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Le Ponant hijacking a piracy wake-up call

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[PARIS]—There have been renewed calls for the United Nations to create an international force to combat maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia after the luxury cruise ship Le Ponant was seized by pirates early this month.

The 30 crew were released without incident and the vessel retrieved on April 11 after a successful operation by French armed forces in the Gulf of Aden. Six of the pirates were arrested by French special forces, which recovered about half of the $2 million (€1.27 million) ransom understood to have been paid by the vessel's owner, Marseilles, France-based CMA CGM S.A. and its subsidiary Compagnie des Îles du Ponant.

Action call

CMA CGM, France's largest shipping group, called on the international community to guarantee the security of ships in "this very busy and unavoidable area." The company has as many as 1,000 vessels in transit off the Somalia coast each year, it said in a statement.

"Cooperation between the French government and CMA CGM will have served to encourage the United Nations to reflect on the creation of an international force to maintain freedom on the open sea," it added.

France's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, also called on the international community to mobilize for a determined fight against acts of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. Discussions have already started in New York with France's partners at the United Nations to move forward on this issue, he said in a statement.

The London market Joint War Committee added Somalia to its Hull War, Strikes, Terrorism and Related Perils Listed Areas in 2005, and extended this to include waters out to 200 nautical miles off its eastern coast in 2006. The list is used by underwriters when considering whether to insure, or charge additional premium, for vessels operating in high risk areas.

When the Malacca Strait was added to the Joint Hull War Committee list in 2005 in response to an increased incidence of piracy, the governments of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia acted to improve security. The Joint War Committee removed the Malacca Strait from the list in August last year.

Attacks

Pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa are now more prevalent than in the traditional hot spot of the Malacca Strait, London-based Willis Group Holdings Ltd. said in a statement. According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, there were 31 actual or attempted attacks on vessels off the Somali coast.