'I note some serious progress,' said Mr Alfons Guinier, head of the European Community Shipowners' Associations, after talks with European Union (EU) officials in Brussels.

'We have the impression that it will now be more repressive,' he said, adding that the operation initially appeared to be focused on 'escort missions'.

The EU operation - dubbed Atalanta - is the bloc's first naval mission, and will see five or six warships patrol pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden from Dec 8.

Ships from a number of EU countries and Norway will help escort merchant vessels through the strait while aircraft will carry out surveillance operations.

Somalia's Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean waters have seen nearly 100 vessel attacks this year, which has threatened to choke one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

Earlier on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that 'the mission will have rules of engagement that will be robust and all means to protect, to deter, and will include the use of force'.

Mr Guinier said: 'We have to act against pirates and bring them to justice - not just use deterrent actions... but also direct action.'

He said some shipping giants, like Danish group AP Moeller-Maersk, had already decided to re-route its vessels to avoid the Gulf of Aden, despite the extra costs it would incur. -- AP