What’s said to be the first naval-grade private convoy protection for 220 years has launched. Typhon is operated by ex-Royal Navy and Royal Marines officers, with the backing of two international shipping companies.
This service enables ship operators to transit the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean in unprecedented safety while saving time and money, the company claims. It’s now opening discussions with potential clients and negotiating contracts.
The firm says that piracy is spreading rapidly from its Somalian roots across the Indian Ocean as far as the Gulf of Guinea, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Maritime criminals are becoming more audacious, more violent, better equipped and more adept. The company says that the wind-down of the EUNAFOR’s naval presence in the Gulf of Aden in 2014 is likely to coincide with a major escalation in piracy in the Indian Ocean. In this theatre of operations piracy still remains a serious threat to some of the world’s busiest shipping routes. At present 147 hostages are being held by pirates in Somalia.
In west Africa in the area known as the Gulf of Guinea, where there is no UK, EUNAVFOR or US naval presence (nor is there planned to be), the UN Security Council has recognised maritime crime as a specific threat to international security (Resolutions 2018 [2011] and 2039 [2012]). It is estimated that the state of Nigeria is losing $1bn of crude oil through theft every month.
To date commercially available counter-measure has been provided by ride-on guards otherwise known as VPDs (Vessel Protection Detachments or Details). This protection model provides a quantity of armed personnel to live aboard the client ship for the duration of the transit. However the client vessels have to detour for their embarkation and disembarkation often at significant cost. The range of protection from pirates is narrow: 400m from the ‘target’ ship.
Typhon says what it calls its Integrated Protection Model starts by detecting threats of piracy;s done onshore in Typhon’s Operations Centre in the United Arab Emirates. It enables the firm to conduct their transit safely, and advise clients of necessary course adjustments to avoid known trouble spots.
What the firm calls close protection vessels (CPVs) would shadow client vessels using its ‘umbrella concept’, which consists of surveillance and, detection and early warning to identify and assess any likely or suspected threats.
The convoys would travel in a protected ‘envelope’. Typhon says that its policy is always to seek to diffuse and de-escalate any violence. Detection is in three ways – by sea (using radar), by air (satellite) and by land (through an onshore operations centre). Armoured patrol boats might intercept a potential target, engage direct fire weapons or mount a defence of the client vessel. The use of force is described as a last resort, always reasonable and proportionate using the minimum amount of force necessary.
Anthony Sharp, CEO of Typhon, said: “Typhon was created in order address the specific threat from pirates in a number of key geographies. The area we will protect are too vast for current naval resources to monitor effectively and this will be an even bigger issue when Operation Atlanta comes to an end. Our mantra is to combat the problem of maritime crime and piracy using methods that are both effective and proportionate to the threat. With millions paid out in ransoms to pirates and much more money lost by businesses in fuel costs avoiding pirates, it is important that businesses are granted a safer passage with their cargo through dangerous waters. The benefits to business will be substantial.”
About the firm
The company’s mother-ship, marines and fast patrol boats carry a satellite-led early warning system (‘ATLAS’) detecting potential threats at long range.
The board includes Simon Murray CBE, General Lord Dannatt, General Deverell and Admiral Ulrich (USN 4*).
Typhon says that its fully Integrated Protection Model reduces shippers’ risks and costs.
The company was recently featured in the Sunday Times (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Defence/article1189106.ece
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Defence/article1189025.ece) and Daily Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/9016188/Typhon-fights-back-against-pirates.html)
