Suez traffic not affected
suez_canal
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,’ [...]
IBF Extends “High Risk Area” In The Gulf
itf
Following a full meeting of the IBF in Hong Kong on Friday 21 November and subsequent correspondence, the International Bargaining Forum have agreed to extend the “high risk area” to cover the entire Gulf of Aden*, backdated to 21 November at midnight. The expansion has been agreed because of the number of attacks which had [...]
Indonesia warns of pirate attacks in Malacca Straits
piracy
Pirate attacks in the Malacca Straits could rise as the global economic meltdown unfolds, Indonesia has warned. ”We predict that with the global crisis, there will be more pirates and illegal activities taking place in the Malacca Straits,” Sagom Tamboen, spokesman for the Indonesian Navy, told the local press. Joint patrols out at sea are [...]
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 [...]
Ship capsizes off Macau; all 17 crew members missing
SEOUL: All 17 crewmen on a South Korean freighter are missing after their ship capsized off the Chinese territory of Macau on Wednesday, South Korea’s coastguard said.
“A Chinese rescue ship, backed by an airplane, is involved in a search operation but they have had no luck yet,” a spokesman said.
“The ship lost [...]
IMO aims to extend UN resolution on piracy in Gulf of Aden
The International Maritime Organization has asked for the extension of United Nations resolution 1816, which aims to tackle the upsurge in piracy in the Gulf of Aden, a spokeswoman for the organization told Platts on Friday.
“The Secretary General [of the IMO] has written to the UN Secretary General asking for extension of the mandate of [...]
More casualties, fewer losses
THE combined total of losses of and serious casualties to merchant ships continued to increase in 2007, with over 1,000 incidents, a record number, delegates at the annual conference of the International Union of Marine Insurance in Vancouver were told. Incidents have shown a steady upward climb since 2006 when 600 were reported.
However, there has [...]
