The shipping industry is uniting to campaign in favour of stronger action by governments, who are currently authorising their naval forces only to ‘deter and disrupt’ unless the pirates specifically cause a national threat.
The ‘Save our Seafarers Campaign’ is designed to encourage millions of people to put pressure on their governments to take severe measures against pirates who are attacking freight carrying merchant ships daily. Organisations backing the campaign include Bimco, the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Shipping Federation, Intercargo, Intertanko and the International Transport Workers Association. Pirates are now operating over such a wide area that there are no ‘alternative’ routes for shipping to avoid them, which means that world import and export trade is continually under threat.
More than 800 seafarers are currently held hostage, and the Save our Seafarers campaign hopes to harness people power by asking supporters to write to their heads of government asking for strong action.