Pirates of the Somalian Coast

At the moment, almost all the cars JPC export to Europe are shipped through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea. On the way there, around Somalia near the Red Sea is the area where the world highest number of robberies by pirates occur. In 2007, there were 44 cases, which was 2.2 times more than the previous year. In 2008, by the end of September, it had reached 66 cases already.

Until a few years ago, it usually happened in Asia, mainly around Indonesia and the Straits of Malacca; but now it is getting less and less every year thanks to the big effort of the countries around there to prevent the crime.

On the other hand, in Somalia, there has been civil conflict since 1990 and now it is more or less in a state of anarchy. They cannot control pirates. There, pirates can live a wealthy life so more fishermen have turned into pirates and they are committing new crimes everyday.

The Gulf of Aden, sitting at the north of the country, is an important choke point for marine traffic between Europe and Asia through the Red Sea. All marine vessels using the Suez Canal go through there. Especially lately, because of the economic development in emerging nations such as Russia, China and India, trade between Europe and Asia has increased suddenly; and more tankers and container ships go through the Gulf of Aden. The traffic volume of container ships has increased by 2.5 times within the 10 years up to 2007 and most of the ships went through the Gulf. I am worried if the number of thefts by pirates increases, it might affect cars we export from JPC; which might eventually cause trouble between us and our customers.

According to the media, the governments of the other countries and shipping companies are having headaches about this repetition of the incident of piracy around Somalia. Recently some vessels owned by Japanese shipping firms were attacked. Some shipping companies have now changed the route not going through the Suez Canal but going around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. However, because it takes a lot longer, so the fuel cost will be reflected on the freight cost.

If the domestic administration inside Somalia becomes stable and they start policing themselves, it would be the fundamental solution but at this stage we cannot expect that. All the other countries have to work together to protect the route. UN’s Security Council adopted a resolution doing other countries policing around the Somalian maritime border and navies from USA and member states of the European Union are already there. Unfortunately they are having difficulties stopping new pirates springing up one after another. Japan might have to send our Maritime Self-Defense Force one day to co-operate with the ships already there but under the Japanese Constitution, protecting foreign vessels is prohibited, so it is not very clear if it is going to happen in the near future.

We are in the 21st century. It is the time of convenience when not only marine transport, but air transport goes anywhere in the world. This is not the 17 century when “Pirates of the Caribbean” existed but the damage from the piracy we cannot prevent easily will be a serious issue for a while. When our customers buy cars from overseas, we advise them to buy marine insurance. Please protect your car from nasty pirates with insurance.


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(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955