At least that is the verdict of Peter Ford, ceo of the Port of Salalah, in Oman.

    Speaking at the recent TOC Middle East show in Dubai, he stressed that with piracy costing the industry in the region of USD12 billion a year, its impact on the supply chain was massive.

    'Best practices can be improved, of course they can,'said Ford, 'but the pirates are constantly changing their tactics and the area they work in is huge.'

    It was an issue also stressed by Tim Stear, the global head of a maritime security at London-based Control Risks. 'We are seeing more mother ships with hostages on board being used in the attacks which makes intervention more difficult and there are not enough navy vessels in the world to secure the area effectively.'

    However, according to Ford, piracy is not the only issue affecting the Middle East trades and the region's logistics industries.

    He pointed to political instability and social unrest as affecting productivity levels and leading to higher labour costs with the result that profitability margins had thinned and service levels deteriorated.

    'Non-oil exports are already feeling the pinch,' he said and 'there are concerns that foreign investment will slow.'

    Salalah, itself, has seen its traffic slow over the past two years with H1 11 container throughput down almost 5% compared with the corresponding period of 2010. A total of 1.67 million TEU was handled.
 

(source:ci-online)