Seafarers plan to agitate against plying in Somalian waters

The latest attack on Indian tanker 'Maharaj Agrasen' by pirates who dared to come 350 nautical miles in Indian Ocean (the closest so far), has raised the hackles of seafarers.

The latest attack on Indian tanker 'Maharaj Agrasen' by pirates who dared to come 350 nautical miles in Indian Ocean (the closest so far), has raised the hackles of seafarers.

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"We are not ready to be "sitting ducks" to pirates anymore," said Abdul Ghani Serang, general secretary of National Union of Seafarers of India.

The acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships have jumped from 97 in the first quarter of 2009 to nearly 141 in the second quarters according to reports of the International Maritime Organisation.

"Enough is enough," Serang said talking to HT from Mumbai.

"We will agitate and stop working in all those ships which are trading in the pirate infested Somalian waters," he added.

Shipping Secretary K. Mohan Das when contacted by HT assured that anti-piracy efforts will be "intensified".

He said the recent incident on Dec 22, when pirate ships attacked Shipping Corporation of India's tanker 'Maharaj Agrasen' very close to the Indian coastline (just 350 nautical miles away) is being taken "very seriously."

"It is definitely a cause of concern and we will be taking it up internationally."

"Our ships are not adequately equipped to fight with pirates. Oceans are so vast and it is practically impossible to provide security cover of the Navy to every ship."

He said there were "other implications" and therefore, "fire power" could not be provided on merchant ships for the safety of the crew.

At present efficient communication system was the only tool the merchant ships attacked by pirates could rely on.

He said he could not mention "specific steps" being planned, but we will have to take the "international community" into confidence and also take it up with International Maritime Organisation.

Serang (representing 70,000 Indian seafarers), threatened to take up agitation along with other seafarers of the world through the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) based in London. Phillipines has about 300,000 million sea farers of the half a million sea farers worldwide, he said.

Serang is the vice chairman of the Seafarers section of the Asia Pacific region of the ITF.

He said, the number of piracy cases are increasing and governments were "not doing anything effective".

The hostage taking and attacks by pirates have become a part of statistics for governments across the world, he added.

"We are planning to launch an international campaign along with seafarers in countries like Phillipines,Indonesia,Ukrain and Russia to "wake up the sleeping governments," he added

"China,US, European Union have sent their Navy for patrolling in the Somalian waters. Indian Navy was not there but after Indian seafarers agitated two frigates of Indian Navy are now part of the patrolling convoy. The Indian Navy also sank two pirate boats sometime back," he said.

"Our demand is that the patrolling force should be under a unified UN command, today every country works separately. We feel like the ship owners and sea farer community has been forsaken by the world."

Another major problem, he said, there are no international guidelines to prosecute the pirates. Indian Navy this year caught 18 pirates but "in the absence of any Maritime Legislation, they had to be off loaded in Yemen".

Pirates are emboldened by the fact that there are no effective mechanism to catch them, he added.