Hope springs eternal for shipowners avoiding pirates

Is piracy getting good enough coverage in the trade and mainstream press - well, yes and no

By Ryan Skinner (email)

- "I want front-page coverage, above the fold, or else!"

I recently spoke with Arild Nodland of Bergen Risk Solutions, an anti-piracy outfit that applies the "teach a man how to fish" approach* to security. He's been in the thick of security issues for years. I asked him how he felt about the media's coverage of piracy.

"In general, it's been very good. If I had to single out one person, I'd say David Osler of Lloyd's List has done a great job. He's very well informed, with a good network of sources. Most parties in the trade press have avoided sensationalism," said Nodland.

"The local press has been more sensational. They see the need to scare people, apparently, to increase readership."

Has piracy coveraged increased the world's awareness of shipping, though? "Yes, without a doubt. Especially after Somalia entered the picture."

But is it possible that the sobriety of coverage in the Lloyd's Lists, TradeWinds and such undermine efforts to stimulate shipowners to do more? "The commanding officer of the EU naval force in the Gulf of Aden has said that they are doing their best, but some shipowners simply aren't following best practice in piracy avoidance.

"Some owners either don't want to know about it or they aren't willing to deal with it. One gets the impression that there's a certain belief in luck among them. 'It won't happen to me.' They may be impervious to media coverage of the problem."

But wouldn't increased coverage perhaps hammer the point home? "Well, eventually the message will sink in. That kind of publicity is good. But, all in all, I would say the phenomenon is being covered well enough."

And have the pirates gotten any joy of media coverage? "I honestly don't know. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they enjoyed reading about their exploits. It may be that they use media coverage to help them set the value of ransoms as well."

*Nodland's firm Bergen Risk Solutions has developed a unique solution together with Jeppesen that combines piracy information with chart information in a low-bandwidth bridge or back office solution. According to Nodland, this service has shown itself to be wildly popular among both ship operators and officers, and he's off to Nigeria and Houston this week to meet prospective clients.

[Full disclosure: The author of this blog works on public relations as a third-party for Jeppesen.]