Smuggling is a very widespread form of crime at sea. In can be illegal weapons, narcotics or humans who are hidden on board other ways innocent looking merchant vessels. One of the tasks for the international naval force, Task Force 150, which the Danish warship ABSALON currently is a part of, is exactly to expose and fight smuggling. 

To find out whether a merchant vessel has smuggler goods on board it can be necessary to send a boarding team to the ship. The team is usually transferred to the ship by rubber dinghy and enters the ship by climbing up the pilot ladder. In advance of the boarding itself the ship is contacted by radio to get permission to come aboard and to get information about the ship, the crew and the cargo.

Today ABSALON’s sister ship ESBERN SNARE performed a boarding of a suspicious ship. The operation was however only a training activity under DANEX 08 and the ship that was boarded was the environmental protection vessel GUNNAR SEIDENFADEN. Training of this type is however very important for the crew of ESBERN SNARE since they will relieve ABSALON’s crew in Task Force 150 later this year.