Belgium to provide troops for pirate protection
30 April 2009

BRUSSELS (AP) - Belgium's military will provide onboard protection to commercial ships in pirate-infested waters off Somalia, the government said Thursday.

Teams of eight soldiers will be available to Belgian ships upon request if the EU anti-piracy mission -- called Atalanta -- can't guarantee protection, Defense Minister Pieter De Crem said.

The costs, euro115,000 ($150,000) for the weeklong mission, would be assumed by ship owners. The government said the program could begin as soon as this weekend.

Somalia has become the staging ground for dozens of attacks by pirates. Ship owners sometimes pay large ransoms to free hijacked boats and crew.

Many nations and ship owners have been reticent to use military options because they fear civilian casualties and damage to their ships and cargo. So far, pirates have rarely harmed hostages.

But Belgium decided to act because of the capture of a Belgian dredger and its 10-man crew by Somali pirates two weeks ago. It is moored off Somalia and Belgium is making efforts to get it released.

A European shipping association has called on Belgium to send more ships to protect other slow-moving dredgers. About 200 large dredging ships and auxiliary vessels are slated to leave the Persian Gulf in the coming months and some will have to pass by Somalia's lawless coast to get home to Belgium and the Netherlands.

France spearheaded and plays a key role in the Atalanta mission, and has been aggressive in global anti-piracy efforts. French naval frigates have been patrolling the region for the past year, after a French yacht was seized by pirates with 30 crew aboard. French commandos freed that boat and later two others, and have arrested dozens of pirates in other operations.

Fight against pirates also needed ashore - US Navy

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland, May 4 (Reuters) - The fight against piracy must involve efforts on land and at sea, the U.S. Navy's top officer said on Monday, saying the issue was more complex than just putting arms on commercial ships.

"Pirates don't live at sea. They live ashore. They move their money ashore. You can't have a discussion about eradicating piracy without having a discussion about the shore dimension," Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead told reporters after a speech at a Navy League conference.

He said the area off the coast of Somalia was four times the size of Texas and there were complex legal issues involved. He said it was also not clear that the shipping industry wanted to begin using armed convoys to protect ships against pirates.

Heavily armed pirates from virtually lawless Somalia have increasingly struck merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels and hundreds of hostages and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.

U.S. Navy commandos shot and killed three gunmen last month to free Richard Phillips, the U.S. ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates. A fourth suspected pirate was arrested and brought to the United States for trial.

His kidnapping prompted several U.S. lawmakers to call for putting U.S. military forces on board commercial vessels, a measure opposed by the Pentagon.

U.S. officials have called for a coordinated international effort to fight piracy, including new strategies to prosecute and imprison pirates, track and freeze their monetary assets and secure the release of ships still held in the region.

Roughead said there was more to fighting pirates than apprehending them at sea, noting that a combined sea and shore approach had helped curb pirate attacks in the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Piracy in the Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, became so serious that in 2005 the Joint War Committee of the Lloyd's Market Association added the area to its list of war risk zones, sending insurance premiums sharply higher.

Concerted efforts by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore helped slash the number of attacks in that region.

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters after a speech at the conference that he did not support putting arms on commercial ships and that it was up to merchant ships to pay for their own protection.

"I am not a proponent of putting arms on anything," Mullen said, adding commercial shippers could hire private security, but did not want to "because it costs them too much money."

Mullen said the ships plagued by piracy accounted for just about 1 percent of all ships, and combating piracy was not his top priority. He said one analysis had shown it would take 1,000 ships to effectively fight piracy, more than the U.S. Navy fleet. "I've got a big globe. I don't have 1,000 ships that I can devote to that," he said.

Mullen also said the issue was ultimately larger than just piracy. "It's about Somalia and it's about a future safe haven, and it's about what the international community is going to do with respect to Somalia, among other things."

Acting U.S. Maritime Administrator James Caponiti, who oversees the U.S. merchant marine, told the conference he opposed arming merchant seamen to counter pirates.

Caponiti noted many foreign ports do not allow sailors to carry weapons or bring them into port. He said ships should consider carrying qualified private security teams instead.

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen said an high-level inter-agency group begun under the previous Bush administration was continuing to work on anti-piracy measures; a new maritime "code of conduct" should be out shortly.

He also called for greater efforts to prosecute pirates "and put them away."

Few US ships travel the Gulf of Aden, making attacks rare - and dangerous for pirates
8 May 2009

BOSTON (AP) - After U.S. Navy SEALs killed three men holding an American captain hostage in the Gulf of Aden, some Somali pirates vowed retaliation, saying they would target U.S. ships in the area.

