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Too many ships ignore anti-piracy precautions, EU commission says |
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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
 Too many ships passing through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden ignore basic safety precautions, the European Union's executive said Thursday as it urged member states to warn shipping companies of the dangers.
Piracy off the Somali coast has soared in the last two years, despite
the efforts of some of the world's greatest military powers to impose
safety at sea.
"Unfortunately, about a quarter of the vessels of all
states passing through the area are still failing to register with the
Maritime Security Centre of the Horn of Africa (MSC-HOA)," the European
Commission said in a statement.
The MSC-HOA allows cargo and
passenger vessels passing through the Gulf of Aden to register their
presence and course with international naval flotillas, so that they can
then be tracked and, if necessary, rescued by EU, NATO, Russian,
Chinese or Japanese warships.
Vessels which do not register with
MSC-HOA "are not covered by the measures implemented to ensure their
passage through that area," the commission statement said.
EU member
states should therefore make sure that shipping companies based in
their territory know about MSC-HOA's existence and ensure that ships
planning to transit the Gulf of Aden "have enough able-bodied crew
members on board," it said.
The EU currently has 10 frigates, a
submarine and three surveillance aircraft in the area of the Gulf as
part of its first-ever naval task force, codenamed Atalanta.
On
Wednesday, NATO decided to extend its five-ship mission in the region
until the end of 2012.
Source: DPA
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