January 2009 – The Somali Piracy Records. III

Focusing on the wrath of the Somali elders against the irresponsible and uncooperative MV FAINA ship owner, Ecoterra 112th Press Release Update offers an across-the-board information on the latest developments in the Horn of Africa. I therefore publish it herewith integrally.

112th Update 2009-01-16 23h48:22 UTC

Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates and related news.

We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!

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Day 114 - 2721 long hours into the MV FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now nearly four months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved, though contacts and some form of negotiations are said to have continued.

Traditional elders from Central Somalia expressed their anger today at a meeting and were reportedly outraged over the fact that the owner of MV FAINA obviously still is not able to negotiate directly with the abductors of crew and vessel, while the representatives of the owner continuously would try to play the elders against each other. The elders, who themselves are powerless to fight with the well-equipped pirates had offered their assistance to mediate and calmed critical situations down since the beginning of the crisis - only to realize that they were being misused. One of the elders, who didn't want to be named for fears of reprisals, stated clearly that he is embarrassed how the help the traditional leaders had offered to solve the case without bloodshed has been messed up by the negotiators. That's why the elders had walked now away from the Ukrainian team.

Ukraine is now ready to pump Russian natural gas to Europe free of charge until an appropriate agreement is signed but for the pumping to begin Russia should first deliver gas to the Ukrainian transit pipeline system, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday at a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Itar-Tass received the information from Yushchenko’s press secretary Irina Vannikova. She quoted Yushchenko saying it is desirable for the Russian side to pump 330 million cubic meters of gas into the pipelines a day. But fact is that citizens in many European countries still have to freeze and go hungry, because Ukraine and Russia can not solve their problems.

The MV FAINA was one of at least 49 ships that pirates seized last year off the Horn of Africa during a surge in piracy driven in part by Somalia's growing poverty and instability. The multimillion dollar ransoms are one of the only ways to make money in the impoverished nation.

Mr. Vadim Alperin (alias Vadim Oltrena Alperin, alias Vadim Galperin) was named in the Ukrainian parliament as the real owner of the vessel, while Mr. V. Murenko is believed to act as the managing proprietor with Mrs. E. Kopitsyna as executive director.

Ecoterra Intl. demands immediate humanitarian assistance to be allowed, facilitated and dispatched to the vessel, and calls for human rights protection to be provided for all crew members, their families in Russia and Ukraine as well as for all well-meaning people assisting in solving the case, which have been subjected already to serious threats, acts of intimidation and persecution.

Ecoterra Intl. repeats its call to solve the FAINA case now with absolute top priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed by the captors and facilitated by the owners. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen or those, who believe they would be capable to try an attempt of a military solution, must be held fully responsible for the surely resulting disaster. The saga and secrecy surrounding MV FAINA must not - like in the MS ESTONIA case, which is the worst naval disaster in Europe since WWII - become the shroud for its 20 seafarers.

Clearing-house:

News from other abducted or newly attacked ships --------

Games Crazy People Play: Kidnapping, Pirating, and War - Naval War-games to protect Fish-piracy and to cover the real agenda !

The owners of a Danish operated, Bahamas-flagged general cargo vessel, held for 68 days by Somali pirates since 07th November say the ship and its crew of 13 have been released after a ransom was paid. Per Gullestrup, head of the Clipper Elite Carrier shipping company, confirmed today that the dry-cargo ship with a gross tonnage of 4980 is now free and its crew is safe. Gullestrup said the ransom was placed in a container that was parachuted from a small plane to a spot identified by the pirates, but he did not specify how much ransom was paid. A battery-driven note counter was also part of the package. Although Gullestrup did not disclose the sum, reports have suggested that the "going rate" for the release of a ship ranges between 1 and 2 million dollars.

