Royal Navy honoured for counter-piracy operations

At a recent ceremony at the IMO headquarters, Commander Tim Henry Royal Navy, Commanding Officer of HMS Portland, received Certificates for Exceptional Services Rendered to Shipping and Mankind on behalf of Royal Navy ships undertaking counter-piracy operations.

IMO Secretary-General, Mr Efthimios E Mitropoulos, thanked the Commanding Officers and crews 'for their dedication, their courage, their commitment and for the sacrifices they make'.

Remarking that on behalf of his fellow Commanding Officers it was an honour to receive such recognition, Commander Henry added:

"Whilst everyone agrees that the final solution to the problem of piracy around Somalia is not at sea, the men and women of the Royal Navy along with our fellow navies from around the world continue to work together to help protect shipping in this and many other parts of the world."

Certificates were also presented to Commanding Officers (or their representatives) of ships from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America.

The presentations were made at the 26th session of the IMO Assembly at their headquarters in London and Paul Clark MP, Shipping Minister, welcomed delegates to the Assembly on behalf of the host government.

In the year covered by these awards (up to July 2009) the following ships were involved with counter-piracy operations:

RFA Argus
HMS Bulwark
HMS Chatham
HMS Cornwall
HMS Cumberland
HMS Edinburgh
HMS Lancaster
RFA Lyme Bay
HMS Montrose
HMS Northumberland
HMS Ocean
HMS Portland
HMS Richmond
HMS Somerset
RFA Wave Knight
RFA Wave Ruler