Shippers fret over expected Somali piracy upsurge

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Pirates are likely to step up attacks on ships off Somalia's coast in coming months as the end of the monsoon season brings better weather, naval and shipping officials say.

Deploying military personnel on vulnerable vessels may be the best response to pirates, who have collected millions of dollars in ransom for cargo ships and crews hijacked in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes, maritime officials say.

"We have got to the point where everyone is just resigned to more attacks," a London-based shipbroker said. "It is getting tougher to find ship owners willing to travel there."

Poorer weather has led to less attacks recently. But the Combined Maritime Forces anti-piracy naval coalition said it expected an increase in incidents when the southwest monsoons end in the coming weeks.

Foreign navies deployed off Somalia since the turn of the year to prevent attacks have been stretched over the vast expanses of water, leaving vessels open to attack.

Frustration has led some shipping companies to deploy private security teams on board their vessels. But maritime organisations have urged shippers to leave any armed role to foreign navies.

Shipping bodies have sought instead to deploy military forces on vulnerable vessels with low freeboard -- the distance between a ship's railings and the water -- and low speed.

"The only thing that can be effective is to have military guards on board the ships," said Spyros M. Polemis, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).