KUALA LUMPUR– Shipping officials from around the world called for a military blockade Monday along the coast of Somalia to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea.
Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action — including aerial and aviation support is necessary to battle rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.
Some 20 tankers sail through the sea lane daily but many tanker owners are considering a massive detour around southern Africa to avoid pirates, which will delay delivery and push cost up by 30 percent, he said.
The association, whose members own 2,900 tankers or 75 percent of the world’s fleet, opposes attempts to arm merchant ships because it could escalate the violence and put crew members at risk, he said.
“The other option is perhaps putting a blockade around Somalia and introducing the idea of intercepting vessels leaving Somalia rather than to try to protect the whole of the Gulf of Aden,” said Swift.
A blockade along Somalia’s 2,400 mile coastline would not be easy, Swift said.
“But some intervention there may be effective,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a shipping conference here.
U.S. Gen. John Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said Monday that the alliance’s mandate is solely to escort World Food Program ships to Somalia and to conduct anti-piracy patrols.
Asked what he thought of a Russian proposal to jointly attack the pirate strongholds, Craddock answered: “That’s far beyond what I’ve been tasked to do.”
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