PREVENTING pirate ransom
money from being invested is like refusing to pay ransoms, thus making
seafarers less willing to put to sea along the world's busiest trade lane that
needs them so badly, argues Rhys Clift, marine insurance partner with the
London law firm, Hill Dickinson.
"Who would wish to go
to sea if ransom for detainment at sea were to be prohibited, or if shipowners
and operators were threatened with prosecution? Few, one imagines. And if they
did, one can imagine the consequences," warned Mr Clift, who was short
listed as Lloyd's List 2009 Lawyer of the Year. .
"It is a short step
from tracking the illicit funds to prohibiting the payment of ransoms.
Realistically there is no real, safe alternative to the payment of ransom and
indeed such payments have been made for decades. Is maritime piracy to be the
exception? And if so why?" he said.
An estimated 2,700 seafarers
have been held by pirates off Somalia or in the Indian Ocean, 70 per cent of
whom vowed not to go back to sea. "One would think that the percentage of
those willing to go back to sea will decline as the average duration of
detention lengthens and the risk of physical abuse increases," Mr Clift
said in an article posted on his firm's website.
"This is the major
hidden cost of piracy, and many in the industry are utterly baffled that the
appalling plight of seafarers on the one hand is relatively invisible in the
press in contrast say to the plight of the Chilean miners trapped underground,
which featured daily at the top of news bulletins until their release," he
said.
"Contrast their
experience with the seafarers. They were not held in terror for months, in fear
for their lives, their families were not to suffer the psychological ordeal of
wondering if their father, their husband or brother would be killed or injured
on whim," Mr Clift said.
International naval patrols
of the Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor and the increasing
deployment of "best management practices" have reduced the success of
pirate attacks, he said.
"This much seems to be
borne out by information on takings since last August. There also appears to be
an emerging consensus that certain vessels should engage armed guards. No
vessel with armed guards has been taken, it is said - a fairly compelling
statistic," he said.
"Some vessels will
still be taken. Navies simply cannot police the entire area. What then of
vessels that are taken, and most particularly their officers and crew? How
should they be recovered? Special forces have demonstrated courage and
willingness to engage, but the catalogue of casualties is there to see,"
he said.
Source : HKSG, 17.04.12.
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