Page 6 - 2021 - Q2 - Minerva in Focus

NEWS

News

Hour

Shipping industry

determined to tackle
Gulf of Guinea piracy

est in a safe Gulf of Guinea will sign this production is a modern marvel, but the
#security declaration,” says Sadan Kaptanoglu, world is reeling over distribution delays.
BIMCO president and shipowner, who has Soon, seafarers will be delivering the vac-
In 2020, 135 crew were kidnapped from personally had a ship hijacked, and crew cine by sea freight. They already deliver
their ships globally, with the Gulf of kidnapped in the Gulf of Guinea. critical PPE, safety boxes, syringes, and
Guinea accounting for over 95% of the other medical material for the vaccine
kidnapped crew. This has happened in Source: BIMCO rollout. Seafarers must be prioritised for
international waters in an area less than the vaccine for delivery delays not to be
by Somali pirates a few years ago. The pi- Vaccination Roadmap further exacerbated.”
20% of the size of the sea area dominated
rates launch their attacks from the Niger to speed up seafarer Source: International Chamber of Shipping
Delta, where they also subsequently hold
their hostages. jab rollout Are ammonia and
The attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf
of Guinea by Nigerian pirates must end. hydrogen the most
So far, 342 maritime companies, organisa- #health
tions, and flag states have signed the Gulf promising zero-carbon
of Guinea Declaration on Suppression of Like the US, which has already begun vac-
Piracy. cination programs for non-native crews, bunker fuels for
the Netherlands and other nations are
The launch of the Gulf of Guinea Declara- also rolling out vaccines to all seafarers. shipping?
tion on Suppression of Piracy is, therefore,
a timely expression of the maritime indus- The International Chamber of Shipping
try’s call for further action, through a wide (ICS) has recently published a Vaccination
range of collective efforts, to end piracy Roadmap framework to help establish #climate
urgently in the Gulf of Guinea. vaccination hubs dedicated to seafarers
BIMCO welcomed the positive steps tak- across the world, alongside other major In April, the World Bank published new
en by regional states, especially Nigeria. maritime NGOs. research on decarbonizing the maritime
However, in reality, it will take some years To help governments and companies re- transport sector with findings that indi-
before these states can effectively man- sponsible for creating hubs, the 21-page cate significant business and development
age the problem. In the interim period, the document includes information on vaccine opportunities for countries, including de-
best solution is to have capable military eligibility, implementation, distribution, veloping and emerging economies.
assets from able and willing non-regional administration, and legal issues. To lower and ultimately eliminate its cli-
states to actively combat piracy in the Seafarer international travel requirements mate impact, maritime transport needs to
area by supporting the efforts of countries are unique. The vaccination of seafarers is abandon the use of fossil-based bunker
in the region. The signatories firmly be- essential to protect their own health and fuels and turn toward ‘zero-carbon bunker
lieve that piracy and kidnapping attempts the health of passengers and the general fuels,’ namely shipping fuels that emit
are preventable through active anti-piracy public and minimize trade and global sup- zero or at most very low greenhouse (GHG)
operations. They are confident that by the ply chain disruption. emissions across their lifecycles. The first
end of 2023, the number of pirate attacks Guy Platten, Secretary General of the report, “The Potential of Zero-Carbon Bun-
can be reduced by at least 80%. International Chamber of Shipping, com- ker Fuels in Developing Countries,” which
“We hope that all parties with an inter- mented: “The pace of Covid-19 vaccine is the first report, identifies two alterna-
4 MINERVA IN FOCUS – ISSUE 16 / Q2 2021