Why those exposed to hijacking should be trained

Hijacking is a global problem. While plane hijacking is no longer common, hijacking at sea remains a threat. Depending on the world's response, socio-economic conditions and political developments, the frequency and mode of hijacking operations keep changing. While piracy off the coast of Somalia declined dramatically due to naval deployments and armed guards on commercial vessels, the threat in Nigerian waters remains, and a number of shipping routes globally carry varying degrees of risk.

The purpose of hijacking varies. Somali pirates would normally hold the ship and crew to extort ransom, but might also seize smaller vessels like fishing dhows for their operations. In Nigeria, it is more common to hold the ship and crew as long as it takes to unload the cargo, while in some cases crew members are abducted and taken ashore for extortion. If crew or passengers are abducted, we are dealing with both hijacking and kidnapping, and all the challenges presented under Kidnapping apply.

Leadership through the four phases

An important leadership challenge in captivity is to ensure unity and solidarity among crew members, who may have very different backgrounds and not know each other well. Hijackers will often try to split the crew, and some hijacking experiences include back-stabbing and conflicts that have cost the victims dearly (see an example on the Kidnapping page).

To ensure the best possible treatment and reduce the risk of violence, senior officers should command essential psychological tools. These may also be explained to crew members — but only if unity is strong enough to ensure there will be no "leakages" to the kidnappers.