The shipping industry hasn’t changed much in the last 5,000 years. Apart from natural perils at sea, ships have battled pirates across the millennia; piracy has been an ongoing issue even though it is only beginning to garner contemporary media attention. As an owner of one of the leading international shipping companies in Westcliffe, friends have asked me to opine on the subject.
During the swashbuckling era of the 16th and 17th centuries, great bounties were stolen by English, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch privateers. Fortunes have been made and lost from captured or missing cargo, and today in shipping, fortunes are being made and lost but as a consequence of modern economic realities.
Piracy and the illegal boarding of ships occur regularly with vessels and their crews occasionally disappearing entirely. The Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden have recently captured people’s attention with the attempted hijacking of the U.S. flagged Maersk Alabama and the subsequent rescue operation by the Navy Seals. Kudos to Captain Phillips and hopefully our Navy sharpshooters will not be prosecuted by the ACLU for failing to exercise Due Process.
The basic laws of the sea have existed for generations, but more recently an overarching structure has been ratified, if not enforced, by the United Nations through their International Maritime Organization (IMO).
It has been determined by international maritime lawyers that before prosecuting a pirate proper evidence of alleged crimes must be amassed. Additionally, captured pirates’ human rights must be protected, which means they can’t be confined in a convenient location, but only in countries where these rights might be secure. There is also a quandary whether International Law, Maritime/Admiralty Law or the law of the assaulted vessel’s national flag should apply to the perpetrators of the crime.
In this time of worldwide financial crisis, the Somali pirates have created a low-tech but profitable business. Once a ship is captured, it is taken back to Somalia. A pirate spokesman contacts the owner and the spokesman demands the amount of ransom necessary to guarantee the safe return of the vessel and its crew. The owner then appoints a professional negotiator with pirate experience to cut a deal and eventually a final sum payable in cash gets delivered.
The normal elapsed time from capture to release is about two months and the average ransom is about $2 million. It is estimated during the last few years the pirates have netted more than $100 million, monies which have enabled them to purchase more sophisticated equipment and arms.
To the $100 million of ransoms, one can add the cost of various navy assets plying the seas trying to protect shipping lanes, the deviation of vessels from that area and the loss of revenue at the Suez Canal caused by owners refusing to sail that general region.
There are currently about 15 ships from various international registries and about 300 mariners in detention in Somalia.
Looking beyond our tiny corner of the world in the Wet Mountain Valley where animals and hay are transported by truck, we all have an interest in safe oceans as more than 90 percent of international trade is seaborne. In terms of volume, more than 20,000 ships annually sail through the Gulf of Aden or near the Horn of Africa.
If a ship owner arms a crew that could void the ship’s hull insurance. Armed mercenaries are another option, but that has also been rejected by most insurance companies.
The International Chamber of Shipping has just recommended a 600 mile safety zone off the Somalia coast. This will help, but as we have seen with other illegal or terrorist activities, if it is not stopped and punished, it will escalate or create a template for similar activities in other parts of the world.
Last weekend the Somalia Parliament approved a measure introducing Islamic Sharia Law as their binding legal system. One has to question the providence of pirates returned to Somalia for criminal prosecution and more importantly, one has to query about the ultimate use of ransom money.
Tags: African Hijacking, Somalia Pirates
April 20, 2009 at 8:24 pm |
If my reading of the news is accurate, the pirates modus operandi is to use mother ships from which to dispatch their smaller attack vessels. Certainly use of drone aircraft to identify and destroy such vessels is not beyond reality.
I am surprised no one has identified an Al Queda connection. But ultimately helping Somilia become a vialble state is the long term answer. In the meantime piracy is probably still a crime of the sea under any number of old and modern charters. Shutting it down or at least making it costly to persue this activity is more a measure attitude than action.
The UN probably has some resolution on their books and under this resolution it would only be a matter of hardware and decision to use it to make this business costly to its practioners.
Your timeline of 5,000 years is interesting for much of that time is was up to the crews to fend for themselves. One wonders just when nation states took to protecting their citizens ships and cargoes.
In our day and age technology is the answer… and having policing navies board these mother ships, or if implicated incontrovertibily – destroy them will put a damper on the whole business.
April 21, 2009 at 3:43 pm |
Dear Bob,
There are some legal issues involved before attacks can be considered on mother ships and/or small craft. Whether a country’s territorial limits extend for 12 or 200 miles from shore, attacks within those limits could be tantamount to a declaration of war. If the ships are beyond either of those limits, legal experts believe they are in open international waters and pre-emptive action would be prohibited by binding international agreements.
If the pirates are caught in the act then legal action my be possible. That may be tested with the young man captured during the Maersk Alabama incident. He has been brought to America and his fate will be decided under American law.
If a burglar is caught with burglary tools is he guilty or is he guilty only if he has been caught in the act of committing a crime? This is the crux of the problem dealing with mother-ships and launches.
The solution you are suggesting is similar to the drone attacks by the United States on the sovereign territory of Pakistan. One side considers these attacks as national intrusion and the other side in our national interest.
For the moment, the Al Qaeda connection does not seem very strong to the pirates but that can change.
The problem of keeping open seas open belongs to every nation and the only way to solve the problem is for every nation to participate in the solution.
Best regards,
Lou