After picking up the ransom, the pirates counted the sum on the vessel. The pirates collected the money earlier this week but nine of the two dozen pirates did not leave the vessel until overnight Friday. The final release of the vessel was delayed two days because nine of the 25 pirates on board had demanded they be allowed to hitch a ride with the vessel. The nine left the vessel during the night by speedboat. The shipping company is refusing to say how much money was paid, but did say that pirates in the Gulf of Aden usually demand around 1 to 2 million dollars per ship with crew. It was on Friday heading to Salalah in Oman under escort by a Russian warship (the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Vinogradov), though a Danish naval vessel has for some months been deployed in the waters off Somalia to assist international efforts to protect shipping lanes threatened by pirates.

The pirates did not harm the mostly-Russian crew. "According to the operator of the ship, the crew members are fine and feeling well. It is a great pleasure and relief to be able to inform the sailors' families about this", Foreign Minister Urmas Paet was reported by the Baltic News Service as saying. The Foreign Ministry is prepared to offer whatever aid is necessary to get the Estonian crew members home, spokespeople said. The ship, built in 1994 in Denmark, was captured with 6,000 tonnes (6,600 short tons) of steel en route from Rotterdam via Middle East to Indonesia. Persistent rumours in Somalia speak of weapons having been stashed below the steel load, which so far could neither be verified nor ruled out. It is now heading for Oman, where the crew, which includes 11 Russians, one Estonian and one Georgian, will be replaced before it continues to its final destination, Gullestrup said. Clipper, which operates some 250 vessels, now will send ships into the Gulf of Aden only under naval escort, he said.

Two Yemeni security officials say a local fisherman was killed and three wounded during a Russian operation to foil an attempted pirate attack on a Dutch container ship in the Gulf of Aden, IHT reports. The officials — from the Interior Ministry and the coast guards — say the fishermen were shot when a Russian navy helicopter opened fired at three suspected Somali pirate skiffs trying to attack the Dutch vessel Tuesday. They say the fishermen happened to be in two boats nearby. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Later the media centre of the interior ministry confirmed that Yemeni fishermen was killed and other two injured due to clashes in Aden Gulf with Somalia pirates on Tuesday. Yemeni authorities are investigating the killing of the local fisherman during an anti-piracy operation by a Russian navy ship in the Gulf of Aden, the interior ministry said on Thursday. It said that Somali pirates attempted to hijack a Dutch vessel and 'clashed' with the Yemeni fishermen, who were sailing nearby on two fishing boats. They said a preliminary investigation showed the three fishermen were hit by fire from a Russian helicopter.

The centre said that a boat of the Yemeni coastguard found three injured Yemeni sailors on board of two fishing boats close to a Russian frigate in the sea. One of the three injured died and the other two have received first aide in the frigate and then have been transported to the Aden seaport. The Aden-based al-Ayyam daily quoted one of the fishermen as saying that they came under fire from a helicopter sent by the Russian frigate, not the pirates. Ameen Sulaiman Salim, 22, told the paper that the helicopter opened fire on the fishing boats nearly 22 miles from the town of al-Buraiqa, near Aden. 'We kept waving to them and appealed to them to stop shooting, but they continued', Salim said. The Russian Defence ministry said it had no information on the new turn of the incident. Still the Yemeni governmental statement, claiming that 4 suspected pirates had been handed over to Yemen by German naval forces, which was termed untrue by the German Government, remains not clarified.

While the Indian Embassy in Nairobi was informed that 3 seamen of Indian nationality were kidnapped from a MV Victoria 4, a fish collector operated by Southern Engineering Company (SECO) of Mombassa / Kenya, the story revealed by family members sounds different: Concerned over his safety after being kidnapped by Somali pirates in the bordering waters of Kenya on January 7, the relatives of a maritime technician from the port city of Visakhapatanam voiced their anxiety. They shared their anguish with the media persons at Visakhapatanam. The news came into light when the marine technician, Palaniswamy Saravanan's wife approached the media for help in the release of her husband. The 35-years old engineer, who is a native of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, was among the eleven marine technicians abducted by the suspected Somali pirates. However, the kidnappers released all the eight Kenyan nationals but detained the abducted Indians in their custody, demanding ransom. Saravanan's wife came to know through Philip, the assistant manager of the shipping company in which he was employed. She learnt that the vessel in which her husband was on board was abducted by the pirates. When she tried to contact him again, he asked her not to call him as the pirate-kidnappers were tapping his phone. Kodanda Rao, the brother-in-law of Saravanan said that he was trying to contact the police and other concerned authorities, but the 'Pongal' holidays had put his efforts in vain. "Manager Phillips said the Somali pirates had kidnapped a vessel. The vessel had eight people out of which five Kenyans have been released and the other three have been held. They are demanding a lot of money. We don't have so much money. One person is from Kerala and one is from Tamil Nadu", said Rao. "Saravanan has been working on an annual contract in the Southern Marine Engineering Company of Somalia. He was asked to go for repair works of another vessel of the company, when he was on board MV ALFA MANYAN off Somali seacoast. He was sent with local technicians in a tug. While on their way to another ship in the sea, they were caught by the pirates and kidnapped".

