COLUMN | Still-unresolved Galaxy Leader crisis reflects shipping's continuing struggle against piracy [Grey Power]

There is a reminder from the International Chamber of Shipping’s Guy Platten that a whole year has passed since the eastbound carrier Galaxy Leader was seized by Yemen's Houthis and carried into captivity along with her international crew of 25. Since then, despite reports of the deteriorating health of the hostages, their miserable ordeal has continued, even though their various governments have made representations to the rebels.

And in the intervening year, apparently shrugging off the various efforts to degrade their capabilities by the US and others, more than 120 attacks on passing shipping have taken place, leading to both loss of life and ships, not to mention injury.

It is no exaggeration to suggest that the civilised world has in effect become hostage to this nest of pirates lurking on the littoral of one of the world’s busiest sea-lanes. Those major companies that have elected to prioritise the lives of their crews are taking the long haul around the South Africa, racking up a vast extra number of tonne miles and, according to worried environmentalists, adding to unnecessary emissions.

"Those carriers that have decided to stay safe have made it clear that they are in it for the long haul."

While one can argue that these responsible carriers have been doing very well from this additional employment, which has put pressure on rates, those millions of users of those ships and their customers might also be described as indirect hostages of these ruffians. Let no one forget the concerns of serving seafarers aboard ships whose owners and charterers have decided to run the gauntlet, and the concerns of their worried relatives ashore.

Few commentators ever mention it, but the Suez Canal and the state of Egypt are being forced to pay a high price for the huge downturn in trade caused by the attacks. Before they began with the Hamas attacks upon Israel, the vital waterway was in the midst of an ambitious improvement scheme, while the large-scale investment on the new industrial zones that were established on both banks suggested a good future, with great employment benefits. Thus, Egypt, along with everyone else, has also become a hostage.

The attacks show no signs of diminishing, while the coalition and other warships hopefully protecting those ships that have elected to make a Red Sea transit are fewer in number. There is a limit to what navies are able to do, with warships a long way from their bases over an extended period. Those carriers that have decided to stay safe have made it clear that they are in it for the long haul, there being not the slightest signs that the attacks will end anytime soon.

It seems to almost go without saying that in the aftermath of every attack by US warplanes upon Houthi missile and drone launching sites, there will be defiant responses upon whatever ships might be passing their shores. The fact that the rebel forces have now “graduated” to a more lethal type of weaponry, including sophisticated missiles and remote controlled watercraft, presumably supplied by their Iranian paymasters, does not bode well for those likely to be aboard the targeted ships.

"These outliers in the 'hybrid' warfare now being waged by a few rogue states around the world threatens the whole structure of established law and regulation."

You might also point out that maritime safety has also become something of a hostage, although this problem pre-dates the Houthi attacks and was initiated by the emergence of those colluding with those trying to circumvent sanctions on Russia and their “dark fleet”. With questionable insurance cover, a well-orchestrated system of revolving identities and ownership, flag states at the very bottom of any sort of regulatory competence, this huge fleet of ships, seeking to hide their identity with silent AIS signals, remains a potent menace.

Oblivious to any appeals by shipping’s institutions, the Secretary-General of the IMO and others, these outliers in the “hybrid” warfare now being waged by a few rogue states around the world threatens the whole structure of established law and regulation, built up over generations.