The hijack of the Saudi-registered supertanker, Sirius Star and the taking captive of its crew, including a Scot, brought the issue of piracy to the fore, highlighting to those for whom such an issue is not an everyday concern that the scourge of piracy is not just a historical threat, but a very real one, alive and thriving today.
Not all incidents of piracy are reported to the authorities, let alone in the media, but the sheer audacity of an operation against a vessel of the size of the Sirius Star and, of course, the fact that it is carrying some $100million worth of oil, catapulted this incident into the “extremely” newsworthy category.
It will come as little surprise that the waters off many an oil-producing states are affected by piracy. Indeed, the Gulf of Aden – the channel of water that separates the Middle East from Africa – is highly dangerous for ships in transit, and Lagos harbour is the worst location for anchored vessels.
There has also been a rise in incidents off South America’s Atlantic seaboard, a trend that is forecast to deteriorate yet further as exports from Brazil continue to grow. The rich trade-route waters around Indonesia also prove dangerous to merchant vessels. 2007 witnessed an increase in reported incidents of piracy worldwide and, while figures for the first quarter of 2008 were down slightly, it is likely that the recent spate of incidents, particularly off the coast of Somalia, will have a significant impact on the figures released by the International Maritime Bureau for this year.
Historically, efforts to rid these rich trade routes of pirates have been limited in their success and attacks have recently been mounted against vessels travelling through a “designated security corridor” and up to 450 nautical miles from the shore (bearing in mind the recommendation not to venture within 200 nautical miles of the Somali coast).
As I write this column, the European Union is launching its first ever maritime mission, a year-long operation that includes an eight-country flotilla and aircraft support, and Nato vessels are also operational in this region.
Certain powers, most notably the French, have taken matters into their own hands, mounting a rescue mission in April to recapture a yacht and its 30-strong crew – “extracting” several pirates to face trial in France. While it remains to be seen how these efforts will fare, multinational policing has had some success against piracy in the seas around Indonesia and has achieved some relative stability, if not calm.
The piracy we are witnessing today off the east coast of Africa and other affected areas has evolved and been influenced by the trend of kidnap for ransom.
Today’s pirates do not appear as concerned with the seizure of goods and equipment, but the crews of these ships. The threat is therefore threefold, to the vessel, its cargo and its crew.
At the time of writing, for example, at least 240 crew members are currently being held by pirates, including British, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Nigerian, Russian, Iranian, Ukrainian, Ghanaian, Croatian, Thai and Baltic state nationals.
Worryingly, too, evidence indicates that the fate of targeted vessels, their cargos and crews is often linked to the adequacy of their insurance coverage, the nationality of crews and whether or not they have a supportive home government.
Indeed, those lacking in insurance provision or a supportive home government, or with Western crews, are likely to endure longer periods of captivity. While holding periods for personnel are, on average, less than 100 days, at least one vessel and its crew was released in August after a period of six months.
To date, hostages have been kept at sea and not taken on to the land, although this is a constant threat.
With this in mind, the threat to the energy industry from piracy is clear and extends beyond the threat to world oil supply by the seizure of tankers.
As the industry’s array of survey and support vessels and FPSOs deploy to challenging locations, often off Africa, Latin America and south-east Asia, frequently with Western crews, their value becomes apparent.
A vessel does not have to be the size of a vast FPSO or tanker to be of value, but simply have a crew considered valuable enough to ransom.
With the evolution of piracy globally into heavily armed, organised criminal operations and the cunning and guile demonstrated in several recent incidents, coupled with the compliancy of various naval and security forces, the response of those who use the world’s waters needs to go beyond the employment of security personnel on ships.
This is tantamount to building a security fence and employing a guard to a land-based concern.
Comprehensive and inclusive security and risk mitigation measures should be adopted and include the provision of information, thorough planning, the training of personnel, crisis management, counter-boarding techniques, negotiation response and sound security advice.
Pirates, it is clear, are not lost to the realms of history and adventure movies, but are a real threat to international shipping and, to the concern of readers of this column, the international energy industry.
Claire Fleming is corporate relations manager at AKE Aberdeen