If shipping companies were to direct their vessels around South Africa instead of through the Gulf of Aden en route to the Suez Canal and beyond, there would be a "series of negative repercussions," said the head of the International Maritime Organization, Efthimios Mitropoulos.Įach journey would require an extra 750 metric tons of fuel and emit an extra 2,335 tons of carbon dioxide, Mitropoulos said during a UN Security Council debate on Somalia.Ī journey from the Saudi oil port of Ras Tanura to the European port of Gibraltar would double in length and take almost 12 days longer if ships took the route around the Cape of Good Hope, he said. Other shipping companies, including Norway's Frontline Ltd., which transports much of the Middle East's oil to areas around the world, were considering similar moves, said international tanker association Intertanko. Moller-Maersk, said Thursday it was sending some of its 50 oil tankers around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa rather than navigate the now notorious Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast. ((Christian Duys/Associated Press) )One of the world's biggest shippers, Denmark's A.P. This undated picture taken at an unknown location shows the MV Sirius Star, a huge Saudi oil tanker that has been hijacked by Somali pirates.