Danish shipper A.P. Moller Maersk has hired out soldiers and a warship from Tanzania to protect its fleet in pirate-ridden waters off the coast of Africa, and now other shippers are expected to follow suit.
Maersk hired the warship through former special forces soldiers working for firm Guardian GBS security in December 2008. The ship was charged with protecting the Brigit Maersk tanker from pirates. It is unknown how much the shipping company paid for the service.
'The waters east of Africa are a grey zone because developing countries don't have resources to fight pirates. It's a temporary solution that a shipper has hired a warship from another country, but there's no alternative,' said Jan Fritz Hansen, vice-president of the Danish Shipowners' Association.
Steffen Jacobsen, technical director at Maersk Tankers, said the company checked first to make sure the move was legal. 'That's why we chose it as an alternative solution to a very critical situation,' he said.
It is not the first time a Danish shipper has hired out military protection for traversing shipping routes off the coast of Africa. Norden previously hired out an armed security ship to accompany its vessels in the area, and the company's senior vice-president, Lars Lundegaard, said he wouldn't rule out hiring a war ship from the Tanzanian navy in the future.
However, military expert Lars Bangert Struwe from the Danish Institute for Military Studies fears it could be a dangerous development. 'In the short term it could be a good solution for Maersk. But long-term, it's a dangerous development because it will make poor African countries reliant on private companies' money to run their militaries.'
Or it could provide a boost for the Tanzanian Navy to develop its resources.
No doubt this is a troubling escalation for some. But piracy continues in the Gulf of Aden and around the Horn. It's moved ever-seaward to involve the waters around the Seychelles. The pirates are becoming better armed, have better information and better ships and boats.
Now the US, European and Chinese navies could put down the piracy, but they'd have to be ruthless about it, and that means taking measures that contravene modern naval law. For example, we all know that a Somali fishing dhow filled with hungry men wielding RPGs and machine guns aren't just out there a thousand miles from home hunting elk squid, but current naval law says that you can't detain them, let alone kill them, just for possessing RPGs. We could declare such law null and void, but that has dangerous consequences in the long run.
We could instead whack the shore-side towns that the pirates call home. That has the same naval law problems as dealing with pirates on the open seas.
We could instead triple the number of escort ships. The US Navy, however, has a need for its ships elsewhere, and the Euros and Chinese are limited in what they can do. It's a mighty big patch of ocean.
When piracy was less of a problem it was easier for the shipping companies to pay the insurance, pay the ransoms and just keep sailing. The number and location of attacks now make it a much more expensive proposition. So we're going to see some of the larger, richer shipping lines hire guards and sometimes hire escort ships. The rules of engagement for them will be the same as for the pirates -- naval law says we can't do anything about the escorts unless we see them use their guns.
NAVY: "Say, you guys know what happened to that burning, sinking pirate ship?"
[ ESCORT just finished tossing incriminating weapons overboard ]
ESCORT: "Maybe an electrical fire." "Maybe a barbecue." "Yeah, a barbecue."
NAVY: "Okay, thanks."
This is simply going to make the situation more unstable. The pirates will use violence early and more often, the thugs funding the pirates (including perhaps al-Qaeda and its various underlings) will encourage attacks on the escorts, and the escorts will undoubtedly one day make a mistake and shoot up a vacationing British yacht that had just come to take in the water.
At the same time, being a pirate is going to be more dangerous. The escorts will have fewer qualms about whacking any pirate who gets too close -- it is, after all, what they're paid to do.
Perhaps then the world will start to pay attention. Perhaps. |
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