The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has come out strongly against any moves to ban ransom payments to pirates.
This follows the intergovernmental conference on Somalia hosted by the United Kingdom last month.
”The international shipping industry notes with some concern that the Conference outcomes do not appear to include any firm political commitment or new actions to eliminate or significantly reduce the scourge of Somali piracy in the immediate future,” an ICS spokesman said.
”The shipping industry would be deeply concerned by any suggestion that the payment of ransoms to pirates in order to secure the release of seafarers being held hostage should be prohibited or criminalised.
”The primary concern of the industry is humanitarian, and shipowners have a duty of care to their crews and their families. In the event that seafarers are taken hostage, the inability of the international community to eliminate piracy or rescue hostages means that shipowners have no option but to pay ransoms. The alternative would be for shipowners to abandon their crews to months if not years of appalling treatment - including torture and murder, which has already been the result when ransoms have not been paid.”
In the event that ransom payments were prohibited or criminalised, many seafarers and shipping companies would understandably refuse to sail in the affected danger area, with significant implications for the large proportion of world trade, including about 40% of world oil shipments which are transported via the Western Indian Ocean, the ICS points out.
”ICS strongly believes that effective compliance with Best Management Practices (preventive measures) by shipping companies, and recent military intervention with a more aggressive stance, has reduced the pirates’ rate of success. However, the current situation remains totally unacceptable, with about 200 seafarers still being held hostage in the most terrible conditions, with thousands more still having to transit the danger area in constant fear of their lives.
ICS will continue to work to ensure that the problem of piracy retains sufficient political and public attention so that the crisis might be properly and decisively addressed in the immediate future.”
