Piracy – orchestrating the response” is to be the International Maritime Organisation’s theme for 2011, and there will be plenty in the maritime industry who will drink a New Year toast to this important aim. Some 580 seafarers have spent a frightening and very
unfestive period in the pirate anchorages on the dangerous coast of Somalia, hoping that the negotiations for their release are not prolonged.
BIMCO will be supporting and encouraging the IMO in its campaign during the coming year, and will be playing its part in strengthening the organisation’s hand as it attempts to keep this matter to the forefront of governments’ minds. The interference with the free passage of merchant ships is not an unimportant matter, and this constantly needs emphasising, as the outrages of the pirates seem rarely to appear with sufficient prominence in the world’s media. There is a risk that governments will consign piracy to the “too hard” basket, with shipping out of public view and the activities of the pirates dismissed as just one of the perils of the sea, left to the shipping industry to defend itself against with its own precautions.
The analogy is of a government, which fails to properly finance its law enforcement, telling householders it is up to them to defend their properties with burglar alarms and secure locks. Catching, prosecuting and convicting criminals are obligations of any effective government, and none should be in any doubt about this ongoing responsibility.
It is clear that the Somali criminal gangs are ranging further and wider in the search for victims, which perhaps is some indication that the naval patrolling, and also the use of the recommended best management practices for merchant ships, is effective. It is still undeniable that those who adopt and maintain best management practices during passages through the pirate infested areas are most unlikely to be the subjects of a successful pirate attack. But in that the areas of hazard are now extended to the East of the Seychelles, and within a day’s steaming of the Indian coast, it is an increasing strain on the vigilance of merchant mariners. And it is also important to keep up to date with the recommendations, which do change, as they adapt to the changes in the pirate strategies, as reported by those they attack.
It is worrying that a growing number of operators, who have seen their ships captured, are now employing private armed guards to defend their vessels. The consequences of some sort of armed confrontation going badly wrong continue to be emphasised as a caution against this strategy. One can sympathise with those who have lost patience with the ability of governments to eradicate this dangerous plague from what are important and busy shipping routes, but there are significant risks involved.
Eventually, governments which have the power to intervene in the political systems of this failed state will have to do so. Some sort of international police action will be required to impose law and order on this turbulent coast and its lawless interior, not least because of the cost to society, afloat and ashore. Let us hope that the initiative of the International Maritime Organization which, after all, has more than 150 member nations, might kick-start some sort of serious and permanent action during the coming year.
Fonte : BIMCO
