Joint War Committee
Ships entering the Indian Ocean from the south between the coast of
Africa and Madagascar will now need to notify underwriters (Circular
below).
Somalian Piracy
The area where ships are at risk continues to widen into the
Indian Ocean and despite the naval presence, the number of pirate
attacks has increased with over half of all vessels attacked
being fired on. The great majority of vessels
hijacked had not registered with MSCHOA or reported to UKMTO
and were thus unable to benefit fully from the naval protection
which is available. Out of 15,000 vessels which did register their
transits, only 2 were taken.
Legal aspects remain problematic and of 650 pirates captured since
late 2008, 460 have had to be released.
On 30th November, the UN Security Council unanimously renewed
its authorization of anti-piracy measures to combat piracy off Somalia's
coast (Resolution 1897), which allows foreign nations to send
warships into Somalia's territorial waters for another year.
BMP (Best Management Practices)
The BMP document gives guidance for vessels transiting the area
and the current version is BMP V2, last revised in August 2009. It is clearly
necessary for adequate training and regular practice to be given to
crews to enable them to be efficient in self-defence. Low
speed operation has been identified as a factor which
significantly increases vulnerability.
The British Government has produced this chart which neatly summarises navigation issues.
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