Somalian Piracy
Owners are increasingly seeking the protection of security detachments. The standards of these vary and underwriters may be interested to know that an independent vetting organisation has been set up to establish some measurable standards for such companies. If an owner has engaged a company, underwriters are now able to contact SAMI (Security Association for the Maritime Industry) to see if that company has been registered.
IMO has recently produced some guidelines for owners and flag states on parameters for security companies. However, flag states have generally failed to clearly specify whether they allow armed guards, thus leaving legality an open question. The UK insurance position will in the first instance take account of Section 41 of the MIA, the implied warranty of legality under English law.
The area where ships are at risk is enormous. The JWC considered the increased range of the pirates given their use of substantial motherships and expanded the area of enhanced risk in JWLA016 (in circulars below). Pirate tactics continue to evolve. The lack of countries willing to prosecute captured pirates means that considerable numbers of captured pirates are simply released. The US Executive Order effectively requires insurers to contact OFAC should they be involved in a piracy case.
EUNAVFOR believes that voyage registration is improving but up to 25% of vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden fail to register with MSCHOA or report to UKMTO and are therefore unable to benefit fully from the naval protection which is available. In one sample of incidents, out of 15,000 vessels which registered their transits, only 2 were taken.