Ship Owners Around the World Gang Up Against Pirates off Somalia

Ship owners around the world are hiring private security firms to accompany their fleets around the Horn of Africa following the dramatic increase in piracy in the region, officials announced here Monday.

So far this year, 97 ships have been attacked and 40 hijacked, including the seizure of a Saudi super tanker Sirius Star loaded with US$100 million worth of crude oil earlier this month, by pirates demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms.

Warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia, the US and NATO are currently patrolling the vast maritime corridor, escorting some merchant ships and responding to distress calls.

Though Somali pirates were reported to have attacked merchant ships a few years ago, world ship owners are worried their activities have significantly increased in recent months.

This has fuelled a boom in business for maritime security firms, but also led to an increase in piracy insurance costs.

Insurance policies have risen from US$3,000 for a whole year to as much as US$60,000 for a single journey through the Gulf of Aden, with the teams keeping a careful watch for pirate activity and are on hand to help repel any would-be attackers.

Nick Davis, the chief executive of the UK-based Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions, said they have 10 teams on board ships in the region.

One of our teams recently repelled an attack on a 150-metre chemical tanker using evasive ship manoeuvres, such as fast acceleration and weaving, plus high-powered water cannons, he said.

The former British army soldier, said: "As the pirates got to within 500m, they realised there was a team on board and so they didn’t bother coming any closer.

However, some of the world’s tanker owners admitted that: “private measures are not enough”, as governments need to provide military support in dangerous waters.

There are also fears among the experts, with regard to fixing the failed state system in Somalia.

This could take years; in the interim, it is likely that private security firms will continue to flourish in dangerous waters, they noted.

Nevertheless, experts agree that the ultimate solution to the piracy problem lies on the ground in Somalia where people are starving, jobs are non-existent and there is no rule of law (source: apanews.net).