Security: High-tech systems do battle on the high seas
Pirates may no longer fly the Jolly Roger and board their victims' boats with cutlasses and flintlock pistols, but there are still plenty of them about. These days, though, their methods are high-tech and sophisticated.
The threat to superyachts now is as likely to come from terrorists as it is from straightforward waterborne thieves, though there remain some unpleasant surprises lurking in parts of the yacht-going globe.
Now the attackers are likely to arrive out of nowhere on board super-fast RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) with the aim of stealing anything precious on board, or indeed capturing the yacht itself. Small wonder, perhaps, that a number of yachts sailing through areas such as the Red Sea or around the Horn of Africa now take armed security staff as part of the crew.
So seriously are threats of this type taken that some owners are asking for specially designed, secure, safe rooms to be built into yachts, according to Dickie Bannenberg, managing director of London-based Bannenberg Design, which has a number of superyacht projects on its books including, intriguingly, a top-secret commission for an 85-metre Lurssen craft for an unnamed European individual.
But many of the security hazards are to be found when yachts are moored in marinas, or even in boatyards undergoing routine maintenance. Works of art, in particular, seem to be prime targets, with Picassos among the favourites for thieves. Two have been stolen off two yachts in recent times. Al Sheik Modhassan, the billionaire, lost the abstract oil canvas painted by Pablo Picasso in 1938 known as "Dora Maar", said to be worth around £4m (.33m), when it was stolen from the yacht Coral Island in Antibes, in 1999. A second Picasso, which was a partial draft of Picasso's painting "Les Trois Danseuses", was stolen from the 147-foot Tajin while the yacht was undergoing a refit in a boatyard on the Miami River.
Other artwork thieves have recently targeted yachts berthed in marinas in the south of France. One involved a small 10-inch pencil drawing worth six figures; another a pair of duelling pistols also worth a similar sum.
The maritime industries are fighting back, though. The International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, which came into effect in 2004 after being fast-tracked following the 9/11 attacks in the US, was hailed as a comprehensive new regime for all those who go to sea. The code set out to improve security in the maritime sector, including the use of special security plans, officers, and equipment aboard large yachts and all ships in excess of 500 tonnes.
The code aimed to improve port security plans, monitoring and controlling access and the activities of people onboard and within port facilities, but it has so far been difficult to judge its success.
Robberies on yachts probably are rarer than before, but that could be due to the perception that there is more heavy security on board large yachts. And to some extent, this is true. Most do employ permanent crews and many have CCTV systems fitted.
However, many high-profile CCTV systems do not have recording facilities and, therefore, provide no evidence of incidents after they occur. In a bid to highlight security shortcomings, Dean La-Vey of an organisation called Secure Yacht Ltd. regularly tests yachts' security systems for owners by boarding unnoticed - as yet they have never been detected. A member of his team often places printed red cards inside the owner's areas or the engine room to let the crew know someone uninvited has been on board. On one yacht, in Turkey, they even took the owner's 9mm pistol from his suite, returning it to him at his home the next day.
The company supplies on-board security systems, including sensors attached to paintings and sculptures connected to the yacht's alarm system and independent micro-sounders.
New products on the market include GSM phone appliances that alert designated people when artwork is moved. The software communicates with special receivers, tags and hard-wired sensors. Pressure-sensing, magnetic switches, panic alarm key fobs and other sensors all form part of the system. On the yacht's bridge, software displays alarm graphics of art objects, people and their location. The software can then trigger any number of devices such as the CCTV cameras, audio-visual alarms, alphanumeric pagers or GSM.
Drum Cussac, a specialist yacht security company, provides risk-assessment analysis of yachts and the artwork they carry, analysing the extra risk of carrying valuable art, and recommends ways of reducing risk of theft or damage using additional or improved security.
Among other measures, the company monitors valuable art by using discreet security systems, employing miniature electronic devices fixed to frames or display cases, to allow remote satellite tracking if they are removed.
Many yacht operators take the view that storing valuable works either ashore in secure warehouses or aboard the yacht inside a safe are highly effective ways of protecting them when owners are not aboard. Victor Caminada, of yacht builder Amels, believes that one of the strengths of a custom build is that it is possible to incorporate climatised and hidden areas especially for this purpose during the early stages of design. Copies of the artwork are then displayed so no blank spaces show on bulkheads.
It was all so much more simple when the only threat was Long John Silver and his motley crew.
By Jeff Mills
Monday Sep 22 2008 07:20