amounts to an illegal tax in support of further organized maritime extortion,” said Watson. “It is a cost that ends up being borne by all of us.”
 
“Tarrant’s observation that piracy’s threat in the Gulf of Aden and elsewhere is not over, but is merely contained for now, means that the costs associated with world-wide shipping remain burdened by a transnational security threat that carries with it an unnecessary tax that unfairly buffets the maritime industry.”
 
It is over a year since the last successful hijacking for ransom by Somali pirates, however speaking to Seatrade Global on Monday piracy watchdog the International Maritime Bureau warned that it remained a "high risk"area for shipping.