Piracy a growing concern for global maritime industry: Is going round the Cape of Good hope a viable solution?

Piracy has been escalating, now posing an ever so serious threat to the global maritime community, as all international efforts to curb the problem have failed. According to a new report from BIMCO, “what started out as a few sporadic attacks in the Gulf of Aden some years ago has now developed into “industrial piracy”. The pirates are no longer sailing around in skiffs only, they utilize “mother ships” from which they launch their attacks and in some cases they even use a hijacked commercial vessel as “mother ship”. This development has enlarged the piracy infested area to most of the northern part of the Indian Ocean – resulting amongst other things in an enlargement of the War Risk Zone by the Joint War Committee to cover much more than just the Gulf of Aden and subsequently increased costs as a result of increased insurance payments and longer sailing distances in order to avoid attacks and a potential hijack and hostage situation” says the report.
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Source: Hellenic Shipping News