A new shipping industry career has opened with Danish liner shipping giant Maersk looking for an anti-piracy manager.

The position is believed to be a shipping industry first although anti-piracy managers are commonplace in the software industry dogged by criminality of a less violent kind.

Maersk Line is looking to recruit its own intelligence officer rather than a Rambo.
Maersk Line says the ideal candidate will have a background in defence intelligence or similar work so it looks as if it is after a desk analyst rather than a special forces Rambo to play a more active role in fending off pirate attacks on the more than 500 vessel fleet.

AP Moller also sticks to a policy of not having armed guards on its vessels except where government mandated.

A number of AP Moller vessels have come under attack from Somali pirates. Most famously the 1,098-teu Maersk Alabama (built 1998) but already this year the 109,800-dwt products carrier Maersk Pelican (built 2008) has been the subject of an unsuccessful hijacking attempt.

The new anti-piracy position is a Maersk Line appointment so other parts of the AP Moller shipping empire such as the tankers, gas carriers, salvage tugs and offshore support vessels are on their own. In Maersk's tanker operation for example piracy issues are handled by a company security officer supported by marine standards superintendents.

The Copenhagen based job is in the company’s operations and deployment department with the successful candidate responsible for managing anti-piracy efforts over the group’s entire containership fleet.

“With a fleet of our size, around 500 container vessels including those on time charter, piracy is a very significant issue that requires our constant attention with regards to many different aspects, being security onboard, deployment of vessels, communication with our crews and other stakeholders. Due to the very large operations we have decided that we want to have a person, who is fulltime looking after our interests, when it comes to our ongoing dialogue on piracy with key external stakeholders such as the authorities, naval forces and ship owners, said Maersk Line operations and deployment chief, Erik Rabjerg Nielsen.

“The AP Moller - Maersk group maintains its policy of not arming crews or allowing armed guards on board its vessels. Weapons onboard could lead to a dangerous escalation and raise a number of multi-jurisdictional legal issues. However, in certain instances when force protection is government mandated, the group will work with and comply with government instructions,” added Nielsen.

Read the Maersk Line advert on the TradeWinds Jobs website.

Duties of the anti-piracy manager will include liaising with top management, ship masters, as well as the military, politicians and lawyers and helping develop pirate response and countermeasures.

There will also be co-ordination with outside parties as Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM have an information sharing agreement to try to combat pirate attacks on their containerships.

The job would particularly suit a hungry individual as the successful candidate will benefit from an “abundant breakfast and lunch scheme” and the anti-piracy chief may not be a he as maternity leave is also on offer.