October 17, 2012 defpro.com
On October 12 in Djibouti, the Dutch Autonomous Vessel Protection Detachment started with the transfer of their duties to German colleagues. For the last 3 months, the team of marines accompanied food transports of the UN World Food Program to Somali harbours in order to protect them against pirates.
The Netherlands was the first country to offer this type of protection to United Nations food transport ships. A total of 3 AVPDs were deployed by the Netherlands, each serving 3 months. The commander of the EU counterpiracy mission Atalanta, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts of the Royal Navy, said: “I want to thank the team and the Netherlands for the very important contribution they made to Atalanta." Originally, the Defence organisation’s contribution was to amount to two terms of three months each, but as a result of a shortage of such teams, the EU asked the Netherlands to extend its contribution by another term of three months.
CAROLINE SCAN
The first team, consisting of marines, a doctor and a nurse, went on board the first ship, the Caroline Scan, on 21 January of this year. The famine in Somalia caused the number of food transports to this destitute country to triple. Posting military personnel on board cargo ships makes escort by navy ships superfluous, and is much more efficient.
ATALANTA & OCEAN SHIELD
AVPDs are part of the EU mission Atalanta which, like NATO’s Ocean Shield, is aimed at the protection of commercial shipping and counterpiracy. The Netherlands currently holds command of Ocean Shield.
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