Suez Canal losing traffic as shippers avoid pirates
Monday, November 24, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
CAIRO — On Nov. 21, Egypt hosted five other Arab League states to discuss piracy in the Red Sea. The states, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, also considered the establishment of a regional naval force.
"All options are open," Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. "The phenomenon is threatening navigation in the Red Sea, causing some vessels to take other routes."
Egypt has been concerned that shipping companies would end their use of the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. Already, Europe's largest carrier, AP Moller-Maersk, announced plans to divert its fleet away from the canal. AP has 83 tankers.
"The policy change will primarily impact our tanker vessels," AP executive board member Soren Skou said.
AP and other companies said their ships would be diverted from the Gulf of Aden to the Cape of Good Hope. Somali pirates have targeted ships that move along the Yemeni coast.
"The efforts that are being made do not seem to put an effective end to what can best be described as ruthless, high-level organized crime," Terje Storeng, president of Odfjell, said. "We will no longer expose our crew to the risk of being hijacked and held for ransom by pirates in the Gulf of Aden."
Arab states plan to examine a a system that would warn of piracy activities.
The six Arab League states discussed the establishment of an early-warning system that would track pirates. Officials said the Arab League was also mulling the launch of a piracy monitoring center.
Officials said Western and other commercial shipping were seeking other routes to avoid attacks by Somali-based pirates. More than 80 ships have been captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea in 2008.
"This is a phenomenon that has become a national security risk," an official said.
Officials said the Red Sea piracy could lead to similar activities in other parts of the world, particularly the Mediterranean. They said organized crime in such countries as Algeria, Libya and Mauritania could copy Somali pirates.
"The Somali pirates are making so much money, and have been facing very low risk," Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, said. "Any time you have an activity that is low risk but with huge rewards, that will encourage criminals."
Security analysts have urged shipping companies not to rely on governments to stop pirates. Instead, the companies must employ weapons and security forces to stop piracy attacks.
"Ship owners must invest in gaining intelligence before passing dangerous waters," Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the Southampton-based Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, told the Abu Dhabi-based Gulf News.