There are, however, certain discrepancies:

a) The company SECO Ltd. is a Kenyan company and part of the Alpha Group, infamous for illegal fishing in Somalia.

b) Southern Engineering Ltd (SECO) of Kenya has no legal standing in Somalia and Southern Engineering Somalia is not existing.

c) The vessel quoted as MV ALFA MANYAN is actually FV ALPHA MANYARA, a vessel - also belonging to the Alpha Group - which has caused havoc in Southern Somalia as well as in the fishing grounds of Kenya, but the vessel reported from where the alleged abduction of the 3 Indians took place is called MV Victoria 4, according to the police report.

d) While in the reported version from India 8 Kenyans were released from an attacked tug sent to repair FV ALPHA MANYARA, the Kenya Police had noted four remaining Kenyans from MV Victoria 4, who reported that the 3 Indians were kidnapped and 50.000 KSh as well as a VHF-Radio were stolen by the abductors, who allegedly left MV Victoria 4 in Kiunga, because there was low tide and no chance to move with the vessel.

e) MV Victoria 4 has returned to Mombassa.

f) Kenya police have one person in custody, who is said to have been one of the two Somali and four Kenyan hi-jackers, who attacked the crew during the near full-moon night at 04h00 on MV Victoria 4 at her mooring off Kiunga - directly under the eyes of Kenya's most northern Kenya Navy stronghold.

With the additional information revealed by the family of the Indian seafarers, the whole saga becomes much more plausible, but also more complicated to resolve, because past time clandestine dealings with Somalia by the company involved certainly will have to be assumed as being a major part of the background and the motives to the case.

Somali pirates, who as reported seized last Saturday a Yemeni cargo ship, the MT SEA PRINCESS II, carrying 2000 tons of diesel bound for Socotra Island, and are demanding $ 8 million in ransom to release the vessel. The director of the Diesel and Gas Supply Division at the al-Essa Trading Establishment Juma Uod said the pirates also threaten to kill the ship crew, 15, two of whom are Yemenis, if a ransom is not paid soon. Negotiations for a ransom of only $ 2 million are under way, he says. Since the hijacking of the ship, the island has suffered a crises caused by shortages of diesel as many institutions stopped operating, Uod said. Electricity is cut off at these institutions and water is no longer supplied, he added. Though vice president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi ordered to supply diesel to the Island as soon as possible, ships refuse to transfer diesel to the Island asking for protection from possible pirate attacks, a local council official said.

The Malaysian warship KD Mahawangsa had sailed to the Gulf of Aden on Sept 7 last year to escort merchant ships plying the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden. One of its mission was to escort the Bunga Mas Enam and another merchant ship to Djibouti, Somalia. KD Mahawangsa commanding officer Capt. Khalid Jaafar narrated now that the container vessel had fallen an hour behind due to the mechanical failure. The vessel's crew then radioed in to say that eight skiffs were approaching the vessel. "I decided to send the Super Lynx team (to watch over the vessel) while we make our way back to the vessel", Capt. Khalid said. He said it was an anxious moment for him and his crew. Commander Sazalee Shoib, commander of the Super Lynx helicopter unit, was watching over the MISC container vessel Bunga Mas Enam which had stalled due to mechanical problems in November last year. Below him, two skiffs (fast small fishing vessels) filled with pirates were already near the vessel with six other skiffs rushing to the scene.

