IFW
Friday, June 03, 2011
The Call for Action was launched at the annual International Transport Forum, which took place in Leipzig, Germany at the end of May.
The call for immediate action comes after companies witnessed an escalation in both violence and the number of attacks on ships and their crew over the past year.
It called on governments to improve the rules of engagement given to the navies present in the area.
The Call for Action also demands that the UN and other international bodies refocus their efforts to ensure that pirates are brought to justice and that required institutions in central Somalia are established to maintain economic and social standards.
According to the ICC International Maritime Bureau, there were 219 attacks in 2010 off Somalia, in which 49 vessels were hijacked and 1,016 crew members taken hostage.
“Despite measures taken by the United Nations Security Council and the presence of naval units in the area of the Gulf of Aden, pirates continue to strike,” said the ICC.
“More and more shipowners have had to resort to using private security firms to protect their seafarers and ships.”
In 2010, the One Earth Foundation estimated the economic cost of piracy on the supply chain to be between US$7 and US$12 billion.
“This is of great concern to any industry having to navigate through the Gulf of Aden to deliver goods by water,” the ICC said.
Prepared by the ICC Commission on Transport and Logistics, the call for action said: “As the World Business Organisation, ICC urges governments to recognise that piracy, in addition to its effect on the safety of seafarers, has an important financial impact on global trade and shipping, and furthermore poses increased threat on the stability and security of energy supply lines not only for major industrial nations.”
Together with shipowners and trade associations around the world, over 20 CEOs from key shipping and trading companies have endorsed the Call for Action on Piracy.
Meanwhile, the International Maritime Organisation’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has approved the use of privately contracted armed security personnel on board ships in the High Risk Area.
It reiterated that armed security should be used when deemed appropriate and lawful.
“[The measures] are not intended to endorse or institutionalise their use and do not represent any change of policy by the IMO in this regard,” said the MSC.