But roughly a month after pirates seized the Maersk Alabama and fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons on the U.S.-flagged Liberty Sun, there have been no further attacks against American boats or their crews.

And maritime experts believe it's unlikely pirates will succeed again anytime soon because there are so few U.S. ships in the Gulf of Aden -- as few as one out of the 70-80 ships in the Gulf of Aden each day -- and because increased attention by the United States makes any attack especially risky.

"You're going to be a poor pirate if you specifically go after U.S. vessels, and you're going to be leading a short life," said Donna Nincic, chairwoman of the Department of Maritime Policy and Management at the California Maritime Academy.

Still, the threat of pirates is a constant for any ship in the gulf, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. It offers the shortest route from Asia to Europe and is one of the world's busiest seaways.

There were at least 84 pirate attacks in the first quarter this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau, and about 250 crew members remain in Somali captivity aboard 19 hijacked vessels. But the attack of the Maersk Alabama on April 8 was the first armed takeover of a U.S.-flagged ship in 34 years.

American crews have remained safe for so long largely because fewer U.S.-flagged ships travel in the gulf compared with ships from other countries.

American ships make up a small percentage of the world's fleets. According to the U.S. Maritime Administration, 286 ships flew the U.S. flag in 2006, the most recent figures available. Panama, by comparison, had 3,668 -- the world's largest fleet.

Even U.S. companies that rely on trade in the Gulf of Aden often use ships under foreign flags, in part because foreign regulations can be less restrictive than U.S. rules and because it's less expensive to hire non-American crews and to build the ships outside of the United States.

"The biggest reason is it's much more economical to operate those ships with other crews than U.S. citizens," said Douglas J. Mavrinac, head of maritime research at investment firm Jefferies & Co.

U.S. laws require companies receiving government contracts to mostly use domestic crews and ships, so of the few American ships in the waters off the African coast, most carry either military or humanitarian goods. Both the Maersk Alabama and the Liberty Sun, which was violently attacked April 14 by pirates who fled before the U.S. Navy arrived to help, were carrying aid to African countries.

The Liberty Sun is operated by Liberty Maritime Corp., based in Lake Success, N.Y.; the Maersk Alabama is managed by Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk Lines Limited.

Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., was held hostage on a lifeboat for five days and was freed when U.S. Navy snipers killed three of his captors. His second-in-command and fellow Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate, Capt. Shane Murphy, of Seekonk, Mass., then took control of the ship.

After the rescue, some Somali pirates vowed retaliation. A pirate whose gang went after the Liberty Sun said the group was targeting U.S. ships and would "slaughter" Americans.

But such threats only make future attacks more difficult because of increased awareness and action from the U.S. military and government, said Donald Frost, publications editor for Connecticut Maritime Association, the country's largest shipping trade association.

"To my mind, if you want to clean up the piracy issue, the best thing they can do is do something stupid, like declare open bounty on American ships," Frost said.

Union seeks protection for Philippines sailors in Africa
16 May 2009
Agence France Presse

A union representing the Philippines' 350,000 merchant seamen on Saturday demanded better protection for the sailors in Africa and warned freed victims of pirates may sue their employers for damages.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines wants Manila to put pressure on the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) to follow the example of the United States, which it said has ordered all US-flagged vessels sailing through the Gulf of Aden to post guards to ward off pirate attacks.

"The Philippines should be the one pushing the IMB hard for superior safety since we are the biggest supplier of sailors, with more than 350,000 Filipinos on international shipping vessels at any given time," said union secretary general Ernesto Herrera.

The London-based IMB, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce, has a Kuala Lumpur-based monitoring centre dedicated to suppressing piracy and armed robbery against ships.

The Philippine labour group, which includes the Philippine Seafarers Union, said 242 Filipino sailors on foreign vessels had been seized in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia since 2006, with 59 from five ships still being held hostage.

The figure excludes Filipino sailors taken hostage by separatists in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.

The Nigerian army announced in Lagos on Saturday that six Filipinos and four Nigerians held hostage by militants aboard a ship in the volatile area were rescued overnight by Nigerian security forces.

"The possibility of taking legal action against their employers is always there, particularly if the shipping firms failed to provide adequate protective measures for the crew, or disregarded prior requests for extra security," Herrera said.

He said the labour federation was closely following the case of an American chief cook of the US-flagged Maersk Alabama who has sued Maersk Line Ltd. and the manning agency Waterman Steamship Corp. for 75,000 dollars in damages after surviving a pirate hijacking in the Horn of Africa.

