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Maersk hires war ship to protect tanker |
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Monday, 04 January 2010 |
 Danish shippers are taking more extreme measures to provide safety for the fleets sailing in pirate waters Danish shipper A.P. Moller Maersk has hired out soldiers and a warship from Tanzania to protect its fleet in pirate-ridden waters off the coast of Africa,
and now other shippers are expected to follow suit.
Maersk hired the warship through former special forces soldiers working
for firm Guardian GBS security in December 2008. The ship was charged
with protecting the Brigit Maersk tanker from pirates. It is unknown
how much the shipping company paid for the service.
‘The waters east of Africa are a grey zone because developing
countries don’t have resources to fight pirates. It’s a temporary
solution that a shipper has hired a warship from another country, but
there’s no alternative,’ said Jan Fritz Hansen, vice-president of the
Danish Shipowners’ Association.
Steffen Jacobsen, technical director at Maersk Tankers, said the company checked first to make sure the move was legal.
‘That’s why we chose it as an alternative solution to a very critical situation,’ he said.
It is not the first time a Danish shipper has hired out military
protection for traversing shipping routes off the coast of Africa.
Norden previously hired out an armed security ship to accompany its
vessels in the area, and the company’s senior vice-president, Lars
Lundegaard, said he wouldn’t rule out hiring a war ship from the
Tanzanian navy in the future.
However, military expert Lars Bangert Struwe from the Danish Institute
for Military Studies fears it could be a dangerous development.
‘In the short term it could be a good solution for Maersk. But
long-term, it’s a dangerous development because it will make poor
African countries reliant on private companies’ money to run their
militaries.’
Source: KR News
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