Commander Sazalee said there was a possibility that the pirates carried rocket launchers and other weapons.

So he kept a safe distance but close enough to show the pirates that he meant business. "Under the rules of engagement, we are not allowed to fire unless fired upon first", said Commander Sazalee when met at the naval base here yesterday. The pirates, probably considering their options, decided not to do anything. After an hour, they retreated upon seeing the warship KD Mahawangsa. The KD Mahawangsa returned to base in Malaysia on Dec 17 and was replaced by the KD Sri Inderasakti, The Star reported.

Past reporting suggests efforts to hijack vessels increase as wind speeds decrease. Pirates appear to be most active and successful when average wind speeds are between 0 to 10 knots. Activity is also reported when winds are between 10 to 15 knots but pirates appear to be less successful under such conditions. Little to no incidents are reported when winds average between 15 to 20+ knots. This time of year, when prevailing monsoon winds blow from the North-east, wind speeds are lower and more conducive to piracy operations closer to the Yemeni coast and less favourable in the central Gulf of Aden.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 13 foreign vessels with a total of 243 crew members accounted for (of which 44 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by naval forces. For 2009 the account stands at 11 abandoned attacks and 2 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as one wrongful attack by friendly fire on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly related news ------

U.S. Navy commander Vice Admiral William Gortney announced the United States will soon be able to move aggressively to capture pirates off the coast of Somalia -- and bring them to trial. Gortney, who is the commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, says the U.S. is nearing a deal with an unidentified country in the region to take captured pirates into custody and try them. Up until now, no country has been willing to hold the pirates, so the United States has limited its operations to disrupting and deterring pirates, but not capturing them. However, he noted that only about one-tenth of one percent of the tens of thousands of ships that pass through the Gulf of Aden each year are seized. Denmark and the United States are two of several nations that have put warships on anti-piracy patrols in the region. U. S. Navy Vice Admiral William Gortney, who is the commander of the U. S. 5th Fleet, said that the country's imminent deal, in the final stages of negotiations, with an unrevealed country would mark its aggressive approach towards capturing pirates off the Somalia coast.

Gortney said, by next week, he expects the approval a plan whereby suspected pirates will be captured in Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden waters off the Horn of Africa, taken into custody, and delivered to a country in the region for imprisonment and prosecution. Though Gortney declined to disclose the other country involved, he said at a news conference at the Pentagon: "The State Department is close on finalizing an agreement. We are going to aggressively go after pirates. It's going to be a mixture of surveillance and then rapid action once we observe them". Under the present rules in force, the sailors only impound weapons found on pirate ships and dump them overboard; letting the offenders go scot-free since there exists no system for their detention. Gortney said "pirate paraphernalia" is mostly inclusive of rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47 rifles, and ladders for mounting big ships. Saying that piracy eventually has to be solved inside Somalia, the Admiral Gortney added that the new rules of engagement will bring about greater effectiveness to his operations to prevent piracy. Under the new plan, his forces will be arresting the "suspected pirates"- even if they may not be in the act of attacking a ship.

For a third day, Islamist insurgents fired mortar bombs at Somalia’s presidential palace, underlining fears of more bloodshed after Ethiopian troops supporting the government quit bases in Mogadishu. Witnesses said AU security forces guarding the hill-top palace compound in the capital responded with their own volley of artillery shells. The last Ethiopian troops have left the Somali capital Mogadishu, two years after they were instrumental together with interim government forces to capture the city from Islamist governance. Some sources say Islamist insurgents have taken four of the bases vacated by the Ethiopians, while government forces control the other two. Much of Mogadishu is reportedly in the hands of the Islamists. A number of government buildings and the airport are being guarded by troops of the African Union peacekeeping force. The Ethiopian withdrawal is part of a deal which Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein negotiated with moderate Islamists in October. The agreement calls for the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force. However, radical Islamists oppose the deal. Today Prime Minister Hussein announced that he will run for president and likewise Mohamed Mohamud Guled (Ga'madheere), the present Interior Minister. The Somali parliament will elect a president on 26 January in Djibouti to replace Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, who resigned last month after loosing a power struggle with the prime minister.

