Jmhconsult, LLC Blog

Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2010
Port authority takes McDonald’s advice
Bradenton Herald
By GRACE GAGLIANO

BRADENTON — A proposal to hire a transition administrator at Port Manatee sparked more than two weeks worth of contentious debate voiced in an ongoing exchange of e-mails, memorandums, allegations and public record requests among port and county officials.

After all that and a four-hour meeting Tuesday of the Manatee County Port Authority, the board approved a recommendation brought to its attention three weeks ago by port director David McDonald.

In an Aug. 3 memorandum, McDonald suggested the port authority form a selection committee to oversee the request for qualifications for concessionaire advisory services at Port Manatee.

The port authority agreed on this solution after McDonald and several port tenants voiced concern, for the first time in a public forum, over port authority chairman Larry Bustle’s recommendation to hire maritime consultant Paul DeMariano as a transition administrator.

“I think the authority listened to the tenants which are the most important component of the port,” McDonald said of the authority’s decision to allow a selection committee to evaluate the concessionaire applications. “Without the tenants you have no jobs, you have no cargo, you have no revenue.”

Port Manatee tenants brought before the port authority a joint statement in which they said they were concerned and confused by the board’s desire to hire a transition administrator.

Those who signed the joint statement included some of Port Manatee’s top tenants including Gearbulk, Del Monte, Kinder Morgan, Logistec, SeaBridge, Liberty Terminals and Federal Maritime.

“We find it a bit redundant if you’re going to have an advisor for an advisor when there’s already an advisor on the staff that the county’s paying for,” said Chris Sheils, general manager of Gearbulk.

R.K. Johns & Associates, a New Jersey-based port consulting firm is paid $98,000 a year to advise Port Manatee and the port authority.

The port authority is seeking concessionaire advisory services to research the business potential Port Manatee might see if it changes its business model by hiring an outside company to manage terminal leasing operations that the port currently manages.

The concessionaire advisory services are expected to cost $250,000.

McDonald cautioned the port authority about the importance of keeping open communication with tenants on business matters.

“I ask you to listen to your tenants,” McDonald said. “They are the life of this port, they are your future. I implore you to restore that level of confidence in your tenants.”

Larry Bustle, chairman of the port authority, defended his proposal to hire DeMariano as a transition administrator. Bustle said DeMariano’s more than 30 years of port experience would be fitting for him to come on as an advisor to recommend a candidate for concessionaire advisory services from the applications that are due Sept. 15.

“My thinking is we need some sort of expert advisor to advise this body on decisions we need to make and how to make them,” Bustle said. “It’s important to note that the transition advisor I’m talking about is not to select or transition to a new port director. This is merely to help us transition to a concessionaire.”

Instead those that will be charged with overseeing the request for qualifications on the concessionaire advisory services are clerk of court Chips Shore, county administrator Ed Hunzeker, Port Manatee consultant Peter Keller, a port tenant and McDonald. The selection committee will review applications for the concessionaire advisory services that are due Sept. 15 and will make a recommendation for the authority to vote on.

In other news, the port authority briefly discussed a succession plan for McDonald, who will retire Jan. 31, 2012. McDonald proposed the authority consider hiring a national firm to recruit for a new executive director who would work alongside him for about three months prior to his retirement.

McDonald enrolled in the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Program about three years ago and intended to notify the port authority a year before his retirement.

“Three to six months is usually the standard,” McDonald said. “I’m giving the board three times the average time it takes for an appropriate transition.”

Liberty Promise Ready to Help Navy
posted 6:14 pm Tue May 11, 2010
- Goose Creek, SC from ABC News 4 – http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0510/735009.html

The Navy gets some help fighting the war on terror. A brand new commercial cargo ship will carry critical equipment overseas.

At more than 630 feet long and carrying an $86 million price tag, the Liberty Promise is ready to sail into action.

“She clearly the most efficient, the cleanest burning ship we have in the U.S. Flag Fleet and has the state of the art modern technology that is available now,” said Philip Shapiro, President and CEO of Liberty Maritime Corporation.

The ship has 12 decks, including some that can be adjusted to handle large military equipment, and it’s designed to be loaded more efficiently.

“She has a stern ramp at the rear of the ship, which can actually take two tanks, one coming on and off at the same time,” Shapiro said.

