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On 2 August 2010 The Joint War Committee of the Lloyds Market Association extended the Listed Areas by adding: Eritrea (but only South of 15° N) and the Southern Red Sea, so that the Southern Red Sea/Gulf of Aden listed area is now enclosed a) on the North-West, Eritrea and the Red Sea, both south of Latitude 15° N, b) on the North, Latitude 15° N, c) on the East, Longitude 57° E d) and on the South, Latitude 10° N. This extension is in response to the pattern of recent attacks.

The third edition of the Best Management Practices to deter Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and Arabian Sea Area (BMP3) was published in June.

BMP3 has been produced by the shipping industry in consultation with EUNAVFOR, the NATO Shipping Centre and UKMTO. Industry is keen to emphasise the excellent cooperation it has received from these 3 organisations.

Industry's focus when revising Best Management Practice has been on targeting the document at Seafarers. With this in mind, the document has been produced as a pocket-sized booklet, in a new and clearer format, which includes illustrations and a small chart of the region. Additional advice augmenting BMP3 will be accessible on the MSCHOA web site www.mschoa.eu.

Updates to BMP3 include the expansion of on the High Risk Area beyond just the Gulf of Aden, to an area bounded by Suez to the North, 10o South and 78o East. This wider application of the BMP is essential to help counter the geographical spread of the threat from Somali-based piracy.

BMP3 contains further advice on Ship Protection Measures, a copy of the UKMTO Vessel Position Reporting Form, and Fishing Industry guidance.  BMP3 encourages post-incident reporting to MSCHOA and UKMTO and additionally to the relevant Flag State

Attorneys Shepstone & Wylie have issued a Security Alert warning about the consequences of calling at South African ports. There are strict requirements for vessels carrying weapons and failure to comply can lead to vessels and personnel beting detained.

On 11 June, the Commercial Court in England upheld the finding of an arbitration tribunal that charterers under a NYPE charterparty were not able to satisfy the burden of proof on them to bring themselves within the scope of the off-hire clause.  The vessel therefore remained on hire while under control of pirates.  The case (the “Saldanha”) provides a useful confirmation of the prevailing view, although it must be noted that each case will depend upon the precise wording of the off-hire clause. The Judge pointed out that it would be a straightforward matter to amend the standard wording in order to place the vessel off-hire in the event of seizure by pirates.
More details are available here.

On 13 April an Executive Order was issued by the President of the United States blocking payments to certain persons in Somalia.  The Order does not refer explicitly to ransom and it is not clear at the moment what effect (if any) the Order will have on current practice in relation to ransom.

EU NAVFOR (European Naval Force) has issued a leaflet ”Surviving Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia".

On 11 March, the EU Commission issued a statement recommending member states to ensure the effective application of the Best Management Practices.

A wide range of industry bodies have issued statements emphasising to owners the importance of owners ensuring that their ships are registered with MSCHOA and comply with all reporting and routeing guidance. It has been reported that up to 25% of vessels transiting the GoA fail to register with MSCHOA or report their position to UKMTO.

On 15 February, Skuld launched a new kidnap and ransom insurance.

A seminar “Piracy and armed robbery at sea: How best to protect seafarers?" organised by the Commission took place in Brussels on 3 March and presentations are available online.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reports that Somali pirates were responsible for a total of 217 attacks in 2009 which resulted in 47 hijackings.  867 crew were held hostage and four deaths have been reported.

The area of activity continues to spread to the east and south. A decline in the number of successful attacks in the Gulf of Aden has been offset by attacks over an increasing area of the Indian Ocean and Somali Basin towards Madagascar where there is a lower concentration of naval forces and accordingly a longer response time than in GoA.

MSCHOA - Maritime Security Centre (Horn of Africa) is an essential source of information and support - www.mschoa.org - including up to date information about pirate activity. MSCHOA advise  owners that:

• all vessels navigating in the Indian Ocean should consider keeping East of 60E when routing North/South and routing East of 60E and South of 10S when proceeding to and from ports in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, and
   
• while navigating in the region, vessels are urged to operate at a heightened state of readiness, maintaining strict 24 hour anti-piracy visual and radar watches, actively implement recommended anti-piracy measures and regularly report their position/course/speed to UKMTO which has its Voluntary Reporting Area (VRA) bound by Suez,78E and 10S.

Recent incidents demonstrate even vessels which maintain this distance are susceptible, with attacks occurring over 1000 nm off the Somali coast. Vessels may be at risk even if they are not proceeding to or from GoA.

The UK Hydrographic Office has produced an Anti-Piracy Planning Chart which is available free of charge. The chart has the transit corridors marked and other useful information. Download the chart here www.ukho.gov.uk/Media/News/Pages/AntiPiracyChart.aspx.

Anti-Piracy Planning Chart
Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea