DUBAI // Four months after his ship was freed from pirates, a Sri Lankan sailor plans to return to sea next month.
Now, Sunil Bulathsinhala just wants to forget the four days of terror he endured beginning March 13, when gun wielding Somali pirates held eight sailors hostage aboard the Aris 13, a UAE-managed tanker, marking the first successful hijacking after a five-year lull.
“I try to forget how many guns they had, how they held a gun to my head and made me talk to my family to ask for money. They had AK47s, T56, T81 (assault rifles), small rocket-propelled grenades and 9mm pistols,” said Mr Bulathsinhala from his Colombo home.
“I thought I would die. I tried to forget this. My mind is okay now. I am tough. I cannot be scared when I go back to work.”
A group of six pirates pretending to be fishermen first boarded the slow-moving bunker barge that was travelling from Djibouti to Mogadishu. Thirty armed pirates later clambered aboard. Working 12-hour shifts, they stripped the tanker of equipment and food.
“They took our phones, laptops, everything. I had only two tee-shirts and shorts. They took two motorboats, life jackets and the radio. They used big garbage bags to take away water, rice, soup cans, Pepsi and spaghetti.”
Mr Bulathsinhala says he cannot block out the terrifying exchange of gunfire during the March 16 rescue by the Puntland Maritime Police Force and the Bosaso Port Police, also in Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in Somalia.
“My heart pained during the shooting. The bullets were over us, we were in the middle. I still hear the sound. I have never been so afraid.”
Samudra Hettarachchi, Sunil’s wife, said sailors were vulnerable. “If the route is changed and they have to go near Somalia, the crew cannot do anything. They want to earn, so they will obey. But companies should not send them to unsafe places. If something happens to them, what will happen to us? When the ship was hijacked I was only thinking of the end. I was thinking how we will manage the rest of life.”
Being the sole breadwinner with a daughter to support through university, Mr Bulathsinhala, 57, says he has no choice but to return to sea. “I need work. We need the money.”
But he won't go back on just any ship. “A big ship with more speed, barbed wire and at least 4-6 guards on lookout,” he said, detailing the minimum security he wants before signing on.
Still, despite his fears and concerns, he also says he understands why some Somalis turn to piracy. Having lived in Fujairah and working in the Gulf gave him some Arabic abilities. He was thus able to function as a stand-in interpreter initially for the pirates. “I understood some Arabic, so I helped translate until the main interpreter came on board who spoke very good English. They would talk about how their country had too many problems, how 80 per cent of the livestock is dead, how they had no rain for many years. They are poor and so they are thieves.” This narrative of drought, unemployment and lawlessness as a trigger for piracy is one acknowledged by aid groups.
For years, the growth of Somali piracy was relentless. More people were taken hostage at sea in 2010 than in any year since the International Maritime Bureau began keeping records in 1991. Pirates captured 1,016 seafarers and killed eight; 49 ships were hijacked following a total of 219 attacks.
Since 2006, when attacks began to rise sharply, more than 29 crew have been killed. The incidence of piracy peaked in 2011, when 237 ships were attacked.
A combination of patrols by international navies and tighter security measures on merchant vessels gradually beat back attacks. It was after a five-year respite that the Aris 13 was hijacked, followed on March 21 by Al Kausar dhow, loaded with rice and wheat enroute from Dubai to Yemen. Ten Indian sailors were released by Somali forces after 10 days in captivity.
Omer Jama Farah, director and founder of the Taakulo Somali Community, an aid organisation working with marginalised groups, said the problem was worsening. “There has been a cholera outbreak and people are also suffering due to severe drought with most of the livestock dead,” he said.
“We received some rain, but that will not produce any crops. So we need the UAE and international support to help us or more people will turn to violence and the sea.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Director: Christian Schwochow
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Rating: 3/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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