Plenty of supplies can be carried per trip as up to eight football fields worth of equipment can be loaded onto the ship.

“We are constantly having more demands overseas, the cargo; the equipment we are getting is getting bigger and stronger. With that, we need bigger and stronger vessels to carry it over there,” explained Captain Gary Nipper, Operations Officer with the US Army.

Besides being able to carry thousands of tons of equipment, the Liberty Promise can to it faster than other ships the same size.

“This ship does between 20 and 21 knots. She’s a very fast ship. So she can be deployed quickly to move things from point to point,” Shapiro said.

Speed that could mean missions overseas get done faster.

“Every second counts over there. When you are in a war fighting over there and you’re waiting for your equipment to get over there to you so you can do your job on the war on terror. The faster it gets over there the faster you can do your job,” Nipper explained.

The Liberty Promise should head out by the end of the week, traveling to the Middle East.

Liberty chief honoured
Tuesday 27 April 2010
www.Lloydslist.com

THE Setting the Course awards banquet hosted by Seafarers & International House was held on a poignant backdrop for the second year in a row.

This year’s event recognised Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association president Donald Keefe, Liberty Maritime chief executive Philip Shapiro and law professor Joseph Sweeney as the 2010 Outstanding Friends of Seafarers.

Shapiro is among the proponents of arming crews to fend off pirates.

He used his acceptance speech to voice displeasure with the Obama administration’s apparent attempt to make it harder for owners to pay ransoms to free their crews.

Last year, his company’s ship, Liberty Sun, was attacked off Somalia, just days after the drama involving Maersk Alabama, whose master was held captive by pirates before a dramatic rescue in a US Navy Seal operation.

As luck would have it, last year’s Setting the Course winners included Maersk Line chief executive John Reinhart.

The 2009 award banquet, which happened just a few days after the rescue, thus ended up as a mini-celebration.

In contrast, this year’s banquet was held the same day the semi-submersible drillship Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico, with 11 crew members missing. The sea remains the sea — but what a difference a year makes.

More ash heading to Germany

AS IF Europe did not have enough ash, Polish freight operator CTL Logistics has proudly announced its intention to railfreight more of the fine-powered stuff to Germany. According to its press release, CTL has “singed” (sic) an “ash freight agreement for three years with one of the top Polish exporters of that goods”.

Executive vice-president Artur Pielech said: “Customs procedures at the German border do not take now more than one hour and we keep the full control over the transport.”

CTL was happy to explain that ash has nothing to do with Icelandic volcanoes, but is a product of burning coal at Polish power plants and is used in German mills to produce cement.

Rectory runners

CHURCH of the High Seas rector Chris Burke this week swapped his Sunday vestments for a running vest as he left his altar to compete in the London Marathon for the Mission to Seafarers.

His wife, Helen, a GP in Hackney, joined him in the great race. Burke finished the Marathon in 4.36 hrs, despite sustaining injuries during training, while his wife pipped him to the post at a fit 4.18 hrs.

Burke worked with the Mission to Seafarers in Japan, before taking up his post as rector of St Dunstan’s in Stepney, a church that flies the Red Ensign and is historically known as the Church of the High Seas. It has a seven-acre cemetery, where seafarers were traditionally buried.

There is still time to support the Burke’s fund-raising efforts at: www.justgiving.com/rectoryrunners.

Article from Lloyd’s List:
www.lloydslist.com/art/1272282999429
Published: 27/04/2010 GMT
© 2010 Informa plc. All rights Reserved. Lloyd’s is the registered trademark of the Society incorporated by the Lloyd’s Act 1871 by the name of Lloyd’s

All GM vehicles to have brake-override systems
BY TIM HIGGINS
DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
4-5-2010

General Motors today announced it’s expanding the use of brake-override systems into all of its vehicles sold globally by the end of 2012.

Eight or nine GM vehicles in the U.S. are already sold with the system, said Alan Adler, a GM spokesman.

It works by reducing power to the engine when the brake and accelerator pedals are being depressed at the same time.

GM said it already uses a braking performance standard in all vehicles that requires a braking vehicle to stop within a specific distance.

Adding the brake override to all vehicles is “for additional customer confidence,” Adler said.