Kenya is faced with an imminent food crisis, with up to 10 million people faced with threat of starvation. Despite this, maize in thousands of tones has illegally been sold abroad. The Nation has exclusively reported that the unfolding maize scandal could cost the taxpayer a whopping Sh825 million. Another scandal involves the irregular transactions involving the Kenya Pipeline Company and an Oil marketer - Triton Limited - in which financiers risk losing up to Sh7.6 billion.

The Dutch government, meanwhile, said Thursday that it will prosecute five suspected pirates captured this month by the Danish navy off the coast of Somalia after reaching an extradition agreement with Denmark. The ministers of justice from Denmark and the Netherlands agreed on the extradition during a brief meeting on the sidelines of an informal gathering of European justice ministers in Prague, Czech Republic, said Dutch spokesman Wim van der Weegen. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin informed Danish counterpart Brian Nikkelsen at a European ministers' meeting in Prague that the Dutch were ready to begin judicial proceedings against the pirates, his spokesman told AFP. The Dutch prosecutor's office was drawing up specific charges, but the suspects likely would be tried for piracy under international law, he said. It was unclear when the suspected pirates would be handed over. The Danish navy captured the men in the Gulf of Aden on Jan. 2 after receiving a distress call from an the MV SAMANYOLU, a cargo ship carrying the flag of the Netherlands Antilles, whose crew fended off the pirates with signal flares until a Danish ship arrived and sank the attacking vessel.

After criticism, stating that the Kenyan maritime authorities would hardly ever monitor marine distress calls, though equipment had been installed, Kenya Maritime Authority Director-General Nancy Karigithu says it relays relevant information on pirates to security agencies, including the Navy. She says they also receive distress calls from attacked pilots and share the information. "We are part of the team pushing for the establishment of an information centre for the region. The centre will enhance exchange of information on pirates", she says. She adds that they are working with the International Maritime Organisation to review the legal framework and enhance prosecution of suspected pirates.

Feature

Piracy Whose Risk Is It Anyway?
London Insurers Should Rethink Piracy Policies
Article by Jonathan Bruce

15 January 2009

The problem of piracy has recently hit new heights in Somalia with the hijacking of FAINA and Sirius Star. With the latter, we are talking of insured values of up $100m for the cargo and up to $150m for the hull, at a time when insurers are already under pressure. This is and always has been a problem for London, given that, ultimately, a large proportion of the assets at risk are likely to be insured or reinsured in London.

Since Hicks v Palington in 1590, it has been assumed that ransom payments are a subject for general average contribution. That seems fair, although the contributing parties should perhaps logically include P&I insurers, which will have a strong interest in releasing the crew and in preventing any major pollution incidents, and sue and labour expenses could well be covered in the relevant P&I rules/cover in any event. The clubs' worst case scenario might include a deliberate pollution incident by 'suicide' pirates just off the beautiful beaches of the Seychelles, for example. Alternatively, it is not difficult to foresee the taking of a cruiseship where the lives of more than 1,000 people could be at risk. So far the legal liability of P&I interests to contribute to ransom payments by way of general average has not been tested in the English Courts, but such a dispute cannot be far off, particularly where, for example, the insurer is not from the international group and the liability is potentially huge. So much for P&I, but there are plenty of other insurers that might be liable in a piracy, including cargo insurers, loss of hire insurers, and, for the vessel, hull or war risks insurers.

It is clear that the ICC(A) cargo clauses cover piracy, and that the (B) and (C) clauses do not (unless additional cover is purchased). The position there is very clear. The same, however, cannot be said in relation to coverage of ransom in respect of the vessel itself, even though ITCH 1983 or 1995 expressly covers 'piracy'.

