Written question asked by David Crausby (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 December 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 December 2011. It was answered by Lord Bellingham (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2011 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Somalia: Piracy

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to the international community of piracy off the coast of Somalia in terms of (a) financial losses borne by shipping companies and (b) expenditure on military and naval operations.

Answer: The turnover of the British shipping industry is worth £10.7 billion of our national GDP. Nearly 1 trillion dollars of trade to and from Europe travelled through the Gulf of Aden in 2008 and this is the second busiest international trade route in the world. One World Future has estimated that piracy could be costing the global economy up to $12 billion a year in direct costs and indirect costs such as increased insurance premiums.There has been no estimate of the international community's total expenditure on counter-piracy operations. Expenditure on military and naval operations is borne by the contributing state. For UK. contributions, the cost for counter-piracy operations is a component of the annual operating costs of the Royal Navy, on which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office holds no data. The average annual running costs of the EU's Operation Atalanta are €8 million per year, of which the UK contributes on average £700,000 per year.The British Government are playing a leading role in the counter-piracy operations at sea, and leading international work with regional countries to build penal, judicial and law enforcement capacities in support, with more than 1,000 pirates now in custody. The first line of defence remains self-defence measures by ships to minimise the risk of a successful highjack. But the long-term solution lies on land, with rule of law. increased stability and economic development.

Secondary information