The vehicles that already have the system typically have really big engines, such as the Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac V-series vehicles.

The announcement comes in the wake of controversy at Toyota and its recalled vehicles involving unintended acceleration.

Contact TIM HIGGINS: thiggins@freepress.com.

Federal Transportation Bill Should Clean Up Dirtiest, Fastest Growing Transportation Sector: Freight

Report Highlights Clean Freight Innovations Congress Could Fund to Improve Reliability, Reduce Freight-related Health Risks
WASHINGTON, DC, March 15, 2010 –/WORLD-WIRE/–
Environmental Defense Fund

Congress should include comprehensive funding policies for the first time in the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill to both modernize freight transportation and clean it up by favoring innovations like those highlighted in a new report released today during a 1pm teleconference call (800-935-9319). Freight transportation currently is the most polluting and fastest growing transportation sector.

The clean freight innovation locations include, but are not limited to: Southern California; Chicago; Seattle; Norfolk, Virginia; and along the Gulf Coast between Port Manatee, Florida and Brownsville, Texas. (The report, video version of it and fact sheets are at: www.edf.org/goodhaul).

The report is timely since Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) recently vowed to take up a transportation reauthorization bill this year, and the EPW Committee has initiated a series of hearings on issues to be addressed in the bill. Senator Boxer has said she would use the $500 billion bill already introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as a framework.

“This report provides a roadmap for modernizing the U.S. freight system, making it more reliable and faster, and reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution,” says Kathryn Phillips, director of the California Transportation and Air Initiative at Environmental Defense Fund, whose staff produced the report. “House and Senate committees writing the transportation bill should ensure funding for freight improvement delivers environmental benefits too. This report shows it can be done.”

The report, The Good Haul, details 28 case studies of clean freight solutions that exist in the United States and internationally. Congress should direct any freight improvement funding to encourage clean freight solutions to improve freight’s performance and protect public health and the environment. “Now is ideal time to tackle these challenges,” says James Corless, director of Transportation for America, a coalition of more than 450 organizations nationwide focused on creating a national transportation program for the 21st century by modernizing our infrastructure and building healthy communities. “The upcoming reauthorization of the federal transportation bill is a great opportunity to help achieve a smarter, greener freight system.”

Freight delivers nearly everything we buy, eat, manufacture, or build with to us via a complex system of shipping routes, rail lines, highways, ports, and rail yards. Unfortunately, U.S. freight movement represents 25 percent of transportation’s contributions to greenhouse gases, and its share of emissions is climbing twice as fast as passenger travel. By 2020, more than 90 million tons of freight are expected to move throughout the United States, an 80 percent increase from 2002.

Freight air pollution is an enormous health threat. The fine particle pollution from U.S. diesel engines—the most common engines used in freight—is estimated to shorten the lives of more than 20,000 people each year.

The California Air Resources Board estimates that in 2005 freight-related pollution and health effects cost the state nearly $20 billion and caused about 2,400 premature deaths, 2,000 respiratory-related hospital admissions, more than 60,000 asthma and lower respiratory cases, 360,000 lost work days, and more than 1 million lost school days.