Assuming that these attacks are covered as 'piracy', then ransom payments (arguably along with all the other expenses involved in dropping off the ransom and recovering the vessel) should be recoverable as a sue and labour expense (to avoid a total loss caused by piracy).

The issue is whether on certain facts this will be excluded from the hull insurance but instead falls on war risks. The issue might be fairly irrelevant in cases such as Sirius Star where it is understood that the hull and war risks underwriters are the same.

However, it is easy to imagine future cases where high-value vessels such as this have the hull and war risks placed with separate underwriters. Further, it is common for there to be no deductible for war risks (compared with a hefty deductible for hull), and likewise there might be separate warranties, such as a warranty not to sail within, say, 250 miles of the Somali coast, which may only be incorporated in one or other cover.

The ITCH clauses clearly cover 'piracy', but exclude loss or expense "caused by... any terrorist or any person acting from a political motive" (the 'Strikes' exclusion). Likewise they exclude loss or expense "caused by any weapon of war and caused by any person acting maliciously or from a political motive" (the 'Malicious Acts' exclusion).

It is also stated in ITCH that these exclusions "shall be paramount and shall override anything contained in this insurance inconsistent therewith". There is then an express buy back for these exclusions in the institute war and strikes clauses. The purpose of the drafters is clearly that piracy falls on the hull rather than the war risks underwriters, but it could be that this is not the case on certain facts. The Joint Hull and War Committees' 2005 wordings, which are rarely used, place piracy risks squarely on the war risks cover, so the concern relates to the traditionally used 1983 and 1995 wordings, where it could be argued that the position is less clear.

What exactly is piracy? The classic definition of a pirate is in Republic of Bolivia v Indemnity Mutual Mar Ass Co Ltd (1909), which is "a man who is plundering indiscriminately for his own ends, and not a man who is simply operating against the property of a particular state for a public end, the end of establishing a government, although that act may be illegal and even criminal, and although he may not be acting on behalf of a society which is politically organised".

It should be borne in mind, however, that this was an old case, on the f. c. & s. (free of capture and seizure) clauses, and modern day pirates are different, especially in the context of Somalia.

It seems that no one has produced any evidence that the acts of piracy that have taken place to date out of Somalia have been carried out for political purposes, but there is a fine line between these latest acts and acts of terrorism, which as above fall clearly on the war risks cover. At the very least, the problem might arise where the motives are a mixture of financial and political. With the sums at stake, one assumes that it is only a matter of time before evidence of political motives surfaces, no matter how dangerous it is to obtain that evidence.

In circumstances where warlords are raising huge sums of money, in a country where there has been no organised government for many years, it is not difficult to imagine ransom monies being channeled into weaponry purchased with the specific aim of gaining political control in Somalia, for example. Evidence of that would be very likely to trigger the 'Strikes' (or terrorism) exclusion in ITCH 83 or 95, passing the whole problem onto war risks.

Further, other difficulties could arise such as the ransom payment being illegal under English law under the Proceeds of Crime Act if, at the time the ransom was paid, the paying parties had reasonable belief that the organisation being paid was a terrorist one.

It is also conceivable that a hull insurer could seek to rely on the malicious acts exclusion, which would also put this risk, unwittingly perhaps, onto war risks. It is not difficult to articulate the behaviour of the Somali warlords who are behind these attacks as malicious in the extreme, and clearly they are using weapons that can be described as weapons of war. This point also seems to have been untested in the English Courts.

Against this backdrop of uncertainty, where delays and wranglings with insurers can literally mean the difference between life and death, it is not difficult to see why a proliferation of bespoke kidnap and ransom covers are suddenly being offered to shipowners, although many will have thought they already had this cover through their hull insurance.

Buying a specialised additional cover is one solution for the shipowner, but the likely long-term solution for the London market and its customers is to end the debate by making all forms of piracy, politically motivated or otherwise, a clear subject of the war risks cover, thus joining forces with the approach taken by most of the wordings drafted by London's competing markets. Until then, the ticking time bombs out there might not only be those in the hands of Somali pirates.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

End of Ecoterra 112th Press Release Update