Abstract

IMO defines Maritime Piracy as “any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act  of depredation committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship and directed  on the high seas against another ship or against persons or property on board “Maritime Piracy was in existence throughout history. Mediterranean Sea, North Sea and Atlantic were the theatres of piracy till 1875. Piracy started in China Sea during the 19^th century. Modern maritime time piracy became a menace to shipping by 2005. Piracy prone areas today are South China Sea, Western Arabian Sea and West African Seas. With 80% piracy affects everyone’s pocket today. International Maritime Organisation is trying to solve the problem of piracy with little success. Pirates joined hands with terrorists and this complicate the issue. All the major Navies are present in East African coast, fighting pirates. Best Management Practices and a host of equipment are available now to fight piracy. Singapore being the best port in the world is worried about the increasing rate of piracy in South East Asia during 2014. Maritime piracy is a despicable act which is to be condemned and controlled.

About the Speaker

Captain KA.Pillai hold qualifications such as Master FG, Graduate in Professional Shipping, MBA, ISO 9000, ISO 14000, International Certified Crime Prevention Professional. He started his career in the Indian Navy as an Executive officer in 1968. He participated in 1971 war as commanding officer of INS ATUL. He held the post of criminal investigation officer, Court Marshall Officer and prosecutor for Navy. Later, he joined Cochin University, department of ship technology as Lecturer and held the post of  Head of the Department. He was awarded NORAD fellowship which is sponsored by UNESCO and had research experience in Norwegian Shipping Academy. He served Singapore polytechnic Nautical Studies department as a lecturer and trained many Masters and Chief Engineers. He got two awards from Singapore Polytechnic for outstanding contribution as a lecturer. He writes articles in various papers and recently appeared in CNBC television. He is a life member of Singapore Red Cross and works for many social service organisations in Singapore. Currently he is a contract teacher for DNVGL, teaching International Ships and Port Security code. He got 46 years of experience in shipping and allied industry. He believes that maritime piracy can be controlled effectively with the cooperation of all stake holders.