Pirates have carried out more than 100 attacks in the key shipping lanes of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year.

UN urged to coordinate Somali piracy task force
19 May 2009
Agence France Presse

Maritime experts called for the UN to coordinate foreign naval forces carrying out anti-piracy patrols off Somalia, in a statement concluding an international conference Tuesday.

International shipping authorities, diplomats and security officials met in the Malaysian capital to find ways to protect seafarers and the shipping industry from rampant piracy off Somalia's coast and in the Gulf of Aden.

Warships operating under US, European Union and NATO commands, as well as independent vessels from nations including China and Russia, are currently operating in the troubled region to thwart attempted hijackings.

"The United Nations is invited to consider further the possibility... to coordinate maritime force operations to suppress acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships off the coast of Somalia," the statement said.

It also said that in the absence of an effective central government in Somalia, there should be a legal framework created to tackle the pirate menace, which is disrupting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

The document authored by the Malaysian hosts said that piracy in the lawless region was becoming "more sophisticated and violent", threatening international shipping which conveys more than two-thirds of world trade.

But amid calls for foreign militaries to mount assaults on pirate bases in Somalia, it said that in the war against piracy, the sovereignty and political independence of states must be respected.

The draft, which was agreed to on the conference floor but does not bind any of the participating countries, said that nations bordering the Gulf of Aden bore the primary responsibility for eliminating the piracy crisis.

"Therefore, international efforts towards assisting the littoral states to build their capacities to handle this problem are of utmost importance," it said.

"Measures to eliminate the root causes of piracy,... such as empowering the authorities and Somali people and in enhancing the socio-economic fabric of Somalia should be undertaken to ensure a lasting solution to the problem."

Richard Farrington, chief of staff of the EU Naval Force, has said there are currently 25 warships patrolling the region, but there would need to be 60 in the Gulf of Aden and 150 off Somalia to effectively tackle the problem.

Delegations from 66 nations plus the European Union attended the gathering.

Experts at the meeting have said that the multinational naval task force is only a stop-gap measure and that a more comprehensive response must be found, including a legal mechanism to prosecute pirates.

EU mulls expanding anti-piracy mission
18 May 2009

BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union may expand its naval anti-piracy operations to cover the Seychelles islands, more than 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the Somali coastline, Germany's defense minister said Monday.

The Seychelles, an archipelago of more than 100 islands, has been the scene of several recent attacks.

"We see that the pirates are extending their activities into the Indian Ocean, so the area around the Seychelles should be included in the operation," German defense minister Franz Josef Jung said before a meeting of the European Union's foreign and defense ministers.

Over the past two years, pirates along Somalia's 1,900-mile-long (3,100-kilometer) coast have hijacked dozens of ships for ransoms worth millions of dollars.

The EU flotilla, along with NATO and U.S. task forces and ships from several individual nations, have focused their patrols on the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia's coast, where most of the hijackings have occurred.

NATO said Monday that one of its vessels -- the Canadian frigate HMCS Winnipeg -- had thwarted an attack on a Maltese cargo ship, the MV Sea Pride.

The EU operation, code named Atalanta, is the first naval mission mounted by the 27-nation organization.

Czech Defense Minister Martin Bartak said ministers discussed the proposal to expand the maritime protection mission deep into the Indian Ocean but reached no immediate decision.

"Because the piracy is still growing despite all measures, it will probably be necessary to think about the expansion of the mission," Bartak, who chaired the meeting, told journalists.

About two dozen international warships and a handful of shore-based maritime patrol aircraft currently cover the entire area off the Horn of Africa, a swathe of ocean about the size of the Mediterranean Sea. EU officials said the expanded mission would encompass an area three times larger than the Mediterranean.

The EU ministers also called on the international community to provide greater support for Somalia's transitional government, which wields little control outside the capital of Mogadishu.

Last month, the EU and United Nations organized a donors' conference that pledged more than $250 million to strengthen Somalia's security forces in their struggle against militants and to stop pirate attacks on merchant shipping.

IMO worried about arming ships to fight piracy

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 (Reuters) - Proposals to arm sailors on commercial shipping vessels to battle pirates could lead to an "arms race" on the high seas, a senior maritime official said on Monday.

Some shipping companies want their crews to have arms or use mercenaries to deal with Somali pirates, who have mounted 81 attacks between Jan. 1 and April 20, according to data from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), compared with 115 for all of 2008.

But Nicolaos Charalambous, deputy director of IMO, a United Nations body, told Reuters in an interview that arming sailors is not the answer.

