Word: shipping
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Such "prepo" shipments have always been well-guarded. But the ship's contents could make a very tempting target for the pirates. The manifest lists a cargo of missiles and bombs with a TNT equivalent or "net explosive weight" of 6,383,281 lbs - around a quarter of Hiroshima's A-bomb destructive power. It includes 11 containers holding 15,751 lbs of spontaneously flammable munitions like white phosphorous. In total around 80% of the cargo, or 1,300 containers, will be crammed with explosives. (See a brief history of pirates...
Getting to Diego Garcia is likely to take ships through or near waters inhabited by pirates - and the hijacking of this ship would dwarf the Somali pirate hijacking of the Saudi tanker last year. To protect this cargo, at least 15 Navy personnel, known as an Embarked Security Team, will be bunked aboard the container ship. "That's half a platoon strength onboard and they will be packing an awful lot of ammo and huge amount of firepower," says one ex-special forces soldier. "They will be Navy Seals with side arms and MP5Ks [compact submachine guns] for close quarters...
...contract for the container ship is still up for bids. The commercial shipping line that wins the Marine Corps' prepo contract must be prepared to outfit its ship with heavy gun mounts, decontamination facilities for nuclear radiation and chemical spills and a repaint or name change...
While the pirates are attacking ships farther and farther away, suggesting greater sophistication on their part, merchant marine crews too are looking more closely at the tools they have at their disposal - or, at any rate, are conducting more rigorous training to respond to pirate attacks. The crew of Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, for example, indicated that they had trained for precisely this scenario and attributed their success to training that Capt. Phillips had given them before their latest trip. They said they were kept on the ship well after it arrived at port in Mombasa after escaping...
...occasional helplessness of the crews - and a new wave of attacks in recent days despite the presence of an international flotilla off Somalia - has led some experts to demand that they be armed in case of attack. On Monday, Gortney told CNN that in addition to beefing up ship defenses on their vessels, shipping companies should deploy armed guards on ships that may come under threat. But such a move has many opponents, who argue that most crews are not properly trained to handle weapons, and such a decision would butt up against the laws of dozens of nations, which...