SECURITY
All to Blame
According to a new study, Somali piracy is likely to remain a problem for a
long while to come not because the country isn't functioning, not because the
pirates are greedy devils, but because the key players have a vested interest
in its existence, a research paper published by the German Institute for
Economic Research (DIW Berlin) has found.
The study emphasised the role of the insurance industry, which, it claims, has
an interest in the persistence of piracy. "Insurance companies, although they
have to pay out ransoms, also make considerable profits because of their
ability to raise premiums for piracy, which is still very rare," authors Sarah
Percy and Anja Shortland claim.
Risk analysts and companies that provide services in ransom negotiations were
also among those who benefit from Somali piracy, they said. "The cost of the
ransom is in the region of only a fifth of the total costs arising from the
average successful hijack," the researchers write.
However, the paper found that the "perhaps largest obstacle to ending piracy"
was the shipping industry itself.
According to the report there were not enough incentives for shipowners to
alter their procedures in a way that would end piracy. They pointed to the fact
that only a small percentage of the ships trading off Somalia actually become
victims of piracy.
About 20% of ships trading in the area choose not to make use of the transit
corridor provided by the ATALANTA mission, they said. "Many shipowners are
choosing not to spend the money to institute even the cheapest of practises
recommended by the navy, like putting barbed wire on ships."
We're not so sure that insurers are to blame, but from experience we have to
say we agree that some bad industry elements do have vested interests we've
met shonky negotiators that seem more than happy to eke out a few extra days of
work by slowing the process, there are the shady middle men who grow
(legitimately) fat on this human trade, and then there are the shipowners who
simply do not ensure their crews have the first clue of what to do, where and
when. So there we are you are no better than the pirates!
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