"Do we want to turn the whole area into a naval battle?", he said while attending a conference in the Malaysian capital on piracy.

"And if you are having firearms on board, where do you draw the line? Somali pirates have the capability of getting more heavy caliber weapons."

Using satellite trackers, pirates from lawless Somalia have struck merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, capturing dozens of vessels and hundreds of hostages and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.

U.S. Navy commandos shot and killed three Somali gunmen last month to free Richard Phillips, the U.S. ship captain held hostage who later told Congress in May that arming some members on commercial ship crews could reduce pirate attacks.

END THE ANARCHY

Charalambous said the pirate attacks could only be contained by navies operating in the Gulf of Aden and the only long term solution was an end to Somalia's 18 years of anarchy that has displaced millions, killed thousands and defied 15 attempts to establish central rule. "When you have a proper legal framework and show willingness to take action on land, then necessity of the coast guard comes into the picture," he said in response to a call from a Somali official at the conference to help set up a national coast guard.

The attacks have disrupted shipping, delayed food aid to restive east Africa, increased insurance costs and persuaded some firms to send cargoes around South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, a key route for oil.

"U.N. data has shown that if this attack rate is sustained, it will easily surpass the record number of 115 attacks in 2008 and could climb to 200 attacks in 2009," Charalambous said.

Somali pirates patrol 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million sq km) of ocean, about four times the size of Texas, and can very easily elude capture from ships from the United States, Europe, China, Japan and others flocking to region to protect sea routes.

Unlike the pirates in some parts of West Africa's coast especially Nigeria, the Somalis tend to treat their hostages well in hopes of getting higher ransoms, the IMO said.

That is not the case everywhere and the IMO is concerned by a rising tide of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa.

"On the Somali side, all information shows hijackers tried to keep crews well. Unfortunately in Gulf of Guinea, more lives were lost ... it's more political," Charalambous said referring to piracy by armed gangs from Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.

"But that might change for the Somali pirates if commercial ships are armed and someone gets killed in the gun battles," he said.

INTERVIEW-Somali pirate fears good times maybe finished

EYL, Somalia, May 26 (Reuters) - Driving a luxury 4x4 car and smoking imported cigarettes with an expensive satellite phone at his side, Mohamed Said fears his flashy lifestyle as a Somali pirate could be about to come to an end.

The 35-year-old has no regrets about joining one of the gangs operating out of the pirate lair of Eyl, a former fishing village that overlooks the Indian Ocean and the strategic shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia through the Gulf of Aden.

Their attacks have driven up insurance costs and delayed U.N. aid deliveries. But Said's career has brought him riches he could never have imagined as an impoverished fisherman.

He and his colleagues have hijacked nearly 30 vessels this year, meaning 2009 is on course to be even worse than last year, when pirates from the Horn of Africa nation seized 42 ships.

But the crime wave has prompted a hurried deployment in the region by foreign navies, thwarting several attacks -- and now the weather is turning too, making the seas rougher and the pirates' prey harder to hunt.

"My biggest fear is that the piracy business will have to stop. The weather will be terrible in the coming days and the warships have increased in number," Said told Reuters in Eyl.

"I have experienced the bitter-sweetness of piracy," he added, pointing out that his car, satellite telephone and speedboat were all paid for with his cut from ransoms.

But the last few weeks have not been so successful. He knows he was lucky to get off scot-free after being captured once.

"I recently went to sea ... but all of my last three attempts have been in vain. I was even caught by a Portuguese warship, but fortunately they released me and my friends."

THREAT FROM WARSHIPS

NATO forces have been disarming and releasing gunmen detained during its anti-piracy operation. Said is well aware that if it had been a different warship, he might well be dead, or facing trial in a courtroom far from home.

Last week, a Somali teenager accused of holding a U.S. ship's captain hostage during a foiled hijacking denied 10 charges in New York including piracy and kidnapping.

Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse was the sole surviving accused pirate after the U.S. military said its snipers shot dead three of his companions during an operation to rescue the captain.

Even after the weather improves, Said worries that the foreign navies might make the pirates' business impossible.

"If dozens of warships remain in our waters, our work will be as futile as a chameleon trying to catch a fly," he said.

Lighting an imported Benson & Hedges cigarette and unwrapping a roll of leafy khat, a mild narcotic popular in the Horn of Africa, he says he is holding out for his share in a $1.7 million ransom being demanded for a hijacked German ship.

At small cafes on Eyl's dusty, unpaved streets, pirates are also swapping gossip about negotiations in progress for the release of a Dutch ship. The buccaneers want $2.5 million, but the owners have only offered $1.5 million so far.

