Ships vulnerable to pirate attacks in Indian Ocean

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Somali pirates, who once hijacked ships sailing off the Gulf of Aden, have expanded their area of operation into the Indian Ocean and this explains why the number of victims is growing every year, said an expert.

Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, chief executive of the London-based Dryard Maritime Intelligence Service, which provides clients with intelligence and guidance on routing and pirate movements, noted that distance from the Somali coast is no longer a factor that limits pirates’ illegal activities.

“Pirates often use ships that have been pirated with long ranges,” Gibbon-Brooks said in an email interview with The Korea Times, Sunday. “The factor that limits their area of operation is the concentration of vessels on commonly used routes in the Indian Ocean.”

From the Somali perspective, Gibbon-Brooks noted, they are increasingly confident about their ability and encouraged by proliferation in the number of aspiring pirates.

The expert made the remarks days after the South Korean Navy rescued the 21 crewmembers of the 11,500-ton chemical carrier Samho Jewelry after launching a five-hour operation code-named “Daybreak of Gulf of Aden.” The ship was hijacked in the Arabian Sea, approximately 2,000 kilometers from the Somali coast, by pirates about a week before the rescue mission.

All of the crewmembers were rescued alive, but the 57-year-old captain was critically wounded after being shot several times. Five Somali pirates were captured alive, while eight others were shot dead during the gunfight.

Samho Jewelry was the eighth South Korean ship taken by Somali pirates. In April 2006, the fishing ship Dongwon, with 25 crewmembers aboard, came under attack near the Somali coast while fishing, marking the first South Korean vessel hijacked. All of the sailors from the ship were released four months later after a ransom was paid.

Over the past years, piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa has grown. Last year, more than 400 ships were attacked by Somali pirates, leaving 53 ships hijacked and 1,181 people taken hostage. In 2009, 217 attacks occurred in the region with 47 hijackings.

Gibbon-Brooks blamed ineffective anti-piracy policy for the increase.

“In essence, the development and increase in piracy has more to do with the lack of effective control of the problem rather than the pirates deliberately getting better at what they do,” he said.

The former Royal Navy officer said that the ineffective policy is the result of difficulties in detecting pirate activities and protecting ships in the vast Indian Ocean.

“The navies are unable to cover the whole area because it is so vast that the defense of merchant vessels is often down to the crews themselves. Proper training, drills and equipment are the key to effectively defeating an attack,” he said.

“Use of weapons by merchant vessels is legally and morally problematic, but the issues can be easily rectified with the proper research and briefing. Deployment of government troops on vessels would be cheaper than a warship and more effective, but for logistic reasons, that is problematic, too.”

The growing number of pirate attacks on ships sailing off the Somali coast, as well as in the Indian Ocean, has alarmed nations of the flagged ships as maritime piracy poses a grave threat to international trade.

Several governments, including the U.S, Canada, Denmark and India, have sent warships to protect and escort their ships sailing in the Gulf of Aden to guide them safely to their destinations.

Pirates: 소말리아 해적, 훔친 배 타고 다니며 인도양까지 해적활동벌여

소말리아 해적들은 피랍한 성능 좋은 배를 타고 다니며 행동반경을 인도양까지 넓혀나가고 있다고 영국의 해적 전문가는 밝혔다.

과거 해적들이 Skiff하고 불리는 소형 고무배트를 타고 소말리아 인근 해역서 해적활동을 하던 것과 비교해 보면 상당한 진전을 이룬 것.

런던에 있는 해상 보안 관련 정보를 기업들에 제공하는 업체의 대표인 기본-브룩스씨는 코리아 타임스와의 인터뷰에서 해마다 피랍 선박이 늘면서 소말리아 해적들이 자신감을 갖게 되었으며 더 많은 소말리아 사람들이 해적활동에 참여하게 되었다고 밝혔다.

작년 한해 전세계에서 53개의 선적과 총 1,181명이 해적들에 의해 피랍된 것으로 알려졌다.

기본-브룩스씨는 해마다 해적에 피해를 입는 선박과 선원이 증가하는 이유로 각국이 자국 선박들을 보호하기 위해 파견한 부대와 선박이 광활한 인도양 전체를 포괄하기에는 역부족이기 때문이라고 밝혔다.