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Jul 9, 2009, 11:12 GMT

German shipping firms arming themselves against piracy

Hamburg - Pirate attacks off Somalia have exacted a heavy financial toll from German shipping companies and some are now arming their freighters, according to a survey Thursday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). German firms have paid huge ransoms to free ships and a Hamburg-owned vessel, the Hansa Stavanger, is currently in pirate hands. 'One fifth of the companies have had direct experience of piracy,' said Claus Brandt, an executive for the audit firm, in Hamburg. The survey of 101 firms operating 3,500 vessels found many now preferred the longer, more expensive route around southern Africa, were employing guards and were paying up to 30 per cent more in insurance premiums to pass through the Red Sea. Yet 62 per cent said it was impossible in the recession to pass the extra costs of avoiding the north-west Indian Ocean on to customers. 'The counter-measures range from chartering gunboats and ringing the ships with razor wire to hiring Russian mercenaries as guards,' said Brandt. The companies, many of which use flags of convenience and foreign crews, employ 76,000 people. He said about 80 per cent of German shipping firms took part in the PwC survey.

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