Heavily armed German Naval Protection Forces ("Marines") - regularly stationed at  the "Eckernförde Naval Base", some 20 miles north of Kiel NATO naval base at Kiel Fjord and Kiel Canal,- will be assigned as "Autonomous Vessel Protection Team" aboard the freighter "Caroline Scan", sailing under the flag of Antigua - shipowner is the German Hermann Buss of Leer, Lower Saxony - Germany.

According to today's "Kieler Nachrichten-online" service, 15 German marines are replacing a respective Dutch team in Djibouti who has been protecting the vessel since June. The freighter has been sailing on humanitarian contracts with the "World Food Programme".

Since spring this year, the vessel has shipped about 10.000 metric tons of food to Somali locations, such as  Mogadishu, Bossaso and Berbera.