Vi har til orientering modtaget følgende meddelelse som er udsendt til samtlige tankskibe, vedrørende brug af bevæbnede civile vagter på Mærsk' tankskibe:

Dear Captain,

Enhanced Security measures

I wish to inform you that we have decided to revise our view on deployment of armed guards, when transiting the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. This follows extensive risk assessments and evaluations including the legal implication of use of armed guards. All vessels will be issued with extensive guidance and procedures.

Since 2008 we have seen an increasing number of ship owners opting to deploy armed guards on board their vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden and the entire north western part of the Indian Ocean.

The pirates will continue to target their efforts of attacks towards vessels with low freeboard and speed; such as tankers.

The Group and business units have carefully monitored the situation, and the Group's procedures have regularly been updated to ensure adequate measures in place to protect crews.

The vigilance of our crews in combination with our policies and procedures has successfully prevented pirates from successfully hijacking of our vessels.

In light of the situation described above, we recognise the need to deploy armed guards from time to time; to ensure adequate protection of crews on board our tanker vessels.

The decision to deploy armed guards will be based on an individual thorough risk assessment. Armed guards will only be deployed when we deem that no alternatives can provide sufficient security for our crews.

This is not a blanket approval for the use of armed guards; we expect this will apply mainly to tankers vessels.

Armed guards on merchant ships will not make the problem disappear. We continue to insist that this is not a problem the Group or the shipping industry can solve, it must be solved by the international community and the authorities.

Risk assessment will be carried out for the individual vessel transit to determine if armed guards should be deployed on the vessel, based on freeboard, speed, routing etc.

A rigorous process is in place for the selection of duly trained, skilled and competent armed guards, and we have appointed an expert third party security company to do vetting of the selected armed guards providers. All arrangements are thoroughly scrutinized and Rules of Force to be applied are carefully evaluated in each case.

The selective use of armed guards will not be replacing but supplementing the measures already undertaken.

The diligence of our officers and crews, strengthened by the guidance and monitoring from shore has ensured that in spite of a number of attacks we have avoided high jacking.

Selective deployment of armed guards will further improve the protection of our employees from this unfortunate situation.

This will take immediate effect and the first armed guards are joining two Danish flagged vessels in the coming days.

In the enclosed questions and answers we hope to address most of your concerns and questions but if you have additional questions or comments please feel free to direct them to Eric Von Livonius, head of Maersk Tankers Crewing who will compile and provide answers accordingly.

Yours faithfully,

For A.P. Moller Maersk A/S
As agents to Owners

Steffen Jacobsen
Chief Technical Officer
Vice President
Maersk Tankers