The container ship MSC Marta and the Italian Navy Offshore Patrol Vassel Borsini were the protagonists on June 13 of an anti-piracy exercise about 100 miles off Monrovia (Liberia); It was the simulation of an attack and the consequent reaction actions of the Italian military ship to restore security conditions.
The merchant unit has launched the alarm, relating to the attempt to take control of the MSC Marta by a group of pirates, to the Multidomain Operations Center of the Navy located in Santa Rosa – Rome at the Command in Chief of the Naval Squad (CINCNAV); at that point the Borsini ship, employed nearby for the Gabinia operation, closed the distance with the container ship and sent on board, by helicopter, a team of specialists from the San Marco Marine Brigade who secured the merchant ship by taking control of it. The action carried out with extreme realism would have made it possible to thwart the attack of the pirates, allowing, after the reclamation, the resumption of normal commercial operations.
The exercise is part of the activities periodically conducted by the Navy in support of shipping companies and aimed at maritime safety. In this case the activity was carried out in collaboration between the Navy, the MSC and Assarmatori.
The Italian Navy is in fact at the forefront of the international scenario to ensure maritime safety and safeguard the freedom of navigation along the vital lines of communication on the sea, especially in contexts particularly at risk, such as the Gulf of Guinea.
“This type of exercises is certainly not new, the collaboration relationship between CINCNAV (Command in Chief of the Naval Squad based in Rome), Assarmatori and the shipping companies operating in the area is now really at a high level – is the comment of the Shipowning Association – These operations are of great importance for the protection of the crews of Italian ships and cargo on routes at risk.
Fundamental in these activities is the training of crews and the role played by the Italian Navy, precious and irreplaceable in protecting human lives above all. The Gulf of Guinea is one of the areas considered ‘hottest’ from this point of view, but also thanks to this type of activity and the constant presence and surveillance of these waters the number of attacks in the last period has decreased”.
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