Shipping lines press for armed guards on board

With piracy incidents increasing and spreading across a wider area beyond the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), shipping lines have intensified pressure on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the flag states over the deployment of armed guards.

According to a senior industry official, no UAE flagged vessels are carrying arms on board. "This is at the discretion of the flag states. According to my knowledge, no UAE-flagged vessel is currently being permitted to carry arms or armed guards," Capt Farhad Patel, Assistant General Manager, Sharaf Shipping, told Emirates Business. He said that while shipping lines tend to opt for armed guards as a result of increased piracy-related incidents, many others prefer to follow the convoy. "At Sharaf we have no armed guards on any our vessels," he added.

According to recent reports, German Shipowners' Association VDR, has dropped its 'no armed guards' policy after the latest pirate attacks on German vessels in the Gulf of Aden.

"We have indeed made a paradigm shift in that we are now recommending the deployment of German navy servicemen or federal police on board the ships during Gulf of Aden transits," a report in Fairplay said quoting VDR spokesman Max Johns.

Spreading the problem

Captain Duncan McKelvie, Area Marine Representative of NYK Line, said: "The IMO still does not recommend the use of arms. While the success of forces has had an effect on reducing piracy along the IRTC, it has also resulted in displacing pirates into a wider area making it harder for the forces to track them. This has resulted in added concern for the industry."

The US is one of the flag states that encourages its vessels to have arms on board. In a recent statement, US Admiral Mark Fitzgerald said commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean should carry armed guards to help defend against Somali pirates.

Media reports quoted Fitzgerald as saying: "The area is enormous and we just do not have enough assets to cover every place in the Indian Ocean." According to McKelvie, the IRTC is now seen as much safer because of the security cover. He added that with the approach of the south-west monsoons, piracy incidents could dwindle dramatically. Any decision, he added, should be taken keeping in mind the interest of cargo owners, insurance companies and the best interest of the vessel crew.

Referring to the death of the captain of the Dubai-owned QSM Dubai, McKelvie said: "It is still not clear if the captain was killed by the pirates or the Puntland forces while trying to rescue the ship. It is an example of dangers involved in keeping arms on board," he said.

Following a proposal from IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E Mitropoulos, the IMO Council recently unanimously approved that next year's World Maritime Day (WMD) theme should be "Piracy: Orchestrating the response".

Objectives for safety

In presenting the proposal, the Secretary-General said that piracy continues to be an endemic problem for the international community, not only around the Horn of Africa, but in other parts of the world as well, despite the many and varied efforts to contain, if not eradicate, it.

These efforts notwithstanding, he added, much work remains to be done if the ultimate goal of consigning piracy to the realms of history is to be achieved. The Secretary-General identified five objectives that the IMO and the international maritime community should pursue in promoting the 2011 WMD theme.

These include securing the release of hostages by calling the world's attention to the "unacceptable plight of all those being held by pirates"; strengthening the protection of persons, ships and cargoes by constantly improving guidance to the industry; promoting even greater levels of support from navies; and providing care for those attacked or hijacked by pirates.

The objectives also focus on ensuring compliance with adopted measures by making certain that merchant vessels are aware of how to access the available naval protection.

They also seek to ensure that vessels implement the recommended preventative, evasive and defensive measures effectively; promote co-operation between and among states, regions and organisations in reducing the risk of attacks on innocent ships through information-sharing; co-ordination of military and civil efforts, and of regional initiatives such as the Djibouti Code of Conduct; and building up states' capacity to act against those committing acts of piracy.

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