Page 46: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2006)

46 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

By Joe DiRenzo III, Chris Doane and

Captain David Moskoff, USMS

On March 15, 2006 under increasing calls from both the International

Maritime Organization (IMO) and the maritime industry, the United Nations

Security Council acknowledged the escalating piracy problem off of the coast of Somalia by issuing a declara- tion which stated, "Taking note of resolution A.979 (24) of the International Maritime

Organization's biennial assembly adopt- ed on 23 November 2005 and concern- ing the increasing incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships off the

Somali coast, the Council encouraged

Member States with naval vessels and military aircraft operating in adjacent international waters and airspace to take appropriate action to protect merchant shipping, particularly the transportation of humanitarian aid."

This declaration comes on the heels of an attack on the M/V Rozen that was carrying relief supplies to Somalia. The attack was carried out, according to pub- lished reports, by five pirates armed with machines guns and rocket-pro- pelled grenades.

The attack on the Rozen follows a growing number of piracy acts, not only off the coast of Somalia, which is still one the world's hot spots but throughout the world.

This issue is of increasing concern to the merchant industry, insurance compa- nies and security forces alike as pirates are branching out into new areas to con- duct operations. It also highlights the need for fundamental change that must occur regarding the way piracy is viewed by both industry and insurance organizations.

Colin James, writing for the New

Zealand Herald, focused on a key issue evidenced by a quote from Eric Barratt, the Managing Director of Sanford, Ltd., a New Zealand seafood company.

Barratt, commenting about New

Zealand's Toothfish industry impacted by pirates boarding fishing vessels and stealing their catch said, "some ships involved in the piracy are impounded if they turn up in the port of a country that outlaws piracy. But Barratt says some companies regard the loss of an occa- sional ship as the "cost of doing busi- ness" and even budget for it."

However, this "cost of doing business" has other foreseeable costs for the mer- chant industry and their insurance com- panies. The change in recent years makes this unmistakable. Piracy has become very big business, netting mil- lions of dollars for successful attacks through cargo hijacks, ship hijacks and even kidnapping the crew for ransom.

Attacks have become more violent and comparatively more complex. The abil- ity of ship owners to absorb piracy events as a "cost of doing business" is prohibitively expensive, both financially and politically.

Where a decade ago, the cost to most ship owners was typically a short delay to the vessel or the theft of some rope or tools, this "cost" has escalated to include previously unprecedented crimes that now lead to fatalities in addition to the loss of the vessel and its cargo. This deadly change even more seriously

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Piracy: Way Beyond The Cost of Doing Business

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