Oil and shipping giants offer $1.5M to counter Somali pirates

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- A joint initiative led by leading oil and shipping companies said Thursday they were donating $1.5 million in funds to stem piracy off the coast of Somalia.

The Joint Shipping Initiative, lead by Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Danish conglomerate Maersk, Hungary's MOL, Japanese shipping companies and others, announced the funds were made available through the U.N. Development Fund.

"Piracy is a global problem that takes root in limited economic opportunities, high youth unemployment rates and poor infrastructure," Jens Munch Lund-Nielsen, a sustainability director at Maersk, said in a statement.

Two former U.S. Navy SEALs working for a security firm were found dead in a Maersk Alabama container ship in the Seychelles in February. Somali pirates in 2009 took over the ship, an incident that inspired the 2013 movie Captain Phillips.

The Joint Shipping Initiative said the lack of viable employment opportunities in war-torn Somalia serves as a recruitment tool for pirate leaders.

"Development projects that provide an alternative livelihood to would-be pirates are a vital element of the long-term solution to piracy," Grahaeme Henderson, vice president of Shell shipping and maritime services, said.