Poking like a diseased finger into the eastern mouth of the Arabian Gulf is the Somali Republic – now a hot-bed for piracy, with at least 61 ships attacked in-and-around the Gulf this year. According to the Londonbased Mageer website, at least 22 000 ships pass each year through the Gulf, including tankers carrying 4% percent of the world's daily oil supplies. Nearly one-third of the world's containerised cargo, as well as almost half of the world's bulk cargo, the report added, goes through the Indian Ocean and on to the Gulf and the Suez Canal, ferrying goods from India, China and elsewhere to the West. The pirate attacks have pushed up shipping costs, and have increased insurance costs tenfold this year for shipping in the Gulf, said Lloyd's List. There is an alternative route – rounding SA’s Cape of Good Hope. But it’s thousands of miles longer, and with operating costs for big ships running at up to US$30 000 a day, it’s just not an economic proposition.
