Marine safety experts submit evidence to piracy Parliamentary inquiry

Marine safety experts, BCB International Ltd, are submitting evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry which is looking into action to combat the increasing levels of piracy off the Coast of Somalia.

Starting today, an inquiry will be held by the influential House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee. Cardiff-based survival experts, BCB International Ltd, are writing to the inquiry to propose that innovative counter-piracy measures are needed to effectively combat piracy. BCB have been a prime contractor to the UK Ministry of Defence and the Marine Industry for over 50 years.

Jonathan Delf, BCB International's Marine Officer said: "We very much welcome this inquiry which will shine a much needed light on the current state of affairs. Sea piracy has dogged UK flagged ship owners for many years. Having armed personnel onboard commercial ships is a high risk venture and has not stemmed the rate of piracy attacks. In actual fact it's getting worse, 2010 was a record year for pirates. This coupled with a series of botched rescue attempts and ransom drops this year shows that the current piracy protection measures are not working.

"We have been calling on the authorities to cast their net wider to include effective non-lethal measures like pressurised air launchers in the mix of piracy self-protection equipment used by ship owners.

"We are confident that this inquiry will underline the need for new thinking to meet what is a relatively new security challenge."