Insights on Piracy
November 28th, 2011:
Information Fusion Centre (IFC) and Superyacht Singapore Association (SSA) host dinner with Vice-Admiral Vichot of the French Navy and enunciate about global piracy issues and its impact on Southeast Asia:
At the initiation of the Information Fusion Centre (IFC) (www.infofusioncentre.gov.sg), represented and animated by Jean-Michel Kergoat, Superyacht Singapore Association (SSA) (www.superyacht.sg) and the French Embassy in Singapore, a dinner was organized on November 28th with Jean-Louis Vichot, Vice-Admiral of the French Navy and Director for the French Navy Research Centre (Centre d’Etudes Superieures de la Marine), Ministry of Defense as guest of honor.
Left to Right: Olivier Benoist, Jean-Louis Vichot, Laurent Mayer
Held at the prestigious ONE°15 Marina Club (www.one15marina.com), the dinner gathered selected business people representing companies with business interests in the region and having to deal directly or indirectly with piracy issues in the Gulf of Eden and Indian Ocean or in a lesser extent to the threats of piracy in Southeast Asia.
Participants to the dinner were:
- Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Vichot (Ministry of Defense)
- Olivier Guyonvarch (French Embassy)
- Jean-Marie Lapasset (CGG Veritas)
- Christian Boireau (TOTAL)
- Laurent Mayer (THALES)
- Olivier Benoist, (Aptic SA, The Equator Club, SSA)
- Jean-Michel Kergoat (Information Fusion Centre)
- Jean-Jacques Lavigne (ONE15 Luxury Yachting, SSA).
The gathering was a wonderful opportunity to gather feedback from the maritime/marine industry about how piracy issues are being perceived and dealt with by the industrial/commercial sector, the military and the pleasure yachting sector. No doubt this is a vast subject that would require far many more bottles of perfectly good South-African wines to be dealt with seriously, but given the few hours taken for the gathering, it is quite possible to draw useful conclusions:
1) Piracy, perceived risks of piracy and threats of piracy in Southeast Asia (SEA) are nowhere near where there are in the Gulf of Eden and Indian Ocean.
2) There is no concrete reason that would indicate that the associated risks in SEA should increase in the reasonable future. On the contrary, the situation has dramatically improved over the years and it is reasonably healthy both for commercial shipping / sea-works and pleasure cruising.
3) Current piracy situation in the Gulf of Eden and Indian Ocean has a profoundly negative impact on business growth and cost. For pleasure craft (yachts and Superyachts), far less of them are making their way to Southeast Asia than they should. Many want to cruise over and are put off by either the associated risks cruising the piracy zones or by the costs of safeguarding the vessels (security services, transportation services, insurances). For example, Superyacht traffic through Singapore increased five-fold over the last 5 years, while there is a sentiment that if not for piracy issues in the Middle-East, that number could be 3 or 4 times superior.
For oil exploration, research and transportation and for the commercial shipping sector at large, if traffic reduction is more a result of global economic downturn, it is also obvious that operation costs have increased greatly. Such costs increase has a direct negative impact on global economic growth. Many new projects have to be postponed or abandoned altogether as associated risks are perceived as beyond the corporate policies of certain organizations.
4) The private commercial sector has, even for very large companies with huge business interests related to marine exploitation relatively low understanding of action to take and forms of assistance they can seek from the French Navy. Activation protocols between private sector, the French Embassy and the Navy are unclear as well.
5) Since its official start of operation, the IFC has proved to be an extremely powerful tool for companies like Total or CGG Veritas. Total, represented by Mr. Boireau, was particularly grateful and satisfied with the level of information and service rendered by the IFC and was clearly excited with the level of cooperation exercised by the national navies directly involved (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, French, US, New Zealand …).
6) For pleasure yachts cruising or planning to cruise in Southeast Asia, and since the IFC is particularly well equipped to track commercial vessels, a very simple and efficient way to get on the IFC’s radar is to register the yacht on IFC website or to contact Jean-Michel Kergoat directly by email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) to inform him of the vessel specifications, people on board and intended destinations. As such the Superyacht Singapore Association (SSA), Singapore Boating Industry Association (SBIA), Indonesia Superyacht Association (ISA) and Asia Pacific Superyacht Association (APSA) invite all boaters from the region and cruising the region to register with the IFC or to contact Mr. Kergoat directly. Alternatively, boaters/yachters can go through their relevant or representative association.
7) Economic piracy: It was agreed that though the situation in the Middle-East and of Somalia could be largely politically motivated, piracy in most instances has economic roots. Mr. Olivier Benoist, a yacht builder and developer in Indonesia did explain that “yes, there were pirates in Indonesia” but he provided them with a job and a future some years back and “they have no reason to go back to piracy and risk their lives”. Besides, they now offer “excellent security”.
8) Vice-Admiral Vichot was vehement to confirm the French Navy’s long term commitment to security in the region, its authority and power in protection and intervention in the region and very importantly, its real interest in preserving and developing relationships with commercial entities such as the ones represented during the evening.
Indeed, a very useful and agreeable evening altogether.
About IFC: Built to improve collective situational awareness among the international maritime community, the IFC houses various information sharing and sense-making systems such as the Regional Maritime Information Exchange (ReMIX) and the Malacca Straits Patrols Information System (MSP-IS).
Both systems are Internet portals which incorporate shipping databases and sense-making tools to facilitate info-sharing on a real-time basis among member nations of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) and the Malacca Straits Patrols (MSP) respectively.
Apart from bringing these different systems together under the same roof, the IFC also works closely with other established information-sharing centres, such as the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC).
By tapping into this wide variety of available sources, the IFC draws together the information gathered to produce and disseminate a synthesized overview of the sea situation in the region. This, in turn, translates into a clearer maritime picture for participating navies and agencies, enabling early detection and identification of potential threats.
About SSA: Set up in 2007 by a representative superyacht industry group to promote Singapore as a Superyacht destination and a hub to create economic value for Singapore in the superyacht industry.
SSA works closely with the relevant government agencies to rally for stronger all-round support for the growth & development of the superyacht industry in the region. It also champions the development of maritime regulations and infrastructure to better support superyacht cruising in Asia with Singapore as a hub.
Our Members are substantially or significantly involved in providing facilities, products and/or services to superyachts. Bespoke design, yacht consultancy, project management, purveyor of fine foods, yacht agents and online media are some of the profile of our illustrious members.
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