As Somali piracy worsens, Asia sees an improvement
November 18, 2008 by SwizStick
Filed under Seafreight, Security
It was not too long ago that Asia, primarily the Strait of Malacca, was the piracy capital of the world. However, while large cargo ships and tankers were occasionally attacked, it was mostly smaller vessels that were at risk and regional policing by neighboring countries have really curtailed pirate activities in the area. Today via the NY Times comes a report that while Somalia has quickly displaced Asia as the worst area in the world for maritime piracy, Asia has seen a marked improvement:
“It will be very difficult to copycat the Somalia situation in Asia,” said Noel Choong, head of the Piracy Reporting Center at the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “The governments here are more committed and have more resources. In fact, the attacks here are coming down.”
A regional piracy-monitoring agency in Singapore said maritime attacks in Asia in the first nine months of the year dropped 11 percent compared to 2007 and 32 percent from 2006.
Meanwhile, the hijacking of the Saudi tanker is just another red push-pin on the 2008 master piracy map maintained by the maritime bureau, a private group in the Malaysian capital.
The hundreds of pins denoting attacks and hijackings are heavily clustered in three regions — the Gulf of Aden and the eastern coast of Somalia; the coast of West Africa, particularly off Nigeria; and the Indonesian archipelago. But the vast majority of the incidents off Indonesia, and throughout Southeast Asia, are low-level attacks against small vessels, the petty theft of cargo or the robbery of crew members.
Maritime experts in Southeast Asia cite naval patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore — known in the anti-piracy business as “the littoral states” — for the significant reduction in attacks, and particularly a decrease in hijackings. Satellite monitoring also is used.
I’d imagine this would be the ideal approach to combating piracy in Somalia as well, but Somalia and its neighbors are not Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. As I mentioned in the past:
An ideal approach might be a cooperative military function among neighboring countries, much the same way piracy in the Malacca Strait has gone down thanks to regional policing by countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. But considering the poverty and corruption of Somalia and its neighbors, it’s hard to argue against international policing of the waters by the U.S. or other allies.
Somalia doesn’t really have a government to speak of and it’s most likely the violent and powerful warlords who more or less run the country who are behind the bulk of the lucrative piracy industry. Somalia’s neighbors include such countries as Kenya, Djibouti, and Yemen, all of which are severely limited in contributing to a regional police force to combat piracy. That means the burden for providing security around the waters of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden lie on the over-tasked CTF-150 or individual security operations carried out by individual countries or vessel operators. While France and others are clamoring for the U.N. to do something about it, I wouldn’t hold my breathe.
Comments
Subscribe to our free monthly newsletter to have the latest 3PLwire articles delivered directly to your inbox. Just enter your email below:Tell us what you're thinking...