World’s shipping companies ignoring basic defense for their crews

According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), 174 vessels have been hijacked by Somali pirates from Jan. 14, 2008 to Mar. 11 this year. Latest reports estimate nearly 30 vessels and 700 crewmembers are currently being held by their Somali captors.

But while the global shipping industry dithers around a) accusing the world's militaries of not providing enough assets on the water to prevent attacks; b) arguing over how to implement piracy tribunals; c) debating whether the use of armed guards is an effective deterrent or just serves to "escalate the violence;" and d) arguing that nothing can effectively be done until the political situation in Somalia is stabilized;

Industry ignores the painful truth that it is the one dropping the ball in protecting its crewmembers out on the water.

Less than 40% of commercial vessels are complying with best management practices (BMP) in the high risk Indian Ocean, IMO Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos said in a speech recently before the Navigate / IPTA chemical / products tanker conference.

The figure comes from NATO.

Some in industry believe the number could be as low as 20%.

BMPs are basic anti-piracy defense measures that every vessel should use in this modern age of rampant attacks on the water. They include practices such as heavy wheel movements, transiting at high rates of speed, "hardening" the vessel to make boardings more difficult and keeping in close contact with law enforcement response centers.

BMPs are like Self Defense 101 for the mariner.

Not following BMPs while blaming militaries for not deploying enough warships in the area to prevent an attack upon your vessel is like not wearing a seat belt, being injured in a crash caused by a speeder, and blaming your injuries on the police for not deploying enough speed checks. Or leaving your doors unlocked and windows open at night in the inner city and pointing the finger at the police when your home is broken into.

NATO Shipping Centre in Northwood (UK) said that 85 warships are needed to reach a vessel attacked in the Indian Ocean within one hour. Presently there are only 30 warships in theatre, with just 15 active at any time. Even if the number of warships were doubled or even tripled, the pirates would continue to operate further from their home base in the Horn of Africa, thereby diluting the effectiveness of an increased coalition.

It's no wonder that rumblings are coming from some of the world's shipping unions about the possibility of having their members stand down and refuse to man vessels passing through the high risk area of the northwest Indian Ocean. Imagine the fallout on world trade if supertankers can't deliver oil out off the Persian Gulf or consumer goods take weeks longer to travel between Europe and the Far East because the ships they are carried on must go the long way around Africa.

What is needed is for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to follow the lead of the U.S. and require every vessel subject to transiting through high risk areas to have its own dedicated anti-piracy plan. While it may be hard to imagine the international shipping community motivating itself to mandate compliance of such a plan, this type of response has been done before. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the ISPS Code, which required all member states to have a vessel security plan for each ship, was enacted in 2002.

Though piracy is rampant, there has not been a single 9/11 type of event on the ocean that global shipping seems to be waiting for just to mandate a simple commonsense plan. Maritime continues to employ the blame game while burying its collective head below water.

ICS Secretary General Peter Hinchcliffe recently warned that piracy "will take 20 years to sort out."

Seafarers cannot afford to wait that long. They cannot afford to wait a minute longer.