ESC: Piracy avoidance will strain supply chains
The European Shippers' Council said Friday it is gravely concerned about the impact of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, and said it sympathizes with ship owners, carriers and seafarers.
'The attacks occurring so far out to sea appears almost unprecedented in the modern era,' the shippers' group said. 'ESC, representing the freight interests of European business, has considerable sympathy for the ship operators and their crews, who are facing this added peril at sea, and fully understands that many must feel they have to take avoiding action in order to protect themselves.'
ESC pointed to recent remarks from BIMCO, which has suggested a region-wide boycott of affected shipping and rerouting of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. The council said such avoidance strategies would have 'an enormous impact on supply chains and therefore on the overall economy.'
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'Large-scale implementation of such a boycott would lead to serious economic consequences for many businesses, already stretched by the effects of slow steaming, rising fuel and energy prices, unstable and uncertain market demand, and austerity measures in the public and private sectors in Europe, North America and elsewhere,' said Jean-Louis Cambon, chairman of the ESC's Maritime Transport Council and head of Michelin's ocean management committee. 'Companies are focused on cost reduction within their supply chains, efficiency enhancements, productivity increases, greater flexibility and agility in their supply chains. The proposal to divert all shipping away from the affected areas, via the Cape of Good Hope, would add further strains on business, and not least, greater costs.'