Below are brief summaries of some a few case studies featured in The Good Haul:
Southern California: The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach launched the Clean Air Action Plan in 2006, which cleans up all areas of port activity: trucks, cargo handling equipment, locomotives, ships, even tug boats. Since implementation 18 months ago, the plan already has taken 2,000 dirty diesel trucks off the road and has created more than 3,000 jobs at the Port of Los Angeles alone. Video of Port of LA clean freight innovations is at www.edf.org/goodhaul.
Chicago: The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program (CREATE) aims to reduce congestion and improve air quality by streamlining four major rail lines. Chicago handles nearly 30 percent of rail freight revenue and expects to see an 89 percent increase in rail traffic over the next 30 years. The program will result in more than $1 billion in health care savings from improved air quality and generate economic activity valued at more than $525 million. The program expects to create 2,700 annual jobs.
Seattle: BNSF Railway installed four electric wide-span, rail-mounted gantry cranes at the Seattle International Gateway (SIG) intermodal facility. The cranes’ wide footprints allow them to span three tracks, stack containers and load and unload both trucks and railcars. The cranes produce zero onsite emissions and have increased throughput by 30 percent at the facility.
Norfolk, Virginia: The Port of Virginia’s Green Goat hybrid yard switcher, a rail locomotive that moves short distances within a rail yard, provides fuel savings between 40-60 percent and is predicted to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions between 80-90 percent annually.
Along the Gulf Coast: Sea Bridge Freight, a coastal shipping service between Port Manatee, Florida and Brownsville, Texas, avoids an average of nearly 1,400 miles of congested highways. Compared to trucking, one Sea Bridge barge has the capacity to remove 400,000 truck highway miles on a single one-way voyage.
Germany: Toll Collect, a distance-based GPS truck tolling system, with a category for engine emissions, has encouraged a shift to cleaner engines. The cleanest Euro V truck engines have increased from less than 1 percent in 2005 to more than 50 percent in 2008. Since 2007, Toll Collect has seen revenues of 3.4 billion euros ($4.6 billion).
Norfolk Southern: This railway, which operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, is testing a battery-powered locomotive that produces zero onsite emissions with costs comparable to diesel-powered locomotives.
Contact:
Sean Crowley,
202.572.3331,
scrowley@edf.org

White House Pushes Harder for Renewal of Expired Highway Programs
CQ
March 1, 2010

The Obama administration is ratcheting up pressure on Congress to pass an extension of highway programs that expired Sunday.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Congress must stop playing “political games” and pointed the finger at Sen. Jim Bunning , R-Ky., who at the end of last week repeatedly blocked attempts to move a bill that included a short-term extension for highway programs, among other things.

Without the authorization in place, Highway Trust Fund money can neither be collected nor spent. That means employees at the Transportation Department whose salaries are paid out of the trust fund will have to be furloughed.

Many highway projects around the country also must be halted because federal inspectors are being pulled off the job.

On Monday, LaHood said 2,000 employees had been furloughed already, primarily at the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

To turn up the political heat on Republicans, his office also released a state-by-state list of federal lands construction projects that are affected — a list designed to catch lawmakers’ attention. The projects span 17 states, as well as Washington, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

“This work stoppage of crucial transportation projects across the country is a clear demonstration of how Republican obstruction in Washington directly hurts American workers and communities,” said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg , D-N.J.

Senate Republicans point out that House Democrats were responsible for stalling action on a Senate-passed jobs bill that also included an extension of highway spending authority.

Rejecting bailout wins political capital for Ford
By Ian Swanson – 01/27/10 06:00 AM ET
The Hill

Ford is reaping the benefits that go with being the only U.S. automaker not to take a bailout.

A little more than a year after the Big Three CEOs came to Washington for help, Ford has increased its share of the U.S. market, seen its stock increase six-fold over the last year and is hiring workers in a recession.

While General Motors was stigmatized as “government motors,” Ford’s data shows its brand reputation at a high level.
The company thinks this will also benefit it in Washington.

“I think we’re very much respected for … running a healthy business and not asking for taxpayer money,” Ford CEO Alan Mulally told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

That could be important to Ford, which wants to be a player on a range of policies.

“Are we welcomed in the debate in Washington, D.C.? Absolutely,” Mulally said. “Part of our plan is we want to be a part of that discussion.”

Ford has an interest in talks on energy and the environment, where regulators will consider new fuel-efficiency markers for vehicles in 2016.

On trade, Ford opposes a pact negotiated by the George W. Bush administration with South Korea. Mulally on Tuesday also said currency manipulation is a concern. China has been criticized for boosting its exports to the U.S. by pegging its currency value to the dollar.

Ford will also want a seat at the table on “distracted driver” legislation that could affect new technologies Ford and other companies are adding to their vehicles, an area where Mulally said Ford thinks it has a competitive advantage.

GM and Chrysler are both going for a comeback, too, but face a tougher haul. Chrysler has merged with Fiat, while GM has appointed a new CEO, who said the company would repay the government $5.7 billion in June. The U.S. has given GM $50 billion, but most of that was converted into stock, making the government a part-owner of the company. It’s not clear how that investment will pay off.

Ford is carrying billions in debt, but it has lowered its debt level and analysts believe it could post a profit in 2009 when it announces its earnings on Thursday.

