Shipping company wants armed guards
The Norwegian shipping company Odfjell SE has applied to the authorities for permission to arm members of the crew and hire armed guards for their ships when sailing through pirate waters.
In a letter to police authorities in Norway and Singapore Odfjell asks permission to keep weapons on board their vessels, newspaper Dagbladet writes.
- We are considering all measures that can protect out people and our ships against the ongoing piracy attacks, says Jan Didrik Lorentz in Odfjell SE. If this problem is not addressed in a proper manner on national and international level, we might see cases of unauthorized use of weapons, Odfjell writes in the letter.
Odfjell’s chemical tanker “Bow Saga” was attacked by pirates outside Somalia in the beginning of August. Shots were fired but none of the crew was injured and the ship only suffered superficial damages, Odfjell’s web site reads.
In principle it is illegal to carry weapons on Norwegian vessels or to hire armed guards, but on January 1st 2011 a new law on security activity comes to force, which might change the state of the law, Dagbladet writes.
