THE European Shippers' Council (ESC) is warning that a suggestion by BIMCO at its members may be forced to boycott piracy hotspots in the Indian Ocean and re-route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope "could have an enormous impact" on supply chains and the overall economy.
"The proposal to divert all shipping away from the affected areas, via the Cape of Good Hope, would add further strains on business, and not least, greater costs," said ESC maritime council chairman Jean-Louis Cambon.
"The fact that ITF [International Transport Workers Federation], a leading seafarer federation threatening to ask its members to boycott vessels plying in the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean is adding further pressure for solutions to be found as a matter of urgency," said the ESC statement.
Said Mr Cambon: "Large-scale implementation of such a boycott would lead to serious economic consequences for many businesses, already stretched by slow steaming, rising fuel prices, uncertain market demand and austerity measures."
He said that companies are focused on cost reduction within their supply chains, efficiency enhancements, productivity increases, greater flexibility and agility in their supply chains.
The ESC expressed "considerable sympathy for the ship operators and their crews, who are facing this added peril at sea, and fully understands that many must feel they have to take avoiding action in order to protect themselves," it said.