Terror on high seas, now a major worry for ship owners
Plummeting freight rates and shrinking cargo as a result of the global financial meltdown are not the only issues presently gnawing at shipping companies. The recent flare-up of terror on high seas, off the coast of Somalia, has become a sharper concern for ship owners.
Even after the Indian seafarers aboard Stolt Valor, which was hijacked [...]
The latest must-have for commercial shipowners: a piracy insurance policy
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A risk consultancy with close ties to the Lloyd’s insurance market is offering the world’s first insurance policy for shipowners covering potential ransom payouts on crew members who have been kidnapped.
Kidnap and ransom insurance is well-established but has traditionally been offered only in respect of individual executives working in commercially sensitive [...]
EU to launch anti-piracy mission next week
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A European Union flotilla will begin anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia next week, the EU’s foreign policy chief said Wednesday. The six warships and three maritime reconnaissance aircraft will replace a NATO naval force that has been patrolling the region and escorting cargo ships carrying relief aid to Somalia since the end of [...]
Suez traffic not affected
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Egypt denied that international shippers were avoiding the country’s Suez Canal, the waterway that carried a tenth of the global seaborne trade in 2007, after an escalation in piracy off east Africa. ‘We have not been notified by any shipping company that they are re-routing away from the Suez Canal because of the Somali piracy,’ [...]
Shipping industry calls for blockade of Somalian coast
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A shipping body and tanker owners from around the world on Monday called for a military blockade along the coast of Somalia to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea. Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action - including aerial and aviation support - is necessary [...]
Shipper calls for military force on Somali pirates
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The world’s militaries must work together to battle pirates off the Somali coast or ships will have to be diverted and the cost of moving goods will skyrocket, one of the world’s largest oil tanker companies said Friday. Frontline Ltd., which sails five to 10 tankers of crude a month through the treacherous Gulf of [...]
IMO chief makes direct appeal to Security Council for Somalia piracy action
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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
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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, [...]
INS Tabar sinks pirate mother ship
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NEW DELHI: An Indian naval frigate has sunk a pirate vessel in the pirate infested waters in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of
Somalia.
INS Tabar, which has been deployed for anti-piracy patrol operations since November 2, was among dozens of warships from several countries that took part in a major offensive to protect [...]
VLCC hijacked by pirates
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Following on from a spate of piratical activity, a very-large crude carrier (VLCC) has reportedly been hijacked off the East coast of Africa
It has been reported that the MT Sirius Star was attacked some 450nm south-east of Mogadishu. The Liberian flagged vessel is the largest to be hijacked to date, with deadweight (DWT) of 319,430 [...]
