Ship underwriters widen Somali piracy threat zone

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - London's marine insurance market has widened the stretch of waterways deemed at high risk from Somali pirates as the armed gangs strike further out at sea, industry officials say.

The move is expected to raise insurance premiums for ship owners, reflecting the growing pirate threat.

Pirates are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing merchant ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, despite the efforts of foreign navies to clamp down on such attacks.

In recent weeks, pirates have struck as far south as Tanzania and Madagascar, with the easternmost attack yet this month close to the coast of India.

"There is no question the pirates have got big mother ships out there," Neil Roberts, a senior technical executive with the Lloyd's Market Association (LMA), told Reuters.

"These are long range vessels which can support operations much further off Somalia," said Roberts, whose association represents all underwriting businesses in the Lloyd's insurance market.

The Joint War Committee, which groups syndicate members from the LMA and representatives from the London insurance company market, last week added the Gulf of Oman and a wider stretch of the Indian Ocean to a list of areas it considered high risk for merchant vessels and prone to war, strikes, terrorism and related perils.

"We are recognising the developing threat that is out there. Ship owners are on their own to some extent at the further reaches," Roberts said.