Maritime security: Rising cost of insurance premium on cargo worries ship owners

The rising cost of insurance premium paid on consignments billed to arrive Nigeria and other West African countries, resulting from persistent pirate attacks on ships, has become a source of concern to operators especially indigenous ship owners, who believe that there is urgent need for the Federal Government to tackle piracy and other criminalities on the nation’s maritime domain.

According to the ship owners under the auspices of the Nigerian Ship owners’ Association (NISA), the recent spate of pirate attacks on Nigerian waters has given a negative reputation to the country’s image in the area of import and export business.

Aminu Umar, president of the association recently told newsmen in Lagos that the situation has made insurance underwriters to raise the premium on vessels coming to Nigeria owing to the fact that Gulf of Guinea, where Nigerian waters is located, is classified among the global high-risk areas.

“With these consistent attacks, our war risk insurance has gone up. This means that every vessel that is going to stay permanent in Nigeria particularly vessels owned by indigenous ship owners that are trading within the Nigerian waters, pay high premium and the danger is that it might skyrocket above what we are already paying. Even crew will now start avoiding Nigerian waters. Thus, we cannot quantify the loss as well as the financial impact of pirate attacks on vessels,” he said.

Currently, he disclosed that pirate attacks has now gone beyond small vessels to crude tankers, which means that the revenue loss would be high for the country as over 90 percent of Nigeria’s income depends on revenue from crude oil sale.

Lamenting on the situation, the NISA boss said that despite the sea protection levy paid ships to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to ensure that every ship that comes to the country is protected; pirate attacks has been on the increase.

However, as a step towards combating piracy and its menace on the nation’s shipping business, the European Union (EU) has perfected plans to invest over 20 million Euros on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

Dakuku Peterside, the director general of NIMASA, stated this when he recently received a delegation of the EU consultants led by Chris Hedley in his office. The NIMASA boss, who commended the EU for taking such initiative, also called on other international bodies to partner with the agency to eradicate piracy and other criminal activities in the Gulf of Guinea.

Nigeria, he states, is better positioned to take advantage of these partnerships to make the country the hub of maritime activities in West and Central Africa, given the fact that Gulf of Guinea is very strategic to global trade.

Speaking earlier, Chris Hedley, head of the delegation to NIMASA, disclosed that EU planned to use the funds in developing and strengthening legislations, building capacity on maritime security and developing the necessary Information Technology (IT) for member nations with a view to eradicating piracy and other related crimes in the Gulf of Guinea.

Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie