Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has become a global threat. But last month, Somali pirates struck far from their home when they brazenly hijacked the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star at a distance of almost 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya.
Carrying more than $100 million in crude oil destined for the US, the supertanker is anchored, along with a dozen other ships, off the northeast coast of Somalia.
The current piracy crisis in the Gulf of Aden has prompted specialist marine trade disruption insurer Transmarine to launch an insurance policy that will protect the charterer's cash flow in the event of piracy. Transmarine, managed by Michael Else and Company Limited, says that the extra cover for charterers is available as a stand-alone product as an extension to the existing Transmarine policy.
The company notes that although the incidence of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden has risen sharply over recent months many shipowners are still prepared, or compelled commercially, to transit the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden.
Meanwhile, an international conference on Somali piracy that kicked off in Nairobi proposed that the region's coastal nations, like Kenya and Tanzania, arrest and prosecute the pirates.
A $1.3 million programme is being formulated that will boost the criminal justice and law enforcement systems of Kenya, Djibouti, Yemen and Tanzania, over a six-month period to prepare them to try the pirates.
A 16-country coalition has patrolled the region and was recently reinforced by the European Union's first-ever naval force, but their ability to counter piracy has been hampered by the lack of legal frameworks.
More than 100 attacks have been carried out by Somali pirates since the start of the year. At least 15 ships and more than 300 crew members are still being held to ransom off Somalia.
Pirates organised in six separate groups and numbering around 1,500 have raked in tens of millions of dollars in ransom money, sums which outweigh the total budget of the northern breakaway state of Puntland, where much of Somalia's piracy originates.
Among the many recommendations being discussed in Nairobi are operations specifically targeting the so-called "mother ships".
There are at least five pirate mother ships - generally hijacked fishing boats under foreign flags - which tow the speedboats, from which pirates armed with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and grapnels attack their targets.
According to the Puntland authorities and experts, there are up to 700 foreign boats fishing illegally in Somali waters at a given time, plundering an estimated $300 million a year in resources.
The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), a naval coalition of 20 countries based in Bahrain, was set up in 2003 to ensure maritime security and stability in the region, as well as to complement counter-terrorist efforts. The force now spends most of its time combating piracy. That may be one reason why, despite the fact that the number of incidents involving pirates has jumped of late, the tally of successful attacks has fallen from 53 per cent in August to just over 30 per cent in October.
In the latest anti-piracy operation, the Indian Navy has prevented pirates from attacking a merchant vessel flying an Ethiopian flag in the Gulf of Aden and taken 23 into custody.
Responding to a distress call by MV Gibe, INS Mysore on anti-piracy patrol in the area, swung into action against the pirates in two boats.
The apprehended included 12 Somalis and 11 Yemenis. Seven AK-47s, three other automatic rifles, 13 loaded magazines, a rocket-propelled grenade-launcher, rockets, cartridges and grenades were found in the boats.
The Gulf of Aden is a vital channel, linking the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The US reckons there are up to 250 ships plying the waters on any given day. Almost a third of the world's container trade passes through the waterway, while - crucially for the Gulf states - some 3.3m barrels of crude oil, or 4 per cent of daily global demand, transits the Gulf of Aden every day.
While the efforts of the CMF may help to alleviate the situation, they will do little to tackle its root causes. For a start, the force is stretched. Its warships must cover an area of more than 2.4million square miles. So, as the recent rise in attacks demonstrates, they can be only a limited deterrent. The CMF has itself encouraged shipping firms to spend more on their own security and to take steps to ward off would-be attackers. Insurers are likely to insist on similar efforts.
The solution is for Somalia to have a stable, functioning government. Until then, concerted international action - for example, deploying regional or multinational coast guards - is essential. Arab countries recently considered this option. The Malacca Straits, between Indonesia and Malaysia, were, until a few years ago, the world's most hazardous seas. Aggressive regional patrols by navies of those two countries plus Singapore were able to virtually eliminate the threat of piracy there.