"If they give me some cash I will clear my debts. You know khat is expensive here," he said, chewing on a twig from the bunch wrapped in banana leaves, then puffing on his cigarette.

"Those who have must enjoy their earnings, while the have-nots die of hunger and worry," Said added with a shrug.

"I wish this merry life would last forever. But I'm afraid that circumstances may force me to give up piracy completely."

Australia joins fight against piracy off Somalia
29 May 2009
Agence France Presse

Australia announced Friday that it will send a warship and a surveillance aircraft to the Horn of Africa as part of the international fight against piracy.

The frigate HMAS Warramunga, presently patrolling in the Persian Gulf, will be attached periodically to a new combined taskforce established to combat pirate activity in shipping lanes off Somalia.

An Australian airforce AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, based in an unnamed Persian Gulf country, will also join the taskforce.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia was "stepping up to the plate" to help foil the hijacking of ships for ransom.

"We believe it's part of Australia putting its shoulder to the wheel, together with our friends, our partners, our allies to make a material difference to security in the region," he said.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the decision would enable Australia to provide a robust and effective contribution to anti-piracy efforts.

"Piracy is a threat to global maritime security, including to Australia's merchant trade and to Australian tourists passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal," he said in a statement.

Warships operating under US, European Union and NATO commands, as well as independent vessels from nations including China and Russia, are currently operating in the troubled region to thwart hijackings.

Richard Farrington, chief of staff of the EU Naval Force, has said there are currently 25 warships patrolling the region, but there would need to be 60 in the Gulf of Aden and 150 off Somalia to effectively tackle the problem.

Calls for more concerted action have risen as attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden have escalated -- piracy watchdogs say there have been 114 attempted hijackings so far this year, compared with 111 over the whole of 2008.

Gates praises Pacific Rim nations for anti-piracy efforts; could be model for Horn of Africa
1 June 2009

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Pentagon chief is praising Pacific Rim nations as a model for anti-piracy crackdowns off the Horn of Africa.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cited piracy on Monday as just one of the security issues facing the Asian region.

But he says partnered efforts by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore to combat piracy off the Malacca Strait have been successful.

He says they're a "model of what we would like to see in the Gulf of Aden," one of the world's most crucial shipping lanes.

That's where Somali pirates regularly hijack commercial vessels, and even some private yachts, for ransom.

An estimated 21,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year and between 200 and 250 are on those waters daily.

France hands dead pirates back to Somali region

BOSASSO, Somalia, June 1 (Reuters) - The French navy handed two dead and two captured pirates to authorities in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland on Monday, but confusion persisted over how best to deal with the sea gangs.

Foreign warships have been deployed off the coast of the lawless Horn of Africa state since the turn of the year to try to prevent the piracy that has flourished in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

International law is far from clear on the subject, and some captured pirates have been disarmed and set free; others have been taken to France, Kenya and even the United States; while others have been handed over to Puntland.

The northern region of Somalia says it zealously prosecutes and tries pirates, though some analysts accuse senior Puntland officials of complicity with the gangs.

"The French navy handed two dead bodies and two pirates over to us this morning," Puntland's security minister, Abdullahi Said Samatar, told Reuters.

He said the pirates were killed and captured respectively by an Indian warship while trying to hijack a ship in the Gulf of Aden, but were then handed over go the French navy.

It was not clear when the incident took place.

Pirates have captured nearly 30 ships in waters off Somalia so far this year, nearing their record haul of 40 in 2008.

They hold nearly 300 hostages, and have been releasing ships for ransoms of millions of dollars.

British ship disarms suspected pirate skiffs: US Navy
2 June 2009
Agence France Presse

British frigate HMS Portland intercepted two suspicious skiffs in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday and troops boarded them, preventing a possible pirate attack, the US Navy said.

The boarding party "found articles that indicated the skiff had been involved or was about to conduct an act of piracy, and were clearly not those of an innocent fishing vessel," the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said.

The skiffs, with 10 people aboard, were carrying extra barrels of fuel, grappling hooks and a cache of weapons that included rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and ammunition, the statement said.

The suspected pirates were disarmed and released because there was insufficient evidence to directly link them to a specific attack, it added.

"Having prevented this group of pirates from reaching their merchant traffic prey Portland destroyed one of the skiffs and confiscated all their weapons," the statement said.

Portland was on patrol for CTF 151, a US-led multinational task force also including naval forces from Turkey, South Korea, Singapore, Denmark and Japan.

More than 30,000 vessels transit the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden annually. In 2009, there have been 114 attempted attacks on merchant vessels in the region, 29 of which have been successful, the navy said.

