Malacca Strait 'high-risk' status won't raise premiums: Port operator
Malacca Strait 'high-risk' status won't raise premiums: Port operator
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
A Malaysian port operator has downplayed the prospect of rising
insurance costs for ships using the Malacca Strait after it was
declared a high-risk area by an international insurance body.
"I don't think that is going to happen to ships plying the
Malacca Strait," Westport Malaysia executive chairman G.
Gnanalingam told AFP on the weekend.
"Piracy has been there for the past 20 years," he said in
reaction to a media report that insurance costs for ships sailing
through the strait may increase due to security concerns.
Gnanalingam said he was confident that coordinated patrols by
the three littoral states -- Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore --
would be enough to ensure the security of the Malacca Strait.
The waterway has reportedly been added to 20 other areas,
including Iraq, Lebanon and Nigeria, deemed a security threat to
shipping, in a June 20 list from Lloyd's Market Association's
Joint War Committee.
Lloyd's Market Association's London-based marine manager Neil
Smith said that premiums, which vary according to underwriters,
ship type and other factors, may rise as a result, according to a
report in The Star newspaper.
Lloyd's Market Association is an insurance body that advises
members of Lloyd's of London.
The strait, 960 kilometers long and 1.2 kilometers wide at its
narrowest point, is one of the world's most important waterways,
with 50,000 ships carrying about one-third of world trade passing
through it each year.
However, it is notoriously vulnerable to pirate attacks and
some governments in the region also believe it could be a target
for armed extremist groups.
The Malacca Strait was the second most dangerous area for
pirate attacks on ships last year, after neighboring Indonesia.
But Noel Choong, head of the Piracy Reporting Centre of the
International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said there was no evidence to
suggest that pirates in the Malacca Strait and extremist groups
were linked.
"We do not have evidence to suggest pirates and terrorists are
linked or terrorists are planning to launch attacks using ships,"
he told AFP.
With the recent increase in attacks, Malaysia has announced it
will also station armed and uniformed police officers on board
tugboats and barges plying the waterway.
Malaysia has, however, rejected suggestions that the United
States or other foreign navies be allowed to help patrol the
strait.