Jane’s Information Group, the most respected international source for information on the subjects of defence, geopolitics, transport and police, has this month again highlighted the risk of an LNG tanker being deliberately targeted by terrorists. The two scenarios advanced are a) hijacking and taking into a port for detonation and b) ramming while in port with a small boat laden with explosives. The former allows for the greater possibility of success of loss of containment since terrorists would be able to accurately position their explosives. However, monitoring of LNG vessels movements would hopefully ensure that any tanker set on such a course would be quickly identified by coastguards and destroyed while still at sea. The latter is conceivably easier to achieve, but the chances of causing a rupture is less easy to predict. Nevertheless, a damaged LNG tanker sitting on the bed of a port would probably would warrant a major response and cause enduring disruption.Opinions as to the feasibility of the success of such an attack differ, and predictions of 1 kiloton-equivalent explosions are quickly dismissed by oil industry experts. The US Foreign Policy Research Institute, however, draws attention to a 2004 Sandia Laboratories report which estimated that an intentional attack on an LNG tanker, while not causing an immediate explosion, would result in “a vapor cloud of explosive gas spread over a radius of almost 2 miles from the ship. Any source of ignition within that vapor cloud would instantly cause an explosion of devastating proportion and horrific effect,” a view which is supported by James Fay, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This, and other maritime security issues, together with measures to secure maritime assets against such threats, will be addressed during the forthcoming Maritime Security Management Course, which takes place 13 – 17 August. Contact Janet for details.
To read the contents of the FPRI report click on the following link:
http://www.fpri.org/enotes/20050321.americawar.husickgale.seaborneterroristattack.html