Pirates are currently holding at least 20 ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, together with more than 300 seamen.

Shippers weigh armed response to Somali piracy

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - A growing number of shipping companies are examining whether to put private armed security guards on their vessels travelling off Somalia's coast to combat rising attacks from pirates, industry officials say.

Piracy has flourished in recent months off the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes and seaborne gangs have seized several cargo ships and collected tens of millions of dollars in ransom for the safe release of crews and cargoes.

Maritime organisations have urged shippers to leave any armed role to foreign navies, but some frustrated companies are already using private contractors as a solution as has been seen in other areas of conflict such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

While foreign navies have been deployed off Somalia since the turn of the year to try to prevent attacks, those forces have found themselves stretched given the vast expanses of water involved.

While U.S. sharpshooters killed three pirates who seized a ship's captain in April, and other naval forces have arrested pirates, hijackings often occur with no intervention from naval patrols because they are simply too far away.

Danish group Shipcraft said putting armed guards on its vessels travelling through the Gulf of Aden was a deterrent and also a means of protecting its crews despite the risks involved.

"They (pirates) do not like to be there when the guards are there," said Shipcraft's chief executive Per Nykjaer Jensen.

"As long as the politicians don't make up their minds, then we have to act ourselves," he told Reuters.

The debate over whether to allow armed guards on vessels has gathered momentum and the U.N.'s shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), has taken it up.

Peter Hinchliffe, marine director with industry association the International Chamber of Shipping, told an IMO meeting on piracy last week there were concerns over the "proliferating private armies of security guards", who were also unregulated.

"These relate to issues of legality and liability for the use of lethal force, collateral damage and shipboard safety," he said.

"There is a danger that the carriage of armed guards in merchant ships may lead to an arms race with criminal pirate gangs who may be able to obtain ever more potent fire power."

NON-LETHAL MEANS

Steven Neely, director of international operations with Hamburg-based Bastion Services, said it was providing armed guards to a European shipping company in the Gulf of Aden.

"Lethal force will always be the last resort," he said. "We will use all means possible before that."

"I think you are going to see more private security getting involved: the ones who have a good reputation and who have a responsible approach."

John Dalby, chief executive of Spanish based MRM, which provides armed and unarmed personnel to merchant vessels, said he had concerns about the type of security companies now approaching shippers. "Some have been kicked out (of Iraq and Afghanistan) for bad practice and being too ready to use the gun," he said.

"They are punting for work out there (Somalia) and some are getting it and making grave errors. There have been unnecessary shootings and instances spiralling out of control when firearms were not necessary," he said.

While there have been some calls for a Somali coast guard force or even a United Nations peace keeping mission, most accept that piracy will grow in the meantime.

"The rewards last year were roughly $1 million a vessel. This year the going rate is roughly $2 million. So more and more pirates are getting in on the action," said J. Peter Pham, an African security advisor to governments and private companies.

Pham, also a professor at James Madison University in Virginia, said security companies could play a role via "non-lethal means".

"Private security firms with tactical expertise can provide merchant marine crews with professional training in any of a number of measures which commercial vessels can take to make themselves less vulnerable to pirate attacks," he said.

More shipping companies hiring "shipriders" against Somali pirates - but legal issues abound
5 June 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - There's not a warship for miles, a small pirate skiff is speeding toward you and there's no way the creaking tub you're on can outrun the bandits. How long do you wait before you shoot?

It's just one of many possible dilemmas facing an increasing number of private security companies who offer armed escorts -- known in the industry as "shipriders" -- from Somali pirates.

The few companies that have begun offering armed escorts say their services have become increasingly popular since the April hijacking of the American-flagged Maersk Alabama, particularly among U.S. shipowners. One company -- Hart Security UK -- has reported a fourfold increase in escorted trips since it began offering them in October.

But legal problems abound for ships that carry guns.

The first hurdle is making sure the countries where ships embark and disembark the weapons will allow them to do so -- a legal nightmare in corrupt Middle Eastern ports with terrorism problems.

Then there's the issue of which law applies onboard the ship if a weapon is discharged: the shooter's nationality, the law of the country whose flag the ship is flying, or the territorial waters of the country the ship is in.

In at least one case, a private security consultant said, an armed team had rented weapons from the Djibouti government then was forced to drop them over the side of the ship to avoid illegally importing them into the country where they were due to disembark. The consultant asked for anonymity because he did not wish to compromise his business.

Kenneth C. Randall, the Dean of the University of Alabama School of Law and an expert in international piracy law, said there were complex issues for companies providing legally armed private guards.

