Denmark to return fire

Since 2005, many international organisations have expressed growing concern over the rise in acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia, which appears to have no end in sight.

Piracy has contributed to an increase in shipping costs and has slowed the delivery of food aid shipments.

Ninety percent of the United Nations World Food Programme’s shipments arrive by sea, and ships into this area now require a military escort.

The question of what to do with captured pirate suspects remains one of the major stumbling blocks facing naval and merchant shipping, which is trying to come to terms with the scourge of pirates, particularly those from Somalia.

In many cases, naval ships have released pirate suspects after intercepting their vessels, sometimes caught in the act of attacking merchant shipping. After confiscating the weapons and other ‘pirate equipment’ such as additional fuel and ladders, the suspects are taken back to Somalia and put ashore.

Sometimes they are freed in one of their skiffs with enough fuel to reach their homeland.

In some instances, captured pirates have been taken to Kenya or the Seychelles for trial before a court of law – both countries having agreed to deal with such matters and have hurried through legislation enabling such action. This has been after strong pressure from the international community and with promises of financial assistance, which has not always been forthcoming.

Malaysia has suddenly found itself in the position of having to decide on what action to take with captured pirates after a warship of the Royal Malaysian Navy successfully retook a Malaysian chemical products tanker, the Bunga Laurel, which earlier had been seized by Somalian pirates.

After freeing the 23 crew members of the tanker, Malaysian authorities are now left with the problem of how to deal with pirates found on board the ship.

Bunga Laurel was on charter to the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation and was attacked about 300 nautical miles east of Oman.

Danish call to arms

Danish shipowners are requesting that Denmark lower the threshold for placing armed guards on board Danish vessels that sail in pirate-infested waters.

In January this year, the Danish Shipowners’ Association said the problem of piracy was getting worse and shipping lines needed to “activate the full toolbox”.

“This is a geopolitical problem. If piracy continues to expand the way it is just now, this will be a black spot on the world map,” said the association’s spokesperson, Jan Fritz Hansen.

Danish ships are allowed to employ armed guards only under extreme conditions. The association called on international navies to take stronger action against pirate vessels, “to intercept them, destroy them, and sink them.”

Adding that such actions should be left to professionals, Hansen said it was a crucial measure to limit the success of pirates.

www.freightintoafrica.com

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