Pirate attacks double; ransoms shoot up

A whopping USD 150 million has been paid by ship owners as ransom to modern pirates of high seas from Somalia, in the last 18 months, for the safe return of over a 1,000 seafarers a majority of them being Indians.

Moreover, ICC International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB) report claims that piracy attacks around the world more than doubled to 240 from 114 during the first six months of the year, compared with the same period in 2008.

These disturbing facts came to light at a seminar held in Mumbai to address the issue of piracy and attended by ship owners, government agencies, ship managers, crew and NUSI, the National Union of Seafarers of India.

Mohit Kapoor, who organised the seminar, clubbed these stats with another report from The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which estimates that only half of pirate attacks are reported due to fear of the ships' reputation being marred, the chances of prolonged, time-consuming investigations and raising ships' insurance premiums.

Speaking to Sunday MiD DAY, Captain Navin Passey, MD Wallems Shipmanagement, stated that the ransom amounts have risen from 5,000 USD in the mid-nineties, when smaller fishing boats were targeted, to a whopping USD 3 million, which was recently paid for a captured ship.

B N Prasad, MD, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, stated that a gunman on a pirate ship aged between 20-35 earned up to 30,000 USD, which is a fortune in small countries like Somalia. Abdul Ghani Serang, General Secretary, NUSI, claimed, "Month after month, we keep getting news about Indians being taken hostages, but nothing substantial is being done."