Ship owners call for Somali pirate blockade

Tanker owners from around the world today called for a anti-pirate military blockade along the coast of Somalia.

Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action – including air support – was necessary to battle rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

Around 20 tankers sail through the sea lane daily but many owners are considering a massive detour around southern Africa to avoid pirates, which will delay delivery and push cost up by 30%, he said.

The association, whose members own 2,900 tankers, three-quarters of the world’s fleet, opposes attempts to arm merchant ships because it might escalate the violence and put crew members at risk.

“The other option is perhaps putting a blockade around Somalia and introducing the idea of intercepting vessels leaving Somalia rather than to try to protect the whole of the Gulf of Aden,” said Mr Swift.

A blockade along Somalia’s 2,400-mile-long coastline “is not easy but some intervention there may be effective. This is where co-ordination (among naval warships) is important,” he said.

At present, warships patrol a vast international maritime corridor, escorting some merchant ships and responding to distress calls in the area.

Nato’s supreme allied commander US General John Craddock said today that the alliance’s mandate is solely to escort World Food Programme ships to Somalia and to conduct anti-piracy

patrols.

Asked what he thought of a Russian proposal to jointly attack the pirate strongholds, he said: “That’s far beyond what I’ve been tasked to do.”

Nato has four warships on duty off the coast of Somalia, an impoverished nation caught up in an Islamic insurgency that has had no functioning government since 1991. The US 5th Fleet based in Bahrain also contributes to policing the coast, along with frigates from Russia, India, Malaysia and Denmark.

But the navies say it is virtually impossible to patrol the vast sea around the gulf.

Somali pirates have become increasingly daring, seizing eight vessels in the past two weeks, including a huge Saudi supertanker loaded with crude oil.

There have been 95 pirate attacks so far this year in Somali waters, with 39 ships hijacked. Fifteen ships with nearly 300 crew are still in the hands the pirates, who dock the hijacked vessels near the eastern and southern coast as they negotiate for ransom.

“Any action to prevent the pirates from heading out to sea is welcome,” said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur. He said it was up to the international community to decide how they can deploy their forces for the blockade.

The Baltic and International Maritime Council, the world’s largest private shipping organisation, echoed calls for greater military action.

“Despite increased patrols by coalition forces, piracy attacks continue. We hope a system ... will be put in place to co-ordinate the coalition forces,” it said. “It’s clear from recent events ... that more needs to be done.”