Commercial shipping in Mediterranean put at risk in migrant rescue missions

Shipping firms operating in the Mediterranean are growing increasingly concerned by the risks posed to shipping by the significant increase in the number of migrant boat disasters being reported at sea between Italy and North Africa.

Under international maritime law, all vessels are required to provide assistance to those in distress, but for commercial shipping in the Mediterranean, it poses significant risks.

“If you have to stop your ship and pick up several hundred people, your ship will be delayed. There are also serious safety concerns,” Bill Box, senior manager for communications at Intertanko, which represents oil and chemical tankers, told the Financial Times.

“You have a duty to fellow human beings but taking several hundred people on a tanker is hugely risky.” Box added that a multitude of issues arise when rescuing large numbers of people from the sea, such as the ability of a crew of 20 to enforce no smoking rules among 500 people.

The issue is becoming more serious as the Mediterranean is seeing record numbers of migrants trying to reach Europe due to instability and economic hardship in many North African and Middle Eastern countries.

Rescue missions drive up costs for commercial ships that are forced to divert from their planned routes and raise concerns about the possibility of armed terrorists being aboard ships they rescue.

The shipping industry’s burden is only likely to grow as Italian navy last year ended its “Mare Nostrum” operation due to worries that it cost too much and was unintentionally encouraging more immigration. The operation kept Italian naval vessels on patrol between Italy and North Africa to intercept migrant boats.

The EU border patrol agency, Frontex, has now launched its own mission in the area, known as Triton, but it is limited to patrolling waters close to the Italian coast, not further offshore where commercial ships typically are called upon to lend assistance to migrant boats.

The number of migrants trying to reach the EU from Syria, Libya and other conflict-wreaked countries has surged to more than 170,000, often in rickety boats arranged by human traffickers.

As many as 600 merchant ships travelling through the Mediterranean in 2014 were called on to perform such missions.
Source: India Gazette