Piracy

Is certainly not a modern phenomena

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But listen to this

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The IMO (International Maritime Organisation) is implementing an anti-piracy project, a long-term project which began in 1998.

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That's ten years ago

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Phase one consisted of a number of regional seminars and workshops attended by Government representatives from countries in piracy-infested areas of the world; while phase two consisted of a number of evaluation and assessment missions to different regions.

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In other words lots of talking

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The IMO's aim has been to foster the development of regional agreements on implementation of counter piracy measures

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However to date few shipping companies have seen fit to take even basic security measures to protect their ships.

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Navies of the world are still talking about what they can do

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The UN security Council has yet to meet to discuss proposals by various affected countries

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Meanwhile we have the Supertanker the Sirius Star hijacked and taken to Somalia where it will rest until a ransom is paid

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It will join ten other hijacked ships anchored at Haradhere off the Somali coast

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33 have been hijacked since January this year with 83 attacks also reported since January in the area around Somalia

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Apparently there were no lookouts or preventative measures taken by the Sirius Star, which was only taken into service in March of this year

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Nor were any preventative measures taken by the Hong Kong ship hijacked today

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And if pirates should sink such a ship full oil we have an environmental disaster of monumental proportions, and one day this will happen

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So now we all go shock horror something must be done

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And what have the IMO been doing for the last many years?

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And the ship owners?

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Talking and hoping it would be someone else and not them

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To be fair though four things have changed the odds in favour of the pirates

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1. Technology: The protection once afforded to merchant vessels by their modern size and speed is now offset by further technical advances which have reduced crew size, as well as a vessel's ability to defend itself.

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On the other side of the coin, there has been a bumper crop of technological advances which improve the pirate chief's weapons of speed, shock, surprise, fire power and rapid escape.

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2. Reduced Naval Presence: The trend is for smaller world Navies.

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Dramatically decreased international ocean patrols have left merchant vessels virtually unprotected on the sea frontier.

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3. Disrupted Governmental Administration: Decisions by former colonies not to maintain ties with their home countries, and the financial inability of some governments to afford effective Naval assets &endash; are factors which have simply encouraged pirate attacks.

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4. Lack of Regulation: In some quarters there has been erosion of the view that piracy is a serious international crime, or even a crime of which anyone should take notice.

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With most of the world's 64 million gross tonnage fleet under flags of convenience such as Panama, Honduras and Liberia, there is no political will to smash high seas piracy.

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Flags of convenience nations have neither the interest nor the ability to mount an effective deterrent.

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Indeed neither Honduras nor Panama are feared as major naval powers!

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Officials of the International Maritime Bureau in London call the present involvement by world governments against piracy to be "in shambles."

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So there we have it

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And yet again we the consumer will be the ones who pay as ships divert by the longer route around Southern Africa and insurance premiums soar

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Has it ever been thus.