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Cape Town - South African ports are benefiting from the flare-up in sea piracy in the Gulf of Aden on the Somalian coast.
Several shipping lines are now rounding the Cape, bringing more business to shipping agents, fuelling services, shipping agents and crew services.
Professor Trevor Jones, director of maritime studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal told Railways Africa's Railways & Harbours conference that sea piracy was not the only reason for an increase in shipping around the South African coast.
Ships want to avoid the Suez Canal authority's excessive tariff increases. The charge for a large tanker is currently $700 000.
More than $500m was paid in ransom money to sea pirates last year. The average amount per vessel was about $2m.
Johan Swart, a partner at the legal firm Shepstone & Wiley, said the risk of piracy now made shipping insurance extremely expensive. If ships divert from their route because of piracy, they lose all their cover and have to repurchase it.
The reason for the piracy is attributed to the poverty among the fishing community in Somalia.
Swart says the pirates generally take good care of the crew that they hold captive. Special restaurants are set up to ensure that they have good food, since this contributes to good relations and enhances the prospects of having the ransom paid.
- Sake24.com
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