U.S. prepares U.N. anti-piracy resolution

U.S. prepares U.N. anti-piracy resolution .

The International Chamber of Commerce and the International Marine Bureau provide an interactive map showing all the piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Center during 2008. The live version of the map is available here

Ongoing AmericanShipper.com Gulf of Aden coverage •   U.S. prepares U.N. anti-piracy resolution •   Box ship outruns pirates(12/8) •   Analysis: Experts predict increased Somali pirate attacks(12/3) •   CMA CGM crews to get bonus for Gulf of Aden trips (12/3) •   Security firm Blackwater reportedly meeting with ship owners (12/2) Guards, overwhelmed by Somali pirates, abandon ship (12/1) •   TMT opts for Good Hope route (11/25) INTERTANKO, BIMCO propose Somali blockade (11/24) •   U.N. passes financial sanctions on Somali pirates (11/21) More carriers vow to avoid area around Somalia (11/21) •   Pentagon asks ocean carriers to do more to tackle piracy (11/20) Hong Kong ship owners call for action on piracy (11/20) •   Saudi mega-tanker still under pirates' control (11/18) Parcel tanker operator will avoid Gulf of Aden (11/17) •   Security firm warns against arming crew to fight piracy (10/16) Call for more action on Somalia pirates (10/10) •   British naval officer advocates mercenaries to fight piracy (10/9) UN passes new Somali piracy resolution with little bite (10/8) •   Ship owners livid with naval response to Gulf of Aden piracy (10/30) Naval coalition 'cannot guarantee safety' in Gulf of Aden (9/23) •   Piracy crisis “spiraling out of control” (9/19) Kidnapping insurer sees upsurge in interest by shipping companies (9/12) •   Hong Kong ship owners blast lack of piracy protection in Gulf of Aden(9/12)

The United Nations General Assembly Thursday adopted the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, and confirmed they will be referred to as the “Rotterdam Rules.”
      The assembly commended the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on successfully developing the rules and said a signing ceremony will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Sept. 21-23.
      The new rules were developed during meetings that began in April 2002 and aim to create a modern and uniform law concerning the international carriage of goods which include an international sea leg, but which is not limited to port-to-port carriage of goods.
      The treaty will then go to individual nations and needs 20 countries to adopt it before it goes into effect. Proponents of the new treaty hope it will be widely embraced and replace a quiltwork of rules that different nations use today to regulate the carriage of goods at sea including: the Hague Rules of 1924, the Hague-Visby Rules of 1968, and the Hamburg Rules of 1978.