A 100 per cent rise in the cost of stowaway incidents in the last decade is costing the international shipping industry more than USD20m annually, Eye for Transport reports. The average cost per reported stowaway case has risen from USD6,000 in 2000 to around USD14,500 in 2007. The main regions for stowing away are China and west and east Africa, with most individuals hoping to reach north America and Europe, the report says.
The increasing trend was this week discussed by Japanese ship operator
NYK and indemnity insurer the UK Club at a conference also attended by
terminal representatives from major Chinese ports, including Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Xiamen, Shekou and Shanghai. The report says that
Asia-Pacific "poses its own challenges with the illegal trafficking of
humans... [and] shippers, slot charterers and some terminal personnel
sometimes collude in such crime."
Under maritime law, a stowaway discovered after a ship has left port
becomes the shipping company's responsibility, and it must provide free
board and lodgings for the duration of the voyage, or until the ship
calls at a port that accepts stowaways for repatriation.
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