Shipowners seek UN troops posted on ships transiting pirate infested waters

FOUR major international shipping organisations have written to the United Nations to establish a force of shipboard guards to protect ships against pirates, whose successful ransom demands have risen from US$1 million five years ago, through a $4 million average last year until shooting up last week to $7 million with the recent release of the 1,728 TEU MSC Panama.crack

In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) Intertanko and Intercargo want UN armed personnel deployed aboard ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.


"This would do much to stabilise the situation, restrict the growth of unregulated, privately contracted armed security personnel and to allow those UN member states lacking maritime forces - including those in the region most immediately affected - to make a meaningful contribution in the area of counter-piracy," the letter said.


The Singapore Shipping Association advanced a similar plan at UN`s ninth plenary meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia in New York in July, calling for 6,000 UN troops to safeguard ships transiting pirate infested waters.


But Arthur Bowring, the managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners` Association, disagreed. "I`m not sure whether it is feasible. It might work for selected ships as part of a larger effort involving other actions," he said.


Troops would be housed in floating barracks in the Red Sea, Sri Lanka and Madagascar from where they would board and disembark from merchant vessels, thus avoiding bringing arms ashore and offending domestic gun control laws.


Some 400 seafarers remain hostage, including 21 aboard the 25,400-ton Fairchem Bogey tanker, managed by Hong Kong`s Anglo-Eastern Ship Management. crackcrack