Mulally, who came to Ford in 2006 after serving as Boeing’s chief executive, was greeted in Washington by a full-page ad in The Washington Post. The Washington restaurant Sequoia purchased the ad to honor Ford for spurning a bailout.

Mulally also offered good news in Washington; he spoke after stories broke about his company hiring 1,200 workers to build Ford Explorers at a Chicago plant.

FHA looks to shrink

Thirty percent of borrowers are now getting loans backed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), a huge increase over the 3 percent of loans backed by FHA before the housing crisis.

That has raised concerns by stretching the FHA’s reserves. Under statute, the FHA is supposed to keep reserves of 2 percent of its loans, but that rate has fallen to just more than a quarter of that rate. Meanwhile, the percentage of FHA loans in default has jumped.

New rules announced by FHA last week, which must be approved by Congress, would increase FHA’s prices and provide some security for taxpayers, though they’ll also make it tougher for people to get FHA insurance.

The new rules would raise the premium borrowers pay for FHA backing. FHA also is reducing from 6 to 3 percent the amount of money a home seller can put up for closing costs, which means the borrower will have to come up with more cash.

Andrew Jakabovics, associate director for housing and economics at the Center for American Progress, said FHA’s share of the market could be reduced to 20 percent in the next 12 to 18 months. But he said this will depend in part on what the private sector does.

The new rules are welcomed by the private sector.

FHA’s changes “will make it more competitive to conventional lending,” said Teresa Bryce, president of Radian Guaranty. “We’d like more business to come our way and not FHA’s.”

Union, Tea Party unison?

Supporters of “Buy American” rules believe they have the political winds at their backs as they push for tough restrictions in the new jobs bill.

High unemployment will make it difficult for lawmakers in either party to argue against rules restricting the use of foreign materials in projects built with U.S. dollars.

Plus, notes Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, the Buy American rules are one of the few things union members and the Tea Party crowd agree upon. Neither group wants U.S. tax dollars going to pay for Chinese steel, he said.

Paul’s group is headed to congressional offices this week to call for the rules, already included in the bill approved by the House.
The rules in the House bill are similar to those in the stimulus in 2009, but do make it tougher, in some cases, to get a waiver from the rules.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are lobbying hard on the other side. They say the rules in the stimulus were misinterpreted by state and local officials who, erring on the side of caution, went overboard in barring products made by foreign companies from inclusion in stimulus projects.

Modern Piracy – Response of the International Community

Seeking effective international counter-piracy measures.
Comment by German Navy Vice Admiral (retd.) Lutz Feldt

09:16 GMT, January 27, 2010
DEFPRO.com

The European Commission decided in 2008 to analyse possible and known threats to Europe and its population as part of an extensive programme. The results of these analyses are to provide the required information to deduce the necessary consequences to develop programmes and projects to counter the threats in the medium and long term. The fields of interest which are being analysed are the fight against drugs, illegal small arms proliferation, threats by nuclear, biological and chemical agents, as well as the safeguarding of particularly threatened sea areas. These fields of interest are overlapping to some extent, however, it is also necessary to carry out the analyses and the evaluation separately in order to, subsequently, gather what belongs together at the bottom line. The fact that the decision to analyse the imperiled sea territories would receive such a dramatic topicality, at least to the originators, was not clear one year ago – although piracy already was a major global threat at that time.

The assignment placed the focus on the sea lanes from the Strait of Malacca and Singapore across the Indian Ocean to the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Both sea areas find themselves in the spotlight for good reasons and the daily threat to crews and their ships, unfortunately, have gained notoriety. When dealing with this threat, one quickly discovered that, next to these two key sea areas, there are other places in the world in which the threat to sailors and their ships is just as urgent. However, due to selective perceptions, these threats are currently not in the spotlight. They include the Gulf of Guinea, the South China Sea and, still, the Caribbean.

The reason for European involvement in the improvement of maritime security is based upon the awareness that approximately 90 per cent of global trade is carried out at sea. Therefore, Europe and Germany (the latter being a particularly export-oriented nation) strongly depend on the security of this vital transit. Europe is a strongly maritime-oriented continent surrounded by the seas and always having depended upon them. Maritime Europe is a fact. Therefore, countries in distant regions perceive it to be adequate and right that we, as a key user of these sea lanes, contribute to the security of the latter. This also includes Asian nations, which have already been involved in these security matters for quite a long time.