"Commercial vessels have the right of innocent passage through most coastal waters. Some nations might say once you're armed, you're no longer innocent," he said.

Many questions have yet to be tested in court: should ships wait for the pirates to fire before returning fire? Is it still self-defense if the pirates are not firing at the shooter, instead aiming at the captain's bridge? What happens if the pirates are attacking from a "mother ship" -- a vessel that has already been pirated -- and there are civilians onboard being used as human shields?

That's the nightmare scenario the Indian navy faced last November. Pirates hijacked a Thai fishing trawler then apparently fired on an Indian warship. The Indians returned fire, turning the Ekawat Nava 5 into a massive fireball and killing 14 of the 15 crew as well as the pirates. The surviving sailor spent six days adrift in the shark-infested ocean before another ship picked him up.

There is no public registry of all the different companies providing armed guards to ships. Some, like Lotus in Yemen, did not return calls seeking comment.

But other companies interviewed in Britain and America said interest in the newly emerging market has been stoked by the recent series of high-profile hijackings, although only a small proportion of ship owners have inquired about having armed guards onboard so far.

U.S. private security company Templar Titan is providing shipriders and has been doing around 15 escorts per month through the Gulf of Aden a month since it began the service four months ago; the teams are armed on between half and three-quarters of the passages.

Lew Knopp, who heads the company, said the maritime division of his firm has increased from 3 people to 30 within the last year.

"We are directly consulting with the U.S. government on issues of piracy, especially in the Gulf of Aden and we have attorneys reviewing and co-ordinating efforts so they fall within international rules and regulations," Knopp said. He declined to give further details, citing operational security.

Despite the challenges, interest in arming ships has shot up following the Maersk Alabama hijacking, said Hugh Martin, Hart Security UK's general manager.

"We've had a substantial increase in inquiries," he said. "There is a lot of interest from companies that are American-owned."

Martin said that when the company began offering armed escorts in October, they were doing around 5 escorted trips through the Gulf of Aden a month. Now they do around 20 trips a month and also offer the services of two vessels with helipads that accommodate up to 28 people each. They are usually hired by groups of ships to act as an escort, Martin said, and are in use every week.

He says Hart uses Yemeni guards and makes sure the weapons are legally imported and exported at both ends of the ship's journey.

"The amount of effort we put in to ensure we are legal is colossal," he said.

Britain's Maritime Asset Security and Training (MAST) is also offering armed guards, either ex-British naval or special forces personnel. MAST has established a subsidiary in Djibouti to provide a security transit service at the western end of the Gulf of Aden, which also allowed it to license the use of firearms under government approval. Phillip Cable, the director of MAST, says the company is providing the service between 30-35 times a month but only between 10-15 percent involved armed protection.

Other companies like Olive, which guards Shell in Iraq, or maritime security firm Drum Cussac say the legal implications of having armed men onboard commercial shipping are still too unclear.

"What do you do if you shoot a pirate and he surrenders to you?" asked Crispian Cuss of Olive.

But many companies are keen to diversify from Iraq and Afghanistan and are interested in the possibility of training a Somali coastguard. Recent donor conferences focused on the need to build up Somalia's ragged security services, both to combat piracy and the influx of hundreds of foreign jihadi fighters dedicated to the overthrow of the U.N.-backed government.

The millions pledged to Somalia represent a potential goldmine. Pirate attacks have dropped out of the news but still occur almost daily, and around 200 people have been killed on land in the latest round of fighting, which experts fear may lead to the establishment of an al-Qaida foothold on the Horn of Africa.

But before countries agree to spend money on a coastguard, they want to see safeguards to ensure the training or weapons they provide are not turned against them later. A U.N. report issued last December estimated over 80 percent of Somalia's soldiers and police deserted along with weapons and vehicles. A U.N. program to train 10,000 Somali police was frozen due to the high rates of desertion and corruption, which was so bad police were sometimes left without boots or belts and went unpaid for months at a time.

"If we don't learn from that failure we'll repeat the same mistake," said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at thinktank International Crisis Group. "Accountability should be critical to the donor community and it should ensure that the current project is not being as mismanaged as the previous one."

Somali pirates also preying on African refugees
12 June 2009
Agence France Presse

When pickings no longer become easy, the highwaymen of the sea fine-tune their tactics. Humanity does not register strongly on the pirate radar unless it can be exploited to turn a profit.

Somali pirates scouting for prey in the Gulf of Aden are now using African refugees fleeing in search of a better life as human shields in a bid to fool patrolling international warships, according to humanitarian agencies.

