Maritime Piracy Spreading, More Aggressive

According to Marine Armor System, a specialist in automatic, non-lethal anti-piracy protection systems, maritime piracy is on the increase and it is more aggressive than ever.

Piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia have taken the headlines in recent years, but Silvia Valencia of Marine Armor System told Yachting Pages, “Pirate attacks seem to be moving from East Africa to Nigeria and other countries in West Africa along with Indonesia and the Strait of Malacca.  Plus in the latter two areas, attacks are becoming more aggressive; knives and katanas were once a popular choice for attackers, but today firearms and military weapons are being used.”

Silvia continued, “Another trend that has been observed in recent years is the motive for the attack; while Somali pirates once kidnapped the crew for ransom for long periods, Nigerian pirates are only interested in the cargo, especially in the oil, as they sell it in the black market. In these attacks, there is little concern for human life, aiming to annihilate any target that opposes the seizure of the goods.” Maritime piracy cost the global economy $6 billion in 2012 according to experts. 

Marine Armor System specializes in the fabrication, sale and installation of automatic non-lethal anti-piracy protection systems for vessels, based on ballistic blinds.  Silvia explained, “These systems can be activated in 10 seconds by pressing a single button.”

Year after year the company invests in research and development to ensure they use the latest robust materials and processes to improve and increase the strength and safety of its armor systems.

Its latest innovation is an intelligent system aimed at megayachts, with access control, allowing the captain of the ship to manage the whole platform from one place, including individual blinds and shutters. 

Marine Armor System is also working on a new model of maximum security blind, which will have the highest ballistic classification in the market (FB7), and will be anti-explosion and fire resistant. This model is set to launch at the end of 2014/early 2015.