Top 5 Most Frightening Shipping Waters in the World (Part Two)
Posted on Friday, September 18th
Sitting behind a desk or running errands trying to run a business in the transportation sector is one thing, but sailing cargo ships across international waters can be quite exciting. And that is not in a good way. Most of the waters labelled as highly dangerous owe their bad reputation to their history of pirate attacks. The following three areas are ranked numbers 3 to 5 among the top five most frightening international shipping waters in the world, precisely for this reason.
3. The Gulf of Aden
A closer look at this area will reveal that there is intense pirate activity across all the waters near Somalia, which include the Gulf of Aden (most commonly associated with Somali piracy), the southern part of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the waters off the Indian and Maldives west coasts, as well as those off Yemen, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mozambique.
The Somali pirate activity has been heavily featured in news feeds on piracy over the years and is now enjoying even more attention after the release of Tom Hanks' Hollywood film "Captain Phillips", which tells the story of a captain whose ship is attacked and boarded by pirates in the Somali waters.
It should be noted though that the piracy rates have dropped significantly as a result of various security measures being implemented over the years, while the particularly bad reputation of the Somali waters continues to precede them.
4. The Arctic Waters
Many explorers have lost their lives over the centuries after setting off to sail across the waters of the Arctic Ocean. However, an increasing number of shipping routes across it are being established now in the context of recent climate variations and ice melting. Of course, such an endeavour may stir different reactions such as cargo ships being rushed to sail across the Arctic Ocean or political parties fighting over the established shipping routes. Naturally, such reactions would only add to the risks of sailing across these waters.
It is also important to note the isolation of the Arctic waters, which makes it difficult for any rescue plans to be carried out efficiently and also for the necessary infrastructure to be set up anywhere across those waters.
5. The Gulf of Guinea
Last but not least, number five on the list of the most frightening international shipping waters in the world is the Gulf of Guinea, situated on the west coast of Africa, where pirates have been striking more and more frequently over the last few years.
In conclusion, sailing across international waters to deliver different types of cargo to customers all over the world may look like a boring and uninteresting job, but as all these lists, statistics and facts prove, it comes with great risks that not many people are aware of. Political attacks, terrorist attacks, pirate attacks are just some of these risks, but the list goes on.
