Maersk to re-route ships to avoid piracy

November 21, 2008 by Splatty  
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Is it just me or are these pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia increasing dramatically in frequency? We have posted numerous times on many of these individual attacks over the past year and are now seeing steps taken by companies to prevent themselves from becoming the next target.

Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, announced that they will begin diverting oil tankers in order to avoid potential attacks.

From the official press release from Maersk:

In order to continuously ensure the safety of our crews as well as vessels and cargo, A.P. Moller – Maersk has updated the policy for vessels entering the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of East Africa. The update is a consequence of the recent development in piracy hijackings in the area.

Vessels without adequate speed or freeboard will for the time being avoid the Gulf of Aden and seek alternative routing south of the Cape of Good Hope and east of Madagascar. However, based upon availability of escorts these vessels may join naval convoy transit in the Gulf of Aden.

“The policy change will primarily impact our tanker vessels. Only three container vessels will be affected and we expect to further limit the impact by redeployment.

According to an article I read on the WSJ, re-routing of these vessels will increase transit times anywhere from 8 to 14 days and raise the fuel bills for these tankers by 20% to 25%. I would not be surprised to see other companies taking similar measures in the very near future.

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