ICC HIGHLIGHTS PROBLEM OF STOWAWAYS FOR SHIPPING INDUSTRY
The International Maritime Bureau, an arm of the International Chamber of Commerce, said that the recent increase in the number of stowaway attempts is a major problem for the shipping industry.
“Ship operators often have little control over the content of the containers they carry, and can be unaware of the presence of stowaways, yet they can be held legally responsible for the safety of the people found in their cargo,” said Michael Howlett, who heads the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s transit fraud department.
Howlett mentioned the hefty fines of tens of thousands of dollars faced by shipping lines if they are found to be carrying people illegally.
Canada, the U.S. and Britain have particularly high rates of illegal immigration attempts, combined with “particularly crippling fines” for their transporters, the International Chamber of Commerce said.
The International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs, a group of the world’s major mutual liability insurers for shipowners, now spends about $10 million each year on fines and costs relating to people-smuggling. “The actual cost is much higher as shipowners pay substantial amounts themselves due to higher deductibles on their Protection and Indemnity cover,” the ICC said.
The Paris-based agency said that, whether carrying goods by air, sea or land, carriers can investigate cargo owners’ backgrounds and avoid taking on consignments with suspicious origins or destinations.
“Port authorities should maintain constant watches over their container yards to catch any migrants attempting to sneak into containers right under their noses,” it added.
But, according to the International Maritime Bureau, individual immigration authorities can do little against the international crime rings that are behind a lot of people-smuggling.
The German Intelligence Service has found that income earned through the smuggling of people into the European Union now exceeds $4 billion annually, with 400,000 people entering the EU illegally every year. Europol, the EU’s cross-border police force, said that gangs are making as much money from people trafficking as they are from drug smuggling.
“There is a growing need for a central body to quantify all illegal immigration worldwide and provide centralized assistance to organizations dealing with the problem around the globe,” said Howlett.
Attempts to escape a country and enter a foreign state illegally without a visa often involve a chain of crossings by sea, road and air, the ICC said. The last stretch is often by sea. Not only do individuals hide on ships, but gangs are using increasingly sophisticated methods to smuggle people in groups, “sometimes creating people-carrying containers specially equipped with bunks,” it said.
A group of migrants was recently found hiding in a cargo of Christmas trees, and another in a container of roses to avoid detection by sniffer dogs. Another way for groups of migrants to enter a country is “to pose as replacement crew members on ships by using fake identity documents,” the ICC reported.