Anti piracy disaster risk management for sea cargo logistics in the south east Atlantic and Benguela coastal area.
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Date
2014
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Abstract
Piracy in the south east Atlantic is an increasing challenge for shippers and freight forwarders, especially in the Gulf of Guinea. At the coast of Nigeria, Benin and Togo 63 per cent of piracy acts involved vessels are tankers carrying refined petroleum products. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) the official number of annual successful attacks in this region is approximately 50. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) concedes that the real number of pirate attacks is at least twice this figure (UNODC, 2014). The Namibian newspaper The Namibian reported on Thursday 11 July 2013 about the expanding plans of Namibias biggest port in Walvis Bay (Namport). It has been reported that Namport will increase its container handling ability up to one million TEU’s a year. It also will have one of the largest gas and oil supply bases in the region (Hartmann, 2013). Due to this, there will be a higher traffic of oil tankers and other cargo ships along the west coast of Africa. This situation could attract pirates to conduct attacks in the Benguela coast region. The Angolan air force and navy were already hunting suspected pirates after an oil tanker went missing near Luanda (BBC, 2014). Angola is a direct neighboring country to Namibia. Members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) like South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia already exercise techniques and procedures to coordinate anti-piracy operations. More than 700 soldiers were involved in the Operation Welwitschia in 2013 (Nkala, 2013).
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Keywords
Maritime piracy, Disaster risk management, Atlantic, South east, Benguela coastal area, Sea cargo logistics, Walvis Bay, Namibia, Anti-piracy management