After teaming up with Simon Murray to launch Typhon, the British entrepreneur Anthony Sharp has given an interview to The Telegraph in which he speaks of the partnership with the outspoken chairman of the commodities giant Glencore and what amounts to a private navy.

 

Typhon fights back against pirates

 

The attack was launched against the ship at first light, just as the sun was rising off the Somali port of Mogadishu. Six heavily armed pirates opening fire with light calibre weapons before attempting to board the vessel.

 

By Jonathan Sibun

 

They chose the wrong target. Tasked with escorting aid to Somalia, the ship was the ESPS Patino, the European Union naval force’s flagship in the Indian Ocean. The attack – launched last Thursday as the pirates mistook the Patino for a cargo ship – ended in failure with the injured Somalis taken into custody.

That skirmish might have ended in failure but it wasn’t an isolated incident. There were 176 such attacks in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in 2011, according to official figures. Some 25 of those ended in success for the pirates, bringing them $135m (£88m) from holding crews at gunpoint off the Somali coast and demanding eye-watering ransoms.

It’s a problem that has sparked debate in the House of Commons, criticism of the Government for failing to act tough, and prompted David Cameron to label Somalia a “failed state that directly threatens British interests”.

More pertinently for big business, it is thought to be hitting global trade to the tune of $12bn with shipping companies, commodity traders and insurers bearing the brunt of it.

But business is fighting back. Or if Anthony Sharp has his way……[access full article]