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THE newly-established Bahrain-based 20-nation Combined Task Force, CTF 151, started its operations in January and is patrolling the waters of the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to combat the growing threat of piracy terrorising one of the busiest shipping and trade routes in the world.
Piracy in the Gulf of Aden has grown to epic proportions in recent months, forcing maritime insurance rates higher and providing pirates a handsome return with ransoms averaging between $1.5 million and $2 million, according to the US Navy.
'Presently we have a coalition force of 20 ships, US Coast Guards, Marines and sharp shooters as well as helicopters and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that conducts surveillance which is monitored by intelligence specialists,' said Rear Admiral McKnight, a native of Norfolk, Virginia who graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in May 1978.
'But pirates use boats that are made of fibre glass and wood which are very hard to pick-up on the radar. Also their boats are very small and fast and if there is a wave height of one foot and more these vessels can successfully hide in them. We are patrolling an ocean as vast as one million square miles and all these factors make our job harder.'
The international coalition is expected to grow in the coming months with the arrival of ships this week from Japan and others to follow from Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Belgium and Poland.
CTF 151 successfully thwarted two separate incidents of piracy last month by responding to distress calls by a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden. 'Within a 24-hour period we had two distress calls from two separate merchant vessels and we immediately responded by sending a ship and helicopter.
'One set of pirates are already in the criminal courts in Kenya where we have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Kenyan government to prosecute them and we are gathering evidence against the second set of pirates before presenting them in the criminal court,' added Rear Admiral McKnight.
According to a spokesman for the US 5th Fleet, also based in the kingdom, a total of 121 pirates have been disarmed and released, 126 have been turned over for prosecution and three have been killed since last August.
Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) Middle East Field Office in Bahrain, featured in a recent issue of GulfWeekly, provides the critical investigative support and serves as an integral law enforcement advisor to CTF 151.
Bahrain also provides the necessary logistical support to the new mission and the island will be the venue for the 'MENA Maritime Security and Coastal surveillance 2009' conference this week.
With 15 million barrels of oil passing through the Straits of Hormuz daily, the need to address maritime security has never been greater and Vice-Admiral William Gortney, Commander of Combined Maritime Forces at the USNAVCENT in Bahrain will be discussing key regional maritime security concerns and ways to enhance regional co-operation.
'CTF 151 is a coalition of the willing. I never thought that in my service I would be operating in the same water space as the Chinese and Russians and co-operating on an issue of mutual interest. This task force proves that piracy is an international problem requiring an international solution,' said Rear Admiral McKnight.
Countries involved in CTF151 are focusing on the bigger picture due to the fact that a great deal of the world's trade passes through the Gulf of Aden. The coalition is channelling its efforts to detect and deter piracy and create a lawful maritime order and develop security in the maritime environment.
But the modern day pirates are equipped with 21st Century weaponry and are attacking ships armed with rocket propelled grenades, semi-automatic weapons, 9mm arms and old but capable AK47s, said Rear Admiral McKnight.
Despite having a presence of warships to protect commercial shipping, pirate attacks have continued.
But analysts say that the naval presence is having a positive effect; the pirates' success rate at taking over vessels has fallen from nearly 50 per cent to around 30 per cent. Seven ships and 123 sailors are currently being held by pirates.
Last year, there were 111 acts of piracy off the African coast but efforts by CTF 151 have made it harder for pirates to carry out successful attacks.
While Somalia's pirates are keeping up their efforts in one of the world's most important shipping routes, they have found it harder to seize vessels in recent months, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
'There are more naval ships in the vicinity and crews are far more alert and aware of the risks,' said Noel Choong, who heads the bureau's piracy reporting center.
'Piracy off the coast of Somalia is stemming from the socio-economic problems and an unstable government in Somalia. The pirates that we have encountered are very young male fisherman out to make money,' said Rear Admiral McKnight reiterating the fact that while chaotic Somalia continues to provide a safe haven to pirate bases and if the condition of its impoverished people does not improve, pirate attacks will not cease.
Until recently it was often the case that pirates were onboard a ship before the crew was even aware of the attack. But all this is changing. Apart from 24-hour lookouts, sailors are taking measures like lashing high-pressure fire hoses into position so they point at vulnerable areas of the ship or blasting water across corrugated iron sheets to create a 'waterfall' that could flood a pirate skiff trying to motor beneath it.
But most ships simply evade capture by speeding up and changing direction, as the MV Shanghai Venture did when the clatter of a pirate's machine gun suddenly shattered the moonlit calm last week.
The Chinese ship survived three successive attacks with nothing worse than a couple of bullet holes.
'We are urging all vessels to let us know when they are passing through by registering on to our website; www.msc.hoa. Speeding up, evasive manoeuvring, active lookouts and pulling the ladder up are some of the simple measures that ships can employ when passing through these transit lanes. But we are here for a while with the clear goal of combating piracy in the high seas,' said Rear Admiral McKnight sending out a warning message to the rouges of the high seas.
