The piracy conundrum

A growing number of ports are being forced to look more carefully at piracy – and therefore security – issues, but many of these live in a world full of contradictions of both the economic and political kinds.

For example, since the Indian Ocean Rim group turned its focus on to piracy, along with other problems, a $1m fighting fund has been organised by India. But although the regions are saying they will work together on it, these countries cover Australia to Africa.

Further, co-operation might not come easily. Peter Cook explains that “different ports have different ideas, and each of the ports on the rim of the IOR has very different attitudes on the subject of armed guards coming through its gates.”

He adds, for example, India runs each of its states as independent countries so if a ship goes into a port with arms on board, the ship can face a number of problems from finding it an expensive, drawn out business to simply being refused entry.

The scale of the changes now underway causes problems in itself. Mr Cook explains that the Omani ports previously allowed storing of arms in armouries, but all of a sudden they found themselves overwhelmed. As a result they have just said ‘stop’.

However, points out Mr Cook, “as soon as you do that, firms will find what you might call ‘another’ way to do it”. He carefully stops short of saying “illegal” but adds, “there are ramifications and we don’t particularly want weapons wandering around without a home to go to.”

His point is that you really do want to iron out the problems, giving the industries involved – the ports, the guards – a good basis to work on, and “solutions” aren’t driven underground. “We would like to have some form of standardisation, or at least know what to expect. As long as people know what to do, you can work through it.”

One piece of good news is that despite everything, the percentage of successful pirate attacks is going down. Part of this has been because of Oman’s willingness to join in the fight.

Salalah’s chief executive, Peter Ford, has reason to have mixed feelings about this, as it seems to be the hijacking of a ship at anchor in Omani waters outside Salalah that triggered the authorities’ actions. “Within the last six months there have been a number of attacks thwarted by Omani security forces resulting in grave consequences to the pirate forces,” he says.

However, he adds that it’s not just the live ammunition that will make a difference; it’s the willingness for states to follow through with the legal processes. The fact that pirates are now being sentenced in Oman shows the government is willing to engage on a number of different levels to the threat and send a strong signal saying, ‘Not Here’.

Mr Ford explains that ports can actively help, as they “form a pivot point between the industry, the vessels, and the state behind the port: it is a natural role, we have good connections with the state authorities through running a major part of their infrastructure – it just makes sense to connect either end.”

Mr Ford also adds that Salalah hasn’t just been helping represent shipping needs to governments, but also been giving a hand to shippers that have found steep price rises for vessels calling into places like Salalah, apparently triggered by a perceived heightened insurance risk.

For example, after the incident, some charterers were trying to add costs on for vessels visiting Salalah. “Many of the bulk commodity shippers who charter vessels have suffered, and one cargo owner was looking at a rise of 350%,” says Mr Ford. As these companies are often not fully informed in the maritime industry, they were at a disadvantage: “We were able to give the shippers a ‘reality check’ and open up information exchanges which helped the shippers with negotiations,” he added.

“There’s been a number of misunderstandings,” says Mr Ford. He is either being kind or diplomatic about this attempt to inflate costs, but it’s a situation that will probably arise again and may well affect other ports in the area – and information, in this case, is indeed money.