The owners of the Biscaglia, a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker, paid thousands of dollars for three guards to protect it from Somali pirates. It didn't work. Brigands struck on Nov. 28, seizing the 27,350-ton vessel and its crew of 25 Indians as it headed toward the Suez Canal. After failing to repulse the pirates with deafening sonic devices, the unarmed guards jumped ship to escape and were plucked from the Gulf of Aden by a German navy helicopter. "We responded as quickly as we could, but it was all over," said Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French military, which also sent a chopper. "It does make you wonder about the utility of some of these security teams."
Put me on a ship opposing a couple boatloads of turbans waving guns and rocket launchers with nothing but a honker and I'll show you my back, too.
Piracy off Somalia's coast has created a flourishing market for security companies that promise to protect ships from speedboat-borne brigands armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenade-launchers. Hired by shippers facing increased costs for insurance, alternative routes and ransoms, the guards are prompting concern that they will provoke violence because some carry weapons.
"There are about a dozen companies providing security teams and many others trying to jump on the bandwagon," said Giles Noakes, head of maritime security at BIMCO, the world's largest ship-owners' association. "While I understand the temptation, placing armed guards on board creates a severe risk of escalation."
Pirates have attacked about 125 ships this year off Somalia's east coast and in the Gulf of Aden sailing to and from Egypt's Suez Canal, a route used by 20,000 ships a year carrying a 10th of world trade. About 45 were seized. There were 37 reported attacks in 2007, the French government said.
The attacks have prompted the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the U.S., India, Russia and France to dispatch about 15 warships to the pirate-infested area, which is three times the size of Texas.