The 105,000-tonne ship was carrying a load of crude oil from Sudan to Malaysia when it was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. 22 crew members are believed to have been taken hostage.

The techniques to rapidly locate and track this ship in open waters were developed and operationally delivered by the Copernicus MARISS (Maritime Security Service) network. COSMO-SkyMed was fully supporting these initial monitoring services that led to Copernicus operational services.

MARISS provided satellite-based maritime surveillance services. It used rapid integration of satellite based vessel detection with conventional information streams to extended surveillance information to a range of coast guards, police forces, navies, customs and excise agencies, border guards and intelligence services. The service was led by e-GEOS and finished in 2012.

The Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation, thanks to its fast update capability, was able to acquire the first images of the Caylyn Savina soon after the event. Data from the satellites made it possible to confirm the precise location of the ship.

The first image was acquired on February 9 2011 at 14:44 GMT+1, and the second on February 10 2011 at 03:17. The images revealed the tanker 182 nautical miles off the Somalia coast moving at about 14 knots. This information has been fed directly into the command and control system of the Italian Coast Guard who are responsible for tracking the vessel. The satellite images cover an area of 10,000 km², giving a unique overview of what happens around the ship.

PIRATED SHIP TRACKED BY SATELLITE

COSMO-SkyMed images © ASI, 2011 - processed and distributed by e-GEOS↑

Caylyn Savina9 February

Caylyn Savina10 February

LAND MARINE ATMOSPHERE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CLIMATE CHANGE SECURITY

ISSUE 03 / SEPTEMBER 2013

Facts

UN estimates annual cost of piracy in the Indian Ocean $ 5 to 7 billion

According to the International Maritime Bureau:

> 49 vessels were hijacked in 2010 and 1,016 crew members taken hostage

> In 2010 there were 53 attacks in the Gulf of Aden down from 117 in 2009

> This decrease is attributed to the deterrence work of international naval patrols operating in the area since 2008

Three main naval tasks forces operate in the area, including EU’s Operation Atalanta.

Satellite-based maritime surveillance has supported anti-piracy operations since 2008 including the EMSA-led 'Pirasat' satellite-based surveillance exercises in 2009 and 2010.

Policy Objectives

> EUNAVFOR (Operation Atalanta)

> Integrated Maritime Surveillance and Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) under DG MARE

> Eurosur and improved maritime border surveillance under DG HOME

www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/

A Copernicus-funded project supported the Italian Coast Guard in tracking the Italian oil tanker Caylyn Savina, pirated in the Indian Ocean on February 8th 2011, using satellite imagery from the Italian Space Agency operated COSMO-SkyMed constellation.

COSMO-SkyMed is a dual civil/military mission devoted to provide

products/services for environmental monitoring and surveillance

applications. The constellation consists of 4 medium-size satellites

already in orbit, each one equipped with a microwave high-resolution

X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operating in different modes

with up to 200 km swath width and ground geometrical resolution of 1

m. With all weather and day/night acquisition capabilities, high quality

images and a very short interval between the acceptance of the user

request acquisition and the release of the remote sensing product,

COSMO-Skymed constitutes a valuable asset for maritime surveillance

and security applications.

With the launch of Sentinel-1, comprising a similar C-band medium

to high resolution radar sensor, with 250 km swath width and ground

resolution of 5*20 m, revisit and coverage requirements will be fully

met in order to provide a robust and affordable operational service for

crises, disasters and emergencies response.

The Copernicus Space Component, coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA), is composed of dedicated satellites, specifically

developed by ESA (“Sentinel” families), expected ready for launch in 2014, and existing or planned missions at European, national and

international level, so called “Copernicus Contributing Missions”. The latter serve already users with optical and radar data products. One of

them is the Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation.

COSMO-SkyMed

sentinel-1

sentinel-2

sentinel-3

sentinel-4

sentinel-5

ISSUE 03 / SEPTEMBER 2013

Copernicus: the largest fleet of satellites in the world

www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/

sentinel-1

sentinel-2

sentinel-3

sentinel-4

sentinel-5sentinel-1

sentinel-2

sentinel-3

sentinel-4

sentinel-5

sentinel-1

sentinel-2

sentinel-3

sentinel-4

sentinel-5

sentinel-1

sentinel-2

sentinel-3

sentinel-4

sentinel-5

Sentinel-1Sentinel-3

Sentinel-2

Sentinel-5

Sentinel-4

MARISS and other Copernicus

pilot projects assessed the

suitability of satellite-based

technology for tracking

pirated ships on the high-seas.

The provision of Copernicus

services in support of anti-

piracy activities according

to European Union maritime

policies is being analysed.