Months or years from now, when Somali piracy is a distant memory, its most enduring legacy will not be the spike it produced in maritime crime, or millions of dollars in ransoms paid by shipping firms and insurance companies. Instead, the piracy along the East African coast will be recalled as the catalyst for the rising navies of India, China and the European Union to deploy far from their homeports, altering who and where they fight. The Somali imperative will also be remembered for bringing about the first instance of naval coordination among member nations under the UN auspices at a meeting in mid-January.
With more than 20,000 ships annually transiting the Gulf of Aden, gateway to the Suez Canal and the avenue for most maritime trade between East and West, Somali piracy affects virtually every nation. Estimates suggest between 7 to 12 percent of the world’s annual oil supply passes this stretch of water that spans more than 2 million square miles. The United States and traditional maritime powers have responded with naval forces. More remarkable, however, is that rising maritime powers, India and China in particular, join the effort, conducting sustained deployments away from home for the first time in modern history.