British Prime Minister David Cameron recently announced that armed guards would be allowed to be carried on British merchant ships transiting off the coast of Somalia.   Shipping firms will now be able to apply for a license to carry guards armed with automatic weapons, which previously had been illegal. It was an open secret that many shipping firms have been carrying armed guards with or without government approval.

The British have been among the last to grant such approval.  In April of 2010, U.S. Admiral Mark Fitzgerald said that commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean should carry armed guards to help defend against Somali pirates.  The Maersk Alabama which was attacked and boarded by pirates in April 2009, has been attacked twice since. In both cases the pirates were driven off by armed guards aboard the ship.  German ship owners  have also turned to putting armed guards aboard ships, as have operators from a range of flag states.  Increasingly, marine insurers are also supporting the use of armed personnel aboard ships as ransoms on hijacked ships have increased.  The French maritime economics institute ISEMAR says that there are about 1,000 private guards being employed by ship owners to counter Somali pirates.

Thus far, no ship carrying armed guards has been successfully hijacked by Somali pirates.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the story along.