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Short-Term Tactical Steps May Have Little Impact in Fight against Piracy

John Kimball spoke with Shipping Digest online regarding the piracy on the coast of Somalia.  No one is taking the threats lightly, and many vessels are facing sky rocketing insurance and security costs.

“It is a stubborn enough problem,” according to Mr. Kimball.   Short-term tactical steps may have only a little impact.

“We need to change the whole complexion of Somalia.  Success breeds success among the pirates; there were 30 or 40 boats chasing one ship. That’s a lot of pirates,”  said Mr. Kimball.

“The tactical problems will remain insoluble and from a strategic standpoint, the political situation is so bad, who knows where it will lead,”  he continued.  “Intervention, particularly by the U.S., is not going to be welcomed and any intervention will receive a very hostile reception.”

According to Mr. Kimball and others, commercial vessels now are following these tactics to avoid pirate boardings:

  • Outrun them.  Most container ships are fast and have a high leeboard; making it difficult for pirates to catch and board them.  Maersk policies, for example, allow the fast, high freeboard vessels to continue to navigate these routes.
  • Reroute.  Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk is routing some of its 50 oil tankers around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Suez, and Intertanko said many other tanker firms were doing the same.
  • Repel attackers.  Many ship lines have purchased Long Range Acoustical Devices for $20,000 to $30,000 apiece to deter pirates using intense, directed sound.  Others hire armed professionals.  Still others make use of low-tech fire-hoses.
  • Call for help and hole-up.  One Chinese crew simply locked itself securely within the ship’s interior and called for help.  Military vessels arrived before the pirates could breach the interior walls of the ship.
  • Use escort services.  Ships from several nations, including the U.S. and India, are patrolling the seas off Somalia and chartered vessels from private military companies such as Background also are believed to be under hire as escorts.

On the legal and insurance side, Mr. Kimball believes there is only a slight chance that “general average” clauses in shipping contracts might be invoked to cover ransoms.  Under general average, all parties in a voyage, including the ship owner, the cargo owner, and the carrier, all share the cost of incidents at sea, such as a fire on the vessel or damage during a heavy storm.

“A case could be made for general averages,”  he said.  “I don’t want to speculate on the chances of it occurring widely, though it may be. Most people would view this dubiously.”

Ransoms themselves, according to Mr. Kimball, are and always have been part of life at sea.  “Pirates are definitely not the same as terrorists, where ransoms are discouraged by law in many countries,”  he said.

“Ransoms are extra-legal, but you won’t go to jail for paying one,”  he continued.  “Would changing the rules hurt or help the situation?  It’s a good question.  People pay the ransom because they see some value gained and are able to recover cargoes.”

Negotiations in ransom matters are very secret.  Mr. Kimball stated that,  “It is understood that the Ukraine government is conducting the negotiations on the freighter carrying military equipment.”

“Danger at Sea:  Piracy Threat Likely to Keep Growing Despite Greater International Response,”  by Robert R. Frump, appeared in Shipping Digest online on January 12, 2009.