Ship owners must invest in gaining intelligence to tackle piracy: Brooks

Dubai: The answer to the issue of piracy off the coast of Somalia lies not in sending more warships to the region, but in solving the political problems inside the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, a maritime expert told Gulf News.

"Sending [more] warships is like putting sticking plaster on a gunshot wound. You just can't put enough warships in an area of 250 million square nautical miles," Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the Southampton-based Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.

His comments follow the seizure of the oil-carrying Saudi supertanker MV Sirius Star last Saturday and the incident involving the Indian navy in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia, a strategically located state, has increased dramatically, with 36 ships seized so far this year.

But the international community only began to take serious note when pirates hijacked the arms-carrying Ukrainian-owned freighter, MV Faina, on September 25.

"This hijacking of vessels is business as usual as far as the pirates are concerned. There have been one to two pirate attacks each week since last year. What's unusual about the seizure of the Saudi tanker is where it took place - about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya. This is very far from the pirates' usual area of operations, in the Gulf of Aden," Brooks said.

The reason behind this may be the increased international patrolling in the Gulf of Aden.

There are two distinct groups of Somali pirates, one operating from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the other from the south, near Harardhere.

"In 2007, operations of the southern pirates had decreased, with warships normally escorting the ships carrying aid under the World Food Programme. The Puntland pirates have always been active. Gradually, the southern pirates also realised that the international coalition was not as effective as they thought it was."

Huge demand

Brooks said there were reports the pirates had demanded a ransom of $125 million (Dh459 million) for MV Sirius Star. The demand may be seen as excessive, given that the value of the cargo - 2 million barrels of crude - is estimated at $110 million.

"The ransom market can be compared to a tourist bazaar. If you are a tourist, trying to buy something in the bazaar, the dealer is always going to quote a ridiculous amount first. Then you negotiate and bring down the price," he said.

When MV Faina was seized, most analysts believed the pirates were not aware of what the vessel was carrying. It was felt the pirates had no intelligence network of their own. But, given the seizure of the Saudi tanker, is that true?

Prior knowledge, Brooks says, can ward off pirate attacks. "Ship owners must invest in gaining intelligence before passing dangerous waters," he said.