Container Shipping Lines and General Freight Carriers Join Oil Giants in Piracy Fight

WORLDWIDE – SOMALIA – A Joint Shipping Initiative put together by Shell, BP, Maersk, Stena, NYK, MOL and K Line, have announced it has given $1.5 million of additional funds to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Alternative Livelihoods to Piracy in Puntland and Central Regions of Somalia Project, to improve both the lives of native Somalis and security for seafarers. Though piracy off the coast of Somalia is at the lowest it’s been since before 2008, the UNDP’s project aims to reduce attacks through local economic development, job creation, training, and business development grants on-shore, in one of the world’s poorest countries. Dr Grahaeme Henderson, Vice President of Shell Shipping & Maritime, said:

“Development projects that provide an alternative livelihood to would-be pirates are a vital element of the long-term solution to piracy. We have been very encouraged by progress so far and look forward to positive results from this new phase of work.”

As we have pointed out many times in the past it will be major social change which turns the tide in the fight against the criminals, with lack of jobs and legitimate business opportunities for young people helping Somali pirate leaders to attract recruits for attacks on merchant shipping that have cost the international community billions of dollars a year. By offering alternative livelihood options to these youth, UNDP and the Joint Shipping Initiative work to prevent the lure of piracy. UNDP Somalia Country Director George Conway, commented:

“Somalia has one of the world’s highest rates of youth unemployment. Nearly 67% of young people are unemployed. To reverse this reality, we work with local authorities and community groups to identify sustainable solutions, such as infrastructure projects, livelihoods trainings, or reintegration projects, and tailor our support to match the need.”

Initiated by Shell in 2013, the Joint Shipping Initiative’s first donation of $1 million helped expand the market building in Adado, a town in central Somalia, creating hundreds of jobs for retailers and better sales options for farmers. It also helped improve vital infrastructure, including building a road to link the isolated Hafun peninsula with the rest of the country, a project that generated hundreds of temporary jobs. The road also helps expand opportunities for trade and business, increasing access to communities in the Hafun peninsula.

In addition, training courses in skills such as computing, plumbing, building and clothes-making have been set up elsewhere to help young Somalis find work, or set up businesses themselves with the help of small grants.

This additional funding meets the Joint Shipping Initiative’s 2012 pledge to donate a total of $2.5 million to UNDP’s development efforts in Somalia. It will allow UNDP to start work in the towns of Alula and Bargal, near the tip of the Horn of Africa, and Balanbal in central Somalia. Jens Munch Lund-Nielsen, Head of Emerging Markets Projects in Group Sustainability, Maersk, added:

“Piracy is a global problem that takes root in limited economic opportunities, high youth unemployment rates and poor infrastructure. The problem requires a land-based solution.”

Meanwhile dockers in the Port of Mogadishu have been protesting at the takeover of the port by Turkish group, Albayrak which has a twenty year contract to operate the port in return for paying the government 55% of the revenue. Somali dockers are relatively uneducated and untrained in modern cargo handling technology, which of course generally needs a far smaller labour force and there is a fear of skilled immigrant workers taking over jobs.

Albayrak, which was first granted the deal last year but officially took over in September 2014, is reportedly investing $80 million and says it is using its share of the revenue to install proper security fences, closed circuit cameras, constructing a new port administration building, underwater surveying and clearing the berth approach channels etc., all aimed at making Mogadishu a competitive force and doubling the state’s current take from the operation.

The workers, some 5,000+ of them, point out that, all through the troubles the port has provided a steady income for thousands of families and the unionised workforce has asked the government to reverse the decision to align with the Turkish group. This is unlikely to sit well with the authorities as Turkey has been a long term financial supporter providing investment for infrastructure at a time when few investors were to be found.