New Documentary on Modern Piracy Examines Suspected Maritime Industry Cover-up

February 11, 2008 -- Green Ray Films has announced the release of Porampo: Pirates of the Malacca Straits, a documentary exposing the epidemic of 21st century piracy.

The high-def documentary, filmed on location in Southeast Asia, focuses on the Malacca Straits, one of the world’s busiest waterways, where 60-thousand ships pass every year. It’s also one of the most dangerous areas for sailors to transit and is a major “hotspot” of pirate activity. Crewmembers are virtually defenseless against heavily armed pirates who board with grappling hooks from fast boats. These thugs seek a bounty from the ship’s safe, often victimizing crews at risk of being wounded, murdered or set adrift.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, in 2003 there were 445 reported pirate attacks worldwide, with 21 sailors killed and 71 missing. However, the actual number of crimes is likely much higher due to an alleged maritime industry-wide cover-up. It’s believed that less than 10% of piracy is reported, as shipping companies are desperate to avoid bad publicity and higher insurance premiums.

For Michael Rawlins, a merchant marine officer and maritime analyst who directed and produced Porampo, it was a personal calling.  “At sea we would get these pyreps-piracy reports-everyday from the Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur,” says Rawlins. “Story after story of crew-members robbed, beaten and killed in the areas we went to.  And they’re expected to defend themselves with what, a charged fire hose versus an AK-47? So I said, ‘someone needs to look into this.’ Might as well be me.”

Interview Michael Rawlins as he can explain:

How did he film an actual pirate raid?

Why does the public still believe that piracy died with the eye patch and peg leg?

Why do shipping companies leave their sailors defenseless?

Why will companies stage a pirate murder to look like a suicide to avoid paying life insurance?

Why are captains and sailors afraid to talk?

How does law enforcement moonlight as pirates?

How are pirates able to hijack a supertanker?

How could the next 9-11 come from the high seas?

In this production, Rawlins, along with Bob Duke, travels throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia seeking to contact sources that will lead them to a gang of porampo, the Indonesian word for pirate.  Along the way they interview police, fishing villagers and ship’s crews. An ex-porampo shows his battle scars from a raid attempt. Everything builds to the climax: an actual pirate raid attempt filmed at night in infrared light.

Canamedia Productions of Toronto is developing Pirate Hunters, a TV series based upon Porampo. For more information on the documentary and the series, visit the website www.porampo.com .

To set up an interview:

Contact:
Michael Rawlins
Green Ray Films  www.porampo.com
702-217-1887   
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