Piracy costing shipowners US$9-billion a year

The costs arise from higher insurance premiums, longer routes to avoid pirate-infested areas, armed guards posted on-board ship and ransoms that are paid for the release of hijacked vessels and crews.

Anil Devli of the Indian National Shipowners Association confirmed that Somali pirates are holding 26 ships and 600 crew in captivity after the vessels were hijacked. Piracy has flourished off the Horn of Africa since 1991 and he says while there are military patrols in the area, the region is too vast to effectively patrol.

Devli has urged the Indian government to put forward a proposal to set up an international military association through the United Nations that would have a legal mandate to board any ship. It wants the UN to have the right to fire on pirates' vessels.

It is also pushing for the establishment of a "no ship zone" off the Somalian coast, which would prevent pirate ships from entering or leaving Somalian waters. Indian ship owners have deployed armed security guards on-board their ships and this move has been effective in preventing piracy.

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