Modern-day piracy attacks bear no resemblance to the romanticized scenes depicted in Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean, of wooden-legged, rum-sipping, swashbuckling buccaneers. 

Today’s piracy stories are not fantasy, but a harsh and sometimes brutal reality for seafarers. Armed pirates often hijack ships and hold their crew members for ransom, which represent a significant risk to lives and freight. For instance, perpetrators boarded vessels in all but eight of the recorded attacks. Among these, 13 crew were kidnapped, according to the report.

Ensuring a ship has reliable anti-piracy communications is essential to safety at sea for mariners, and satellite communications (SATCOM) plays a critical role.

Here’s Why

When a ship enters a High-Risk Area (HRA), the crew undertakes procedures recommended by the International Maritime Organization to both prepare themselves and the vessel for the possibility of piracy incidents. One such method is a secured room, commonly known as a Citadel, that allows the crew to remain safe in the event of boarding. Although no two piracy attacks are the same, a common tactic is to destroy the vessel’s communications antennas, rendering the crew unable to communicate or pass information to coastal authorities. During an attack, the crew should remain isolated in the safe room, with a single voice line that vessel owners and coastal authorities rely on for enacting search-and-rescue plans.

The Next-Generation Ship Citadel

Vessels operate in many diverse areas around the world, which may fall outside the satellite coverage of many geostationary or even Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) networks. Our network provides coverage across all the world’s oceans, meaning a vessel can stay connected wherever it may operate.

Harnessing the Power of Our Network for Anti-Piracy

Our network also operates on L-band frequencies, which are more resilient to interference by inclement weather or sea conditions. Iridium terminals connect to small, lightweight antennas, which allows easy deployment and more discreet placement onto any vessel.

We have a long history in anti-piracy, with thousands of deployed citadel solutions produced by Iridium’s partners that have helped protect the lives of countless seafarers.

Iridium Certus^® 100 boosts anti-piracy technology with multiple voice lines and IP-based, midband data technology that dramatically expands the capabilities of a vessel’s citadel communications system.

Iridium Connected^™ terminals such as the Blue Sky Network SkyLink Citadel and the Lars Thrane LT-4100 terminal–both with two voice lines, midband data and tracking capabilities–provide crews with a new situational awareness dynamic during pirate attacks. Features such as automatic vessel position tracking, video streaming through onboard security cameras, and WhatsApp messaging between crew and authorities can dramatically improve the situation and lead to a swifter resolution. Additionally, the antennas for these solutions can be situated up to 500m away from the terminals located in the citadel*.

As international piracy incidents continue to increase, it’s critical that vessels and more importantly their crews who operate in high-risk areas (HRA) must have access to dependable citadel communications when they need it most. After all, their lives may depend on it. Iridium Certus Citadel is the technological leap to keep a vessel’s citadel connected.

*LT-4100 Only