Offering $150 M insurance payoutYemen tries to woo ships back [Archives:2003/624/Local News]

BY NEWS SERVICES

According to reports, the Yemeni government is offering financial guarantees of up to $150 million against the costs of any acts of terror in its waters.
This follows the drastic drop in numbers of ships entering Yemen's ports following last year's Limburg tanker incident. Yemeni government has contributed $50 million to the guarantee while unspecified insurance firms have agreed to top up the remaining $100 million.
The Singapore Shipping Times is also quoting from a recent report to the Yemen parliament that it is estimated the country is losing $15 million per month as a direct result of the impact on shipping activities.
“Nautical activities in all Yemeni ports were stricken after the Limburg attack, especially the container terminal in the Aden Free Zone where the number of containers was reduced from about 43,000 in September to fewer than 3,000 in November,” the report said.
It also noted this was the result of shipping lines moving to neighboring ports of Salalah, Djibouti and Jeddah because of the nearly 300 per cent rise in insurance premiums and according to industry sources, throughput volumes at Yemeni container terminals have dropped to 'virtually nothing'.
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