Piracy: the ugly truth

تغيير خيارات الرسومات المنخفضة | تغيير اللغة | القفز عن المحتوى إلى الملاحة

محتوى الصفحة: Home > مجلة النقل الدولي "Transport International" > Issue 13 October 2003 > Piracy: the ugly truth

ITF translations available: Deutsch, Français, Español, Svenska
Google free translation service: Français, Español, Svenska, Nederlands, Italiano, Português, العربية, 中国的, Polski, Русский, 日本語, 한국의, Български, فارسی , Norske - About these links

Pirates are escalating the number and severity of their violent attacks on largely defenceless vessels. It is time to forget Treasure Island and face up to reality, says Andrew Linington

Piracy. For most people the word summons up images of Long John Silver, pieces of eight and the skull and crossbones. For most people – but not for most seafarers.

A recent British newspaper report on piracy appeared with the headline “Robin Hoods step up their attacks”. Once again, this deadly serious subject has been trivialised and reduced to something seen as a bit of a joke.

But for National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping Transport (NUMAST) members, and other seafarers exposed to this menace, piracy is no laughing matter. The reality, as opposed to the mythology, is that armed attacks on shipping and seafarers are increasingly violent, ruthless and potentially catastrophic.

There have, for instance, been an alarming number of cases in which ships have sailed at full speed through busy shipping lanes with no one at the controls because the crew have been tied up or held at gunpoint by pirates, or other incidents where the attackers have fired guns, grenades or even rockets at laden tankers and gas carriers.

Escalating danger
The statistics speak for themselves: more than 2,635 attacks in the past decade and as many incidents in the first three months of this year as in the whole of 1993. But not only are the numbers increasing, the levels of violence are escalating – with more than 3,300 cases of crew being killed, injured, assaulted, taken hostage or threatened since 1993. In the first three months of 2003, four crew were killed, 27 injured, 78 taken hostage and 24 missing – most likely dead.

And just about everyone in the industry agrees that these figures are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Research conducted in Japan supports assertions that barely one-third of attacks are actually reported.

Even worse, as the International Maritime Bureau has pointed out, what were once brushed aside as “maritime muggings” are now starting to turn into serious crime, with evidence of organised gangs stealing ships and cargoes to order.

NUMAST has been battling for many years to get the industry, governments and the public to take the matter seriously. We have had members murdered, injured and traumatised by attacks all over the world – and especially in the well known “hot spots” off Indonesia, Africa and Latin America.

Apathy and obstruction
The sad truth is that most of those with the power to do something about this problem seem at best disinterested, and at worst positively obstructive.

Owners seem content to cover themselves by issuing copious instructions for crews on extra watches, extra lookouts, extra pre-planning and post-incident response – but not a word about extra crew to carry out all this extra work. Shipmasters who sail in these areas will tell you how the need to keep a proper lookout and to ensure safe navigation while transiting narrow and busy waterways such as the Malacca Straits leave no spare personnel for anti-piracy watches.

We’ve said it before, and we will say it again: the average high street petrol station is better equipped against the threat of attack than the average ship, despite the potential for loss of life and environmental disaster posed by armed attacks on shipping.

الصفحة الرئيسية للأقسام:
Issue 13 October 2003

نسخة الرسومات الكاملة

إمكانية الدخول | مساعدة الموقع | خريطة الموقع

صحيفة الاتحاد الدولي لعمال النقل

ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR | +44 20 7403 2733 | mail@itf.org.uk