Debate around firepower for commercial vessels

1:55 AM Mon 13 Apr 2009 GMT

'Pirates on speedboat approach one of their mother boats docked near Eyl, Somalia in this framegrab made from a November 24, 2008 TV footage. The enclave of Eyl is the homeground of pirates who are wreaking havoc on the waters off the coast of Somalia. To date experts say that more than a dozen ships are still being held by pirates, with dozens others having paid massive ransom for their freedom. REUTERS/Reuters TV (SOMALIA)' .

The US has finally experienced first-hand the pirate peril that for decades has threatened the world's shipping lanes, besetting commercial ships, passenger vessels and pleasure craft. Now, faced with skyrocketing insurance premiums, talk has turned to special force-on-force training, arming crews or equipping them with groups of Marines to counter attacks at sea.

In the wake of last Wednesday's pirate hijack and hostage crisis involving Maersk Alabama in the waters off Somalia, experts forecast that all aspects of security training for merchant marines will be reexamined and intensified. Central to the discussions is the prospect of arming ships with enough firepower to deter and repel pirates.

"I can almost guarantee there will be a major review of course curriculum after this incident," says Glen Paine, executive director of the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies in Linthicum, Maryland in the US.

Somali pirates - .. .

That academy, which offers graduate training for seamen, is among the few that offers limited weapons training to meet requirements of the US Military Sealift Command, which requires weapons training for ship officers and other crew.
Most US maritime academies do not offer weapons or combat training. That's because most shipping companies follow a long tradition of merchant vessels remaining unarmed, making them easy prey for pirates. In the past, crews have resorted to fire hoses and axes to prevent pirates from boarding, but in most cases crews elect to surrender. The logic is that it will prevent bloodshed or damage to the ship.

After heavily armed pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, the crew fought back and, apparently, regained control of the massive container ship.

Some shipping companies are moving beyond basic security training to include weapons instruction and other active defensive measures. At least one international company now issues rifles to its crews, according to a recent article in Professional Mariner, the journal of the global maritime industry.

Somali pirates - emboldened by payment of ransoms - .. .

"We do not have armed ships and mariners are not armed, so the unwritten message is that after the prevention procedures have failed, there isn't much you can do," says Dennis Compton, who heads planning and assessment for the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. "But now we're looking at the first time a US crew was actually involved. It's largely been a problem for other people and not the US. But not anymore."

Besides weapons training, shipping companies are adding measures to beef up ship defenses. In November 2005, a cruise liner, the Seabourn Spirit, used a sonic blast from a "long-range acoustic device," or LRAD, to repel pirates who were trying to board.

pirates2 - .. .

Shocks from an "electric fence" have also been tried, along with night-vision systems to prevent pirates from being able to get close to the vessels.

Today, the most common practice is to head to safe ports and attempt to outrun attackers. While pirate boats are generally faster, a large ship moving at 16 knots or more creates an enormous wake that makes it hard to board. Razor wire around a ship is another technique.

All this added security doesn't come cheap. Sonic deterrent equipment and operators can cost $20,000 to $30,000 per trip, according to documents on the US Maritime Administration website.

Many commentators are skeptical of arming crews, suggesting that while it might be successful initially, the pirates - many of them with para-military training - will simply come back with an arsenal of long-range weapons they can use to reach a ship from greater distance.

A suggestion that has been mooted is investing a ship with an attachment of military teams from various countries, who will either act as a deterrent or engage with pirates, as in the case this week of the successful rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, after five days held captive aboard a life raft.

Safety and security of personnel and goods in treacherous waters is one issue, but of immediate concern to shippers is the hefty rise in insurance premiums, and then of consumers, the cost that will be passed on to them.

Industry pundits say shipping companies already smarting from the global downturn will be forced to cough up more for premiums to cover multimillion dollar ransoms or else foot the bill to take the long way around the African continent in the hope of dodging hijackers.

The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, is one of the busiest and most dangerous waterways in the world. As pirates have become more aggressive, the cost of insuring ships has gone up, in some cases adding millions to the cost of each journey.

Routing a tanker from Saudi Arabia to the United States through the Cape of Good Hope, for example, would add 2,700 miles to the voyage and boost annual fuel costs by about US$3.5 million, according to the US Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration. In addition, it said using that route would mean the ship could make only five round trips a year instead of six, cutting delivery capacity by 26 percent.

European economies stand to absorb most of any extra expense. The Maritime Administration says more than 80 percent of trade moving through the gulf is with Europe.

In the past six months, premiums have risen steadily, at least tenfold according to some reports. Neil Smith, senior manager for underwriting for Lloyd's Market Association, will not reveal exact figures as they are commercially sensitive in a highly competitive industry, but he will confirm the coast of Somalia has been flagged as an area of particular concern.

Large ships generally carry three separate types of insurance. Marine or hull insurance covers physical risks, such as grounding or damage from heavy seas. A second type of policy, protection and indemnity, covers crew issues, while war risk insurance covers acts of war, insurgency, and terrorism.

Although war risk policies typically cover hijackings and piracy, insurers often charge extra for ships that venture into high risk areas such as the Gulf of Aden. Others, including Chicago-based Aon Corp. and London's International Security Solutions Ltd, have recently launched new plans specifically tailored to cover losses incurred by piracy, for example by including ransoms and cargo delays under the same policy.

Pirates fleeing August 08 Gulf of Aden - .. .

The latest pirate attacks come at a particularly challenging time for the shipping industry.

Dubai-based DP World, one of the world's biggest port operators, warned in March that a falloff in global trade that began late last year 'shows little sign of easing' because of the global recession.

Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. recently predicted cargo container shipments globally will drop 4.5 percent this year following decades of constant growth.

Source: AAP

by Jeni Bone

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