On a Vital Route, a Boom in Piracy

Two pirate skiffs burn in the Gulf of Aden after their capture this month by an international military coalition. (Courtesy Of Combined Maritime Forces)

At least 22,000 ships pass each year through the Gulf of Aden, including tankers carrying 4 percent of the world's daily oil supplies. Nearly one-third of the world's containerized cargo, as well as almost half of the world's bulk cargo, goes through the Indian Ocean and on to the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal, ferrying goods from India, China and elsewhere to the West.

The pirate attacks have pushed up shipping costs, increases that will be passed on to consumers. Ransom payments alone in the Gulf of Aden could surpass $50 million this year, according to Lloyd's List, the maritime industry's newspaper.

The hijackings have increased insurance costs tenfold this year for shipping in the Gulf of Aden and are creating an underwriting specialty devoted to Somalia piracy alone, Lloyd's List said.

For the shipping industry, the alternative to the Gulf of Aden is rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of South Africa, a route that is thousands of miles longer. For that reason and because operating costs for giant vessels can run $20,000 to $30,000 a day, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center, the world's ships continue to run the Gulf of Aden, and the hijackings continue.

"We hope the international community does something about it, before it gets out of control," Choong said.

International waters are generally unpoliced. But in mid-August, the U.S.-led maritime coalition set up a secure shipping lane through the Gulf of Aden with a heavy presence of vessels and aircraft from Western navies. Pirates have hijacked vessels even inside the security area, however, according to Choong and Winstanley.

European Union leaders, spurred by Sarkozy, gave provisional approval last week for a naval mission off Somalia. The French are also circulating a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council urging nations to contribute warships and aircraft to the fight against piracy off Somalia.

On Friday, a Russian warship that had been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden earlier in the week rushed to intercept the Ukrainian vessel that was captured off Somalia on Thursday.

Coalition warships have thwarted at least 12 hijacking attempts since setting up the maritime security area, Winstanley said. Coalition forces in recent days sank two pirate skiffs after removing their crews, Winstanley said.

France has been the most aggressive, sending helicopter gunships and warships to Somalia after the hijackings of the two French yachts. After hijackers released Le Ponant's crew for ransom, French commandos recovered part of the money and captured six alleged pirates to take back to France for trial. The French have also killed at least one pirate.

Only two crew members of hijacked ships are known to have been killed. Winstanley said those deaths appeared unintentional.

Most shipping companies choose to pay ransoms rather than resist the pirates and risk injury to their crews or damage to their cargoes and vessels, Winstanley said.