CEOs targeted by anti-piracy campaign

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

SaveOurSeafarers.com (SOS) is lobbying support from business leaders to increase international pressure on governments to take firmer action to combat Somali piracy, writes David Badger.

Since its launch in March, the campaign has gained support from the UK, Philippines and Georgian governments. The website has attracted visits from 184 countries, leading to more than 26,000 letters from members of the public to the heads of state of more than 100 countries around the world.

The worsening violence and hostage-taking is costing the world economy an estimated $12 billion a year, said SOS Campaign Chair Giles Heimann.

“These criminal gangs are holding the world economy to ransom. Hundreds of seafarers have been held hostage and the physical and mental ill-treatment they are forced to suffer makes horrifying reading.

“Sixty-five seafarers have died as a direct result of Somali piracy in the past five years, through torture, murder, suicide, malnutrition and disease. The potential economic impact of the crisis is hugely disturbing, given the knife-edge on which the global economy is currently perched.

“Any business or organisation that conducts trade though the Suez Canal and across the Indian Ocean to the Indian sub-continent and Asia and Australasia is at risk. That’s about one-fifth of global trade.”

He added: “In business parlance, the pirate gangs have discovered the meaning of scalability – their criminal ‘business model’ now extends across an area of ocean twice the size of Europe.

“If this situation continues, there is a real risk that the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and the entire Indian Ocean could become restricted zones for shipping. Using alternative routes will play havoc with costs and there is no alternative to sailing through the area for over 40% of all seaborne oil which originates from the Arabian Gulf region.

“Part of the role of business leaders is to seek opportunities and identify threats,” added Heimann. “Shipping industry representatives are in a position to make direct contact with world business leaders. We see it as our duty to warn them of the threat to their businesses posed by severe restrictions to one-fifth of the world’s major sea trade routes.

“We hope that in turn, they will bring pressure upon their respective governments to eliminate the piracy threat.”

SaveOurSeafarers was established in March 2011 and is calling for unified action to raise awareness of the human and economic cost of piracy.