Hong Kong shipowners have warned that heavily armed Somali pirate gangs using large merchant ships as mother vessels could choke global trade between Asia and the Middle East and Europe unless governments take tougher action.
Arthur Bowring, managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, said pirates had already attacked and seized ships off the west coast of India. The warning comes as international shipping industry organisations today launch a six-point plan calling on governments to mount a more robust military approach to tackle the piracy menace.
'Who's to say they can't go through the Malacca Strait to the South China Sea?' Bowring said.
He pointed out merchant ships were sailing further south around the Cape of Good Hope from Asia to Europe where possible to avoid pirates further north where ships are being attacked on a daily basis. Ships heading from the Gulf to Asia attempt to hug the Indian coast to avoid attack.
Asked if pirates could threaten the Malacca Strait, the key sea route from Asia to Europe, Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, said: 'It's not to say it's impossible. Pirates are coming closer.'
With sufficient fuel, ocean-going mother vessels 'can go anywhere', he said, but the Malacca Strait was heavily patrolled by naval and coast guard ships from Malaysia, Indonesia and other nearby states.