Protecting African shipping lanes from pirates has become expensive for shippers

Protecting the Emma Maersk class ship costs the company $200 million a year. The large Danish company Maersk spent twice as much on fighting pirates in 2011 as in the past.
According to the UN, there were 64 piracy incidents in the West African region in 2011, compared with 46 last year. "There are several regions that we are looking at very closely," said Maersk Line chief Eric Nielsen, "we are prepared to deal with the armed attacks that have increased recently." As AKE maritime analysts suggest, the risks of attacks from Nigeria are growing because of the increasing number of militants in the delta. Nielsen believes that if this trend continues, the company will have to increase spending on shipping security in 2012.

According to the foreign press for ForTrader.ru