On the morning of April 3, in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, an anti-piracy exercise took place which involved the "Grande Dakar" motor ship, of the Grimaldi Group, the Italian Shipowners Confederation, the Operations Center of the Navy, the Central Operative of the General Command of the Corps of the Port Authority - Coast Guard and the frigate "Luigi Rizzo".
The Gulf of Guinea is an area particularly relevant for our country, in consideration of the huge national interests that persist in the region and which need to benefit from the free use of the sea in order to develop. Currently, there are as many as 25 Italian flag merchant ships in the area, which ensure national maritime trade and support the extraction of oil and gas in the region, where ENI is among the main operating companies.
In an extremely realistic scenario, an attempt by a group of pirates to board the ship "Grande Dakar" was simulated off the coast of Ghana.
The exercise began with the activation of the security alarm system (SSAS - Ship Security Alert System) by the merchant ship, which forwarded the expected signal to the National Maritime Rescue Coordination Center - MRCC ), at the General Command of the Port Authorities. Received the alarm, in coordination with the shipowner and with CONFITARMA, MRCC immediately relayed it to the Navy Operations Center, which was thus able to activate the intervention of the frigate "Luigi Rizzo" and notify the Marines of the partner and Allied countries present in the area, thus initiating the necessary cooperation actions for event management.
Immediately afterwards, by means of satellite monitoring systems, the Coast Guard Center identified all the merchant ships present in the area of the pirate attack, thus proceeding to alert the respective national shipping companies of the potential danger, as well as the local Coast Guards, to increase the level of the safety frame in the area.
In the meantime, on board the "Grand Dakar", the commander started the procedures foreseen by the security plan, initially arranging the crew's hospitalization inside the Citadel on board, while he and the helmsman remained on the bridge to ensure the government. unit.
After the simulation of the pirate boarding, the commander and the helmsman, before stopping the machines, met the rest of the crew in the Citadel from where, in addition to the control of the merchant ship, communications were ensured, and realistically tested, with the Navy ship.
The "Luigi Rizzo" frigate - for days engaged in the Gulf of Guinea area in a presence and surveillance operation to contribute to the freedom of navigation, safety and protection of merchant ships along the main maritime communication lines (Sea Lines Of Communication SLOC) - as it would happen in reality, as soon as it received the operational instructions from the Command in Chief of the Naval Squad, it quickly closed the distances and, in view of the "Great Dakar", ordered the take-off of its helicopter and put it to sea their fast dinghies with the security team made up of the Fusiliers of the Marina San Marco Brigade for the subsequent boarding to protect the ship.
The exercise confirmed the consolidated synergy achieved between the Command in Chief of the Naval Squad, the Coast Guard, CONFITARMA and an important Italian shipowning company such as the Grimaldi Group, for an effective contrast to piracy attacks.
In particular, the performance of the commander and crew of the "Grand Dakar" is underlined: professionalism and competence expressed in this event are the result of the huge investments made by the Italian armament in terms of crew training in order to be ready to face extreme situations .
The objective of the exercise was, in fact, to test communication and coordination procedures in the event of an attack by pirates between the Operations Center of the Navy, that of the Coast Guard, CONFITARMA and the shipping companies involved, as well as to verify the internal security plans implemented by the merchant unit involved and the methods of intervention with a military unit to protect an attacked merchant.
The exercise also confirmed the need for a constant exchange of information and synergistic collaboration between the shipping industry and the institutions, which includes, in addition to the regular activities carried out by the National Maritime Authority towards national shipping, the important role of "advisory" carried out by the Navy itself through a continuous and constant sharing of information useful for the safety of navigation; the latter activity conducted by the cell Naval Cooperation and Giuidance for Shipping (NCAGS) - operating in Italy at the Naval Squad Head Command - in support of the same Company Security Officers (CSO) of national companies operating in the area.
