The European Shippers Council (ESC) is the latest organisation to grow concerned over the advance of piracy in the western Indian Ocean.
The European Shippers Council (ESC) is the latest organisation to grow concerned over the advance of piracy in the western Indian Ocean.
“The attacks occurring so far out to sea appears almost unprecedented in the modern era. ESC, representing the freight interests of European business, has considerable sympathy for the ship operators and their crews, who are facing this added peril at sea, and fully understands that many must feel they have to take avoiding action in order to protect themselves,” the shippers’ group said in a statement. ESC referred to recent remarks by BIMCO, which suggested that the area of the Gulf of Aden and surrounding area be boycotted and that shipping used the longer routes via the Cape of Good Hope. Such strategies would have an enormous impact on supply chains and therefore the overall economy,” warned the ESC.
“Large-scale implementation of such a boycott would lead to serious economic consequences for many businesses, already stretched by the effects of slow steaming, rising fuel and energy prices, unstable and uncertain market demand, and austerity measures in the public and private sectors in Europe, North America and elsewhere,” Jean-Louis Cambon, chairman of the ESC’s Maritime Transport Council and head of Michelin’s ocean management committee said.
“Companies are focused on cost reduction within their supply chains, efficiency enhancements, productivity increases, greater flexibility and agility in their supply chains. The proposal to divert all shipping away from the affected areas, via the Cape of Good Hope, would add further strains on business, and not least, greater costs.”
* American Shipper
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