Maersk says hired Tanzanian warship against pirates

COPENHAGEN, (Reuters) – Danish shipping and oil group  A.P. Moller-Maersk disclosed yesterday that it  hired a Tanzanian navy vessel in late 2008 to keep pirates off  its Brigit Maersk tanker in waters off Somalia.

Many shipping companies have tried hiring armed guards to  protect their vessels against pirates, who have seized ships off  Africa and in parts of Asia, but the practice of engaging  warships would mark an escalation of efforts against piracy. It could also mean an extra levy on shippers’ earnings.

Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipper and a large  tanker operator, said it hired the Tanzanian vessel to escort  its tanker to an East African port after an attack on another  Maersk vessel in the Gulf of Aden in December 2008.

“We only paid salaries and bunker (fuel) for the Tanzanians.  It was a one-off,” Maersk spokesman Michael Storgaard said.

Maersk Tankers have not called in ports in East Africa in  the past 13 months, and the company has no plans to resume  tanker service to the area, he said.

Piracy has been rife in recent years off the Horn of Africa,  Nigeria and in parts of Asia such as the Straits of Malacca  between Malaysia and Indonesia. Jan Fritz Hansen of the Danish Shipowners Association said  international navy escorts in the Gulf of Aden had helped ships  through those waters, but sailing further south in the Indian  Ocean where such arrangements do not exist can be dangerous.

“Down in the Indian Ocean, things are a little outside the  normal procedures, and we have to find ways to protect our  vessels,” Hansen said.