Italy"s shipowners will push for European action to develop effective coastguard operations in the countries bordering the Gulf of Aden as a direct response to the threat of piracy in the area.
Italy"s shipowners will push for European action to develop effective coastguard operations in the countries bordering the Gulf of Aden as a direct response to the threat of piracy in the area.
?Europe should work to create a coastguard using small, fast boats, perhaps investing on a 50-50 basis with the countries of the area,? said Cesare d"Amico, chief executive of d"Amico Dry and president of the company security officers" group at shipowners" association Confitarma.
?The area needs to be patrolled but the forces there also need to be able to move swiftly. Reaction time would be much faster using small boats as part of a coastguard-type administration, and it would cost much less than deploying large navy vessels.?
Mr d"Amico noted that there were many such small craft laid up that could be donated to these countries.
?Of course, this needs to be well planned and co-ordinated, and it needs political backing,? he said. To that end, Confitarma would recommend such a course in an analysis of the piracy situation it is now preparing for the Italian government.
The hope is that Rome will then argue for the measure in international fora. Mr d"Amico described it as an opportunity for Italy to reinforce its leadership on the piracy issue, and noted that Italy was the first to send naval vessels to the area to protect its merchant ships as far back as 2005.
Mr d"Amico recently returned from Yemen, where he attended the launch of a new vessel tracking system supplied by Italy"s Selex Sistemi Integrati and covering part of the Yemeni coast.
?Eventually, it will be extended to cover the entire coastline,? Mr d"Amico said. ?It will give them the ability to keep a much closer eye on traffic moving through the Gulf of Aden.? A flexible and fast-moving coastguard presence would further enhance that capability.
With the Atalanta mission extended for a year, he said, Confitarma was also pushing for the creation of a safe corridor for shipping working routes to Mombasa and Mogadishu in the Indian Ocean. He noted that the pirates had shifted their attention to areas far to the south of the Gulf of Aden where the international presence was heaviest.
Mr d"Amico said Italy"s shipowners had discussed the idea with the Italian Navy, which had responded positively.
?We also got a kind of acceptance from Nato officials that it was do-able,? he said.
At the same time, he sharply criticised the many shipowners who did not do enough to protect their vessels and crews transiting the area. Shipowners could not simply rely on the international community to protect their interests at any cost.
?Shipowners can do a lot more. According to the figures Nato showed us, as much as 95% of the ships that have been hijacked so far were either not in the security corridor or were not following established procedures,? he said.
?Shipowners must appreciate that they are travelling through a dangerous area and take the necessary steps to reduce that danger.
?I don"t think it a question of money so much as lack of organisation,? he said.
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