Piracy at ‘Intolerable’ Level, Says Maritime Executive
piracy6
The massive deployment of foreign navies to the vital shipping lane off the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden has so far failed to slow the rate of pirate attacks, with new ships taken almost daily, according to maritime executive Christopher Hayman. He said most commentators agreed that piracy was merely the symptom [...]
Saudi, French Leaders Call For International Efforts To Protect Shipping
france_flag
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday called for international efforts to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden amid a spate of attacks by Somali pirates. The two leaders also discussed the global financial crisis and Middle East peace, during a brief visit by Sarkozy to Saudi Arabia, the official SPA [...]
Shipping industry urges EU governments to take up arms against Somali pirates
pirates
Abdul Hassan, chief of the pirate group called the ‘Central Regional Coastguard’, carries a rocket-propelled grenade on to a boat with some of his crew. Photograph: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images
European shipowners are urging their governments to wage war on Somali pirates and seize vessels by force, the Guardian has learned, amid growing fear that shippers [...]
IMO chief makes direct appeal to Security Council for Somalia piracy action
mitropoulos
IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos has issued a call at the highest level for a coordinated and cohesive response, both internationally and nationally, to combat the scourge of piracy off the coast of Somalia.
Yesterday (20 November), in a personal briefing to the UN Security Council in [...]
Shipping insurance costs may double due to rise in piracy
insurance-premiums-for-ships
The escalation of piracy activities off the coast of Somalia is threatening to greatly increase insurance costs for ships sailing along the Gulf of Aden, said insurance and maritime experts.
The more than 10-fold increase in insurance premiums witnessed on the same route this year is likely to increase by another 60 per cent in December, [...]
BW Gas, TMT, Euronav May Avoid Somalia After Attacks by Pirates
tanker21
By Alaric Nightingale and John Martens
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) — BW Gas Ltd., the world’s biggest operator of liquefied-gas tankers, Euronav NV and TMT Co. Ltd. said they may divert ships away from Somalia after an escalation in piracy led to the capture of a Saudi Arabian supertanker.
BW Gas is urging its customers to avoid the [...]
Saudi says pirate “terrorism” will spark crackdown
piracy
ATHENS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday the hijacking of a Saudi supertanker with $100 million of oil onboard would trigger an international crackdown on piracy, which he compared to terrorism.
Prince Saud al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia would throw its weight behind a European-led initiative to step up security in the busy shipping [...]
Somali pirate attacks threaten Suez Canal
piracy
Alarmed at the growing number of attacks off Somalia, international merchant shipping is edging closer to doing the unthinkable in peace time: by-passing one of world’s most vital trade routes. Somali pirates have been plundering ships off the Horn of Africa for years, but the recent surge in attacks has spilled out into the Gulf [...]
Shipping industry held hostage by high seas piracy
Piracy is becoming a costly business for the world’s shipping companies, particularly off the coast of Somalia.
Pirates there have hijacked around 30 ships this year and the ransom demands have skyrocketed.
When pirates hijacked a freighter off the coast of Somalia last week, they hit the jackpot. The Ukrainian ship was laden with weaponry, ammunition and [...]
Report warns Somali piracy threat to world trade
NAIROBI: World trade faces major disruption if Somali piracy is unchecked and allowed to be co-opted by extremists and maritime routes could be gradually diverted, a report released on Thursday said.
London-based think tank Chatham House warned in a briefing paper that the international community needed to take swift action as pirates were rapidly improving [...]