The phenomenon first surfaced at the beginning of the year, when the international community boosted its naval presence in the vital maritime shipping lane in response to increasing pirate attacks on commercial vessels.

"What is new is the use of refugee boats as human shields," said Francisco Otero Villar, who heads the Spanish section of Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF).

Some pirates now resort to tying up their skiffs alongside boats ferrying refugees from Somalia to Yemen and then hiding themselves among the helpless and hapless would-be migrants.

The people traffickers, who are also Somali and reportedly in cahoots with the pirates, then keep a keen lookout for isolated ships vulnerable to attack instead of heading with their human cargo directly towards refuge in Yemen.

Once they locate a likely victim, the pirates board their fast and manoeuvrable skiffs and press home their attack.

"It's a deal between the smugglers and the pirates," Otero Villar said, adding that four such cases have been reported since the start of 2009.

In such situations, the boats carrying refugees act like a "mother ship" for the pirates.

As a result, the refugees' voyage to Yemen from the port of Bosasso -- the economic capital of the Somali breakaway region of Puntland -- which on average takes two days, stretches for much longer, exposing them to even greater risk.

Refugees have reported these incidents to the Spanish section of MSF and other aid agencies, as well as to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) workers who take care of them after they make landfall in southern Yemen.

"It is difficult to fathom the links between the pirates and the smugglers" who transport desperate refugees in old and ill-equipped boats, said Claire Bourgeois, the UNHCR representative in Yemen.

"One day they're smugglers, the next they're pirates," she told AFP.

The pirates also take advantage of the lack of a clearly defined code of conduct for the warships on dealing with refugee boats.

"There is a vacuum regarding what a warship should do when it comes across refugees," Bourgeois said.

"What is a warship supposed to do with refugees when she intercepts pirates" among refugees. "Can she approach the Yemeni coast to help refugees reach Yemen?"

The situation is legally very delicate since foreign warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden are not allowed to enter Yemeni territorial waters.

However one rare case of this was reported in March, and involved a French warship from the European Union's Atalante operation.

According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to AFP, an exception was made and the naval vessel was allowed to tow a boat carrying about 80 refugees, mostly Ethiopians, to the Yemeni port of Aden.

But, they said, the operation ended in tragedy when the boat capsized in the harbour as the Ethiopian refugees, who were seated at one side of the boat, all stood up at once when told to disembark. Eight refugees drowned in the incident.

The threat from the pirates' new human shield tactics are merely the latest risk facing migrants on an already dangerous journey across the Gulf of Aden.

For many refugees seeking to escape continuing unrest and the threat of death in lawless Somalia, their flight can end in a watery grave long before they reach their destination.

On April 22, 35 Ethiopian and Somali refugees drowned after their boat capsized as it neared Yemen's shores, according to the Spanish section of MSF.

Some survivors reported that Somali pirates had stopped their boat with the intention of robbing them and throwing them overboard in the middle of the ocean, before then changing their minds after negotiating with the smugglers.

As of May 27, 142 refugees had died and 66 others were reported missing since the beginning of the year, according to UNHCR figures released early June.

Somali pirates have carried out 126 attacks so far this year, including 44 successful sea-jackings, according to environmentalist group Ecoterra International, which monitors illegal marine activity in the region.

During the whole of 2008, 49 ships fell victim to pirates in the region.

Piracy delays East African marine telecoms project

NAIROBI, June 24 (Reuters) - Piracy off Somalia will cause a month-long delay in the launch of SEACOM, one of the submarine cable projects that will provide east Africa's first cheap broadband telecoms link, SEACOM said on Wednesday.

Pirate gangs marauding in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean have seized 31 vessels in 143 attacks this year alone and driven up insurance costs for the strategic shipping lanes.

"The increase in pirate activity during April and May, both in terms of intensity and geographical coverage, necessitated a change in SEACOM's cable installation plans which resulted in a delay in the ready for service date from June 27 to July 23," a statement by the company said.

"The planned route required the ship to transit an area of increased pirate activity where other ships had been attacked or seized."

SEACOM and another undersea cable project known as TEAMS were scheduled to start operating in the second half of the year.

The private SEACOM project will link the eastern Africa coast to India and Europe while the TEAMS line, partly held by the Kenyan government, will run between Mombasa and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

Investors in the 15,000 km cable include an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Venfin Ltd, and Herakles Telecom LLC, each with stakes ranging between 23.75 percent and 26.25 percent. Shanduka Group and Convergence Partners each has a 12.5 percent shareholding.

SEACOM's fