As many of the shipping corporations are victims of the Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Eden, the big shipping lines are safe from them, said a ship captain of the Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc., a subsidiary of its mother company the Taiwan Maritime Corp. who asked not to be identified as the information can only be divulged by the company’s chief executive office or communication chief.

“This is so because the naval warrior ship of the United Nations or from other nations like the US, China, Japan, France will escort the ship on the passage way of the Gulf of Eden to protect it, officers and crew from the pirates,” the captain said.

He said our PTC has never experienced that its ships were hijacked by the pirates ever since it navigated on the area as our ships are escorted by the naval ship complete with high-powered weapons.

The PTC or other big shipping companies or corporations can afford to hire the naval ship to escort their ships when they are going to enter the Gulf of Eden and exit from it going to the Suez Canal, Egypt via Europe.

According to the captain, those ships were hijacked or abducted by pirates are those which have no escort as the ship owners can’t afford to pay their services, the captain added.

Resolution 1816 of the United Nations stated that its naval warrior ships would escort ships before entering the Gulf of Eden to thwart the evil or wicked plan of the Somalian pirates.

“Most if not all of international shipping companies or corporations which would like to pass the Gulf of Eden as it is the shortcut passage-way going to Europe,” the captain said. “Let see passing to the Gulf of Eden takes only 10 days, while passing the Cape Town in South Africa takes one month.”

He said the owners of the shipping companies or corporations can save a lot of money and effort passing the Gulf of Eden instead in Cape Town.

“Small shipping companies which cannot afford to hire the naval ship of the United Nations or from other nations to escort its ship is usually the prey and victim of the pirates,” he added.

Since the pirates started to victimize the ship crew or officials, the income of the Somalian government through passage tax had lowered to 50 percent.

The ship owners preferred to pass their ships in Cape Town, South Africa though it takes longer than on the Gulf of Eden though it is a shortcut because the area is risky due to the presence of the Somalian pirates.

Since the civil war broke out in Somalia for the past years, the Somalian pirates started to hijack all kinds of ships which passed the Gulf of Eden.

The pirates hijack the ship for an easy money as the ship owner is forced to redeem his ship than it would remain in the hands of hijackers.