BW Gas, TMT, Euronav May Avoid Somalia After Attacks by Pirates

By Alaric Nightingale and John Martens

Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- BW Gas Ltd., the world's biggest operator of liquefied-gas tankers, Euronav NV and TMT Co. Ltd. said they may divert ships away from Somalia after an escalation in piracy led to the capture of a Saudi Arabian supertanker.

BW Gas is urging its customers to avoid the area and may re- route its own ships, Chief Executive Officer Jan Hakon Pettersen said by phone today. TMT, an owner of oil and gas carriers and coal and ore transporters, urged other shipowners to ``consider similar action,'' in a statement to Bloomberg. Euronav, Belgium's only publicly traded oil-tanker owner, may also shun the area, Chief Financial Officer Hugo De Stoop said by phone.

``We've always told our captains to stay far from the coast in that region, but that may not be enough now,'' De Stoop said. ``Terrorists or pirates, I don't really see the difference.''

The three companies join Frontline Ltd., the world's largest operator of supertankers, which yesterday said it was considering avoiding the region. There have been at least 88 attacks against ships in the area since January and Somalian pirates are holding 250 crew hostage on board 14 merchant vessels.

Shippers may instead have to route their vessels around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope rather than use Egypt's Suez Canal, increasing the cost. The waterway linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas is Egypt's third largest foreign- currency earner after tourism and expatriate remittances.

Customers have been given ``the option to safeguard their cargo,'' BW Gas's Pettersen said from Oslo. ``For us, we would prefer them to use the cape route.''

Pirates on Nov. 15 seized their largest ever prize, a Saudi Arabian supertanker laden with 2 million barrels of crude, worth about $108 million at current prices. The ship itself is worth about $148 million.

Chemicals Shipping

Odfjell SE, the world's largest chemicals shipping line, said Nov. 17 it will avoid the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden.

The Joint Hull Committee, a group representing ship insurers, is advising shipowners to ``seriously consider'' avoiding Somalian waters, Chairman Simon Stonehouse said yesterday. Insurance premiums will rise and unless the Egyptian government becomes ``more actively interested'' in combating piracy in the region they risk damaging the business of the Suez Canal, Stonehouse said.

The European Union last month joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, India, Malaysia and Russia in deploying vessels to combat piracy.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at Anightingal1@bloomberg.net; John Martens in Brussels at jmartens1@bloomberg.net.