On-board guards achieve anti-piracy success

Piracy continues to be one of the biggest headaches for insurance companies, especially along Africa’s West and East coasts, said Captain Andrew Walker, a marine loss control engineering manager for Africa and the Middle East with AIG. Speaking at the recent Marine Insurance Risk and Safety Africa conference held in Cape Town, he said some 297 attacks had been recorded in 2012 of which 28 were hijackings. “While incidents around Somalia may be on the decrease, piracy remains a concern. There are still at least 11 vessels being held along with hundreds of crew members as hostages in Somalia alone, while to date more than $130 million has been paid out in ransoms.” Walker said while hotspots fluctuated, there had been a definite increase in attacks off the West African coast as well as in South East Asia. “In West Africa some 62 attacks were reported last year, and unlike the Somalian pirates, they are not all that interested in hostages. These attacks tend to be a lot more violent and are totally aimed at getting the cargo, regardless of human life.” According to Walker, antipiracy measures such as not slowing down in waters where pirates operate, to wrapping barbed wire around vessels had proved successful, but most agreed that the most successful and preferred method of avoiding piracy attacks was to have armed security on board vessels. “Many shipping companies are using this method and not one instance of hijacking has been reported involving vessels with these guards on board,” he said. “But there are still vessels that are not making use of any anti-piracy measures. It is estimated that some 20% of the 22 000 vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden every year do not utilise any anti-piracy measures.” Walker said while pirate attacks against ships worldwide had definitely decreased since 2006, the cost involved remained a headache to insurers. “All ransom figures paid out are subject to debate as pirates sometimes exaggerate their gains while the paying entities play the numbers down.” CAPTION Andrew Walker … ‘At least 11 vessels being held with hundreds of crew in Somalia.’