Pushed by increasing pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden since 2005, the International Maritime Organisation, a sub-organisation of the United Nations responsible for all maritime matters, has tried with a number of conferences to induce the countries of the West Indies, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to take joint action. Within this ‘pending case’ the Security Council of the United Nations has then highlighted the urgency to act by means of numerous resolutions. These resolutions were laid out on immediate action for the re-establishment of the security of vital sea lanes. The primary cause for piracy at the Horn of Africa is the lack of any governmental authority in Somalia and an unstable situation in Yemen. Consequently, NATO and the European Union have simultaneously planned and initiated operations of naval forces.

At first, one of the fundamental tasks of the European naval operation “ATALANTA” was to escort the shipments for the World Food Programme heading to Mogadishu to support the population of Somalia. This has remained one of the tasks and it can be observed that, at least as far as it concerns the maritime part, the logistics chain in now secured. Nevertheless, the mission of the naval forces of operation ATALANTA is far more comprehensive and the Security Council has provided a stalwart mandate to implement the law at sea which has been adopted by the NATO and the EU operations. However, it remains a fact which is considered to be critical: its operative approach is a reactive, and an offensive fight against piracy is not intended, although this would be endorsed by the mandate. Therefore, the question rightly is how will the current approach stop the highly professional, flexible and brutal pirates. Yet, considerations and an already-issued mandate of a military operation on shore have to be viewed critically. The fact shouldn’t be ignored that, ultimately, the aim is to enable self-dependent action by the governments in Somalia as well as in Yemen.

Piracy obviously has many causes and pirates are recruited from entirely different social and cultural origins. The most manifest cause for the increase of piracy in this sea area is the collapse of any governmental authority, which in the first place enables any sort of criminal activity on shore or at sea to this extent. Due to the inaction of all aggrieved parties, just as on shore, the methods of these activities at sea have dramatically increased in the course of the years. Even when considering the fact that piracy, contraband trade, flows of refugees as well as drug traffic and the transport of small arms of all calibres has a long tradition in this part of the world and has been generally tolerated, the current extent and the open-ended question of who pulls the strings is very distressing.

But also illegal fishing within the country’s economic zone and territory, repeatedly emphasised by the Somali side, is part of the issue. In this context, the question of the credibility of the European operation comes up: as long as the European fishing industry participates in illegal fishing, this does not contribute to improving trust in the region. Also, the illegal ocean dumping of pollutants of all kings, as a consequence of the power vacuum, is repeatedly being cited, however, so far this has not been proven. Hence, the motives are complex, but in the end the crime pays off and, at least hitherto, the risk is minimal.

However, the questions about the idleness of the adjacent states and the international community remain open. Since 2002, an international task force has been deployed to this sea area. Since then, the German Navy and parts of the Joint Support Service (Streitkräftebasis) have successfully operated against the terrorist threat, including during several tours under German command.

The terrorists’ liberty of action and the use of former training camps in Somalia has been successfully confined and prevented. A significant side effect has been the limitation of the increase of contraband, drug trafficking and piracy. However, when the parliament did not include the fight against drug trafficking into the mandate for reasons of political opportunity, and every criminal became aware that the mere presence of international forces would not affect their criminal acts, the latter dramatically increased. This has been clearly proven by the statistics of the International Maritime Bureau and the Piracy Reporting Centres in Kuala Lumpur.

In addition, until about one year ago, the loss of goods through piracy had been considered statistically insignificant and the concerned associations did not see any need for action regarding the governments. The ship owners and charterers could have seen that this purely economic assessment was and remains wrong by using the example of the Strait of Malacca and of Singapore. However, this would have required a different thinking and course of action in line with better communications. The knowledge of the threat was available. The possibilities and capabilities to encounter the negative development equally existed – namely in the affected sea area. What was missing was the request for a corresponding mandate by the ship owners and charterers as well as the will of the politicians to issue such a mandate. In this particular case, as in other cases, the point that no requirement for risk provisioning has been expressed by the military side within the Ministry of Defence has to be made in favour of the responsible politicians.

Each payment of a ransom has been, and remains, a further brick in the wall of recruitment and the successful accomplishment of attacks on international shipping. To counter this development, a large-scale and coordinated effort is required. Currently, the EU and NATO each deploy a task force to the threatening sea area which, furthermore, is patrolled by two US-led task forces. Nationally led task forces with a limited period of operation have also contributed to the international effort. Russia, China, Japan, India, Iran, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia have been, or still are, present with maritime patrol aircraft and ships.

It distinguishes all nations that they are willing to cooperate and that the necessary coordination works successfully. The pragmatic approaches in the mission area, the common international basic understanding of navies and the awareness of pursuing a common purpose prove to be of value. The number of ships and aircraft in the area of operation varies and the mere number of units reveals little about their effectiveness in terms of the common objective. However, it is also important to take a look at a globe or at an atlas to bring to mind the enormity of the geographical area.

At this point, some notes on the capabilities and the legal basic parameters. An interested layperson may ask why such large vessels are used to encounter pirates operating on such small boats. The big advantage for the pirates is and remains that they operate off a home shore, that they can chose the location and the time of their attack and that they are “normal” fishers and sailors as long as they do not attack – a fact which they use for their own protection. Their superior knowledge of the Gulf of Aden, the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb as well as of the seas off the entire Somali coast, which now the German Navy has also acquired, supports the mission accomplishment.

Operating in these waters since February 2002, the units are able to make a reliable risk assessment of the intensive shipping traffic of the old dhows that are used for trade and fishing in the area and have modern engines as well as all means of communication at their disposal. To provide security to international shipping, the naval forces – generally consisting of frigates, cruisers or, in the case of the US, the well-suited dock landing ships (LSDs) – offer all necessary capabilities but, in particular, provide required long-endurance at sea due to their size.

A protection by means of the so-called convoy system in pre-planned routes is the adequate approach with the available number of forces. However, the use of armed ship-based helicopters is one of the key capabilities for this task. These helicopters have always been a significant capability of the frigates and an integrated key element of the crew. Nevertheless, the effective fight against piracy and long-range protection, in particular, requires maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). If they have the excellent intelligence and surveillance as well as a data transfer capabilities, such as the P-3C Orions of the German Navy, they play a significant role, especially for the surveillance and warning before attacks occur. In the case of a reactive mandate, these capabilities are of particular importance and their number plays a key role for the success of the effort.

Next to these military capabilities, the essential questions for the legal framework and the legal status of the participating forces remain. These are complicated questions. Much is arguable and the bindingness of the international marine law is very variable due to conventions which have not been ratified by all nations. The German Navy has a very clear-cut legal situation for its contribution to Operation ATALANTA based on article 24. However, this does not include other operations and tasks and requires urgent clarification.

There is another aspect within the matter of the legal situation and of security which has to be considered. It is the issue of civil security providers and the repeatedly debated arming of crews. Operation ATALANTA offers captains of merchant vessels to embark trained soldiers, armed or unarmed.

Even the Yemeni Coast Guard, altogether too small and not sufficiently equipped and trained to control its own territorial waters, offers small security teams to be embarked on merchant vessels. However, this is something different than the service of civil security companies.

At any rate, the danger of escalation and the related risk has to be opposed to the expected increased security. Pirates want to press money, they take hostages and they capture ships and their cargo. They have also fired at shops and wounded crew members. All this is bad enough. Resistance and civil security providers are an incalculable risk for the lives of the crew and, from my point of view, are no solution to this threat situation.

The last question that remains is that of the link to international terrorism. This question can only be answered by the intelligence services. Considering the methods of the attacks it appears to be quite definite that the pirates are the executors and the actual initiators and persons pulling the strings remain on the shore. Who they are is difficult to say. But if, as we assume, they are part of the clans of Somalia the solution has to be searched for and found together with them of, at least, with parts of them. This is the civil part of the problem solving process und is as urgent as the military part.

The European Union (in particular France, the United Kingdom and Italy) as well as the United States work on this matter. Yet, many tasks still lie ahead. But the responsibility for maritime security remains in the hands of the governments of the respective regions. All foreign assistance is only welcome to the extent as it is recognised as a basic principle. In this respect the process of opinion formation and coordination of the respective nations is a prerequisite for the assistance by third parties. In Southeast Asia this process has been successful, at the Horn of Africa is still is in the early stages.

