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Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Madagascar, which are battling the worst of the piracy problem, are mobi- lizing their military forces to protect national and international interests. Drum Cussac, the UK-based global risk manage- ment group, has advisers and mentors working alongside all these forces, and is seeing the capacity building effort at fi rst hand, as well as contributing to it. “The African nations do know how important it is that they protect national and international assets both at sea and on land,” says Drum Cussac’s Director of Offshore, and Govern- ment and Industry Affairs, Andrew Nicholson. “As the leaders were talking in Brussels about improving security measures, Drum Cussac’s consultants were deployed every day working side-by-side with African soldiers and sailors, doing just that.” Kenyan soldiers, with Drum Cussac consultants acting as security advisors, worked to protect the Deepsea Metro 1 oil rig off Mombasa, for British Gas Group (BGG). Now that it has been moved south, their Tanzanian counterparts have tak- en over the task. Nigerian soldiers, aided by security advisors from Drum Cussac Nigeria, are protecting the Polarcus Nadia off the coast of Lagos, as it completes a seismic survey of the block known as OPL 310. And the Madagascan Navy provided armed security for four recently completed seismic, gravity and magnetic surveys off the north, south and west coasts of Madagascar (two by the Norwegian geophysical company, TGS-NOPEC (TGS) oper- ating in a joint venture with BGP, a subsidiary of China Na- tional Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and two by TGS alone). Standing Up Locally The commander of the Antsiranana Naval Base, Capitaine de Vaisseau, Vaohavy Andriambelonarivo Andasy, said his forces were perfectly able to keep international vessels, rigs and their crews safe despite the ever-present security threat off Madagascar. “The Malagasy Navy is very professional. All our offi cers have had extensive training abroad and we can do the job well, as long as we are given the right resources. At the moment we only have six vessels to protect nearly 5,000 kilometers of coastline, so putting our offi cers and sailors on commer- cial vessels, with Drum Cussac international mentors by their sides, is an ideal solution.” Drum Cussac’s Project Manager Ian Ferguson said his se- curity advisors had trained with the Malagasy Navy every day for three months on the M/V Geo Arctic while it surveyed the waters off the southern tip of Madagascar. “We were there to help the Malagasy sailors build on their sea survival and fi rst aid techniques, and to reinforce international standard operating procedures in the event of an attack by pirates. It didn’t happen, thankfully, but the sailors also helped to keep the Malagasy fi shing boats away from the seismic streamers when the sonars were in operation, so they were hugely help- ful on board.” “Our government is right; it should be us protecting these international ships,” said one of the Malagasy First Lieuten- ants who was stationed on the M/V Geo Arctic with Ian Fer- guson. “We know the area; we know the risks; we speak the MARITIME SECURITY ” “ The African nations do know how important it is that they protect national and international assets both at sea and on land. As the leaders were talking in Brussels about improving security measures, Drum Cussac’s consultants were deployed every day working side- by-side with African soldiers and sailors, doing just that. – Andrew Nicholson, Drum Cussac Director of Offshore, and Government and Industry Affairs. 24 | Maritime Professional | 2Q 2014 18-33 Q2 MP2014.indd 24 5/16/2014 2:52:12 PM
