British Security firm offers response to Wikileaks’ release of cables related to Somalia and maritime piracy

Mike - 

The release by Wikileaks of cables related to Somalia and maritime piracy over the past weekend (as reported in The Daily Telegraph) make interesting reading for anyone involved in the shipping or cargo industries.

In the first cable, sent from the US Embassy in Tokyo in June 2009, loopholes in Japan’s Self-Defense Force were highlighted. Since only two escort ships could be made available, the cable alleged that some cargo firms instead employed: “services offered by a British crisis consultant firm” to safeguard their vessels, although the cable failed to actually name any firm.

The cable went on to say: “These services dispatch former Special Air Service members of the British Army to cargo ships only when they cruise off Somalia.” It continues, “Customers expect that since they would also become hostage if the ship were captured, the British Navy would rescue the ship.”

Reactions to the cable’s release in the professional private security industry have been mixed. Clearly, any shipping company pinning its hopes on a rescue based on past military connections is being naïve at best and negligent towards both crew and cargo at worst, although the industry appreciates the negative connotations private security can often have.

Despite this story being now almost two years old, it does little to re-assure an already nervous industry that private security is indeed the answer to piracy fears, as Nigel Booker, director of Neptune Maritime Services notes.

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