Concluding, I would like to draft the following theses:

1. The use of naval forces to provide maritime security is necessary and will be successful at sea, however, without achieving an absolute security of international shipping.

2. The issued mandate of Operation ATALANTA is too reactive. Therefore, the outcome of this is a significantly longer duration of the operation.

3. Each national and regional initiative to assume responsibility within the own territorial waters and beyond must be supported politically and in practice. In this context “in practice” includes assistance for training and equipment.

4. Each nation which deploys ships and aircraft for the fight against piracy has to model its national law in a way to provide the capacity to arrest and sentence pirates. This is also demanded by the United Nations.
The different operations and the ships of single nations in the sea area have to be coordinated in order to have a maintainable effort and result. The next step should be a cooperation. Thereby, the operation offers the opportunity of collaboration beyond the existing alliances and coalitions. This will soon be required elsewhere.

5. Ship owners have to reassess their crew structures. Simple tasks, such as the look-out, permanent security patrols on the top deck and improved information on the respective situation in the sea area, significantly reduce the risk of a successful attack. I advise against the arming of the crew and the use of civil security personnel.

6. It is all about taking the initiative. This can only be achieved in a well-coordinated cooperation between the responsible parties of the region, the United Nations, the European Union and the North-Atlantic defence community as well as the ship owners.

7. The example of Southeast Asia, the local cooperation of the nations in the region, in the field of navigation as well as of external security, proves that there are solutions to this problem. This could serve as a role model.

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By Vice Admiral (retd.) Lutz Feldt

(Translated by defpro.com, Nicolas von Kospoth)

With all the discussion these past few years about our nation putting together a program to fully utilize our coastal shipping opportunities, at last we have the Marine Highways Program. There have been many names and iterations for this program beginning with Coastal Shipping, Short Sea Shipping and now Marine Highways. Call it what you want, I call it long overdue!
We have studied the European model of Short Sea Shipping and I have personally witnessed the benefits of reducing surface transportation congestion by utilizing our inland waterways.
Going back to 2003 while serving as the U.S. Maritime Deputy and then Acting Administrator I consistently appealed to our President and Congress to fund this program. We even wrote a report to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget called SEA 21, which was the maritime industry equivalent to the Surface Transportation funding SAFETEA-LU legislation. In SEA 21, we spelled out a clear case as to why our country needed Short Sea Shipping that could reduce carbon emissions and reduce traffic fatalities.
A few years ago,the EPA extended a helping hand with one of their Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) improvement program grants. They funded a Marine Highway program called PIDN out of the Port of New York New Jersey that utilized barges to transport cargo up to Albany New York.
Their idea was to reduce truck emissions on our roads. While this particular program ultimately came to an end, it did elevate the idea of Short Sea Shipping to our transportation policy makers.
Then in 2008-2009 MARAD was successful in putting together the newest generation called, “Marine Highways”. As an industry, we were fortunate that the President included this program in his 2010 budget submission. Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) also drafted language to be included in a the Senate Transportation and Housing Urban Development Appropriations Bill for funding of $15 million. It was unfortunate that the House did not include any language or funding for this program. As the maritime industry recognized the disparity between the two chambers in funding for this program, the firm of Jamian McElroy & Hamlin stepped up to the plate and began a serious advocacy initiative to educate Members of the House of Representatives (Obey, Oberstar, Kilpatrick, Ortiz and Buchanan to name a few) to the importance and benefits of the Marine Highway program. The firms objective was to maintain funding in the Conference Report. Credit goes to those Members in the House of Representatives who worked in a coordinated effort with their Senate counterparts in order to draft compromise language and funding that led to the success of making the Marine Highway program a reality. The final package was funded with $7 million and sent on to the President for signing. Jamian McElroy & Hamlin’s Government Affairs Director Charles Yessaian who formerly worked for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said, “it was especially gratifying to be a integral part of this effort with the former Acting Administrator of MARAD, John Jamian, as this program has been a priority for so many years”.
Now the challenge is up to a select few maritime industry companies to work with MARAD and demonstrate how they will positively utilize this limited funding to build upon their services proving that America is indeed ready for a more comprehensive Marine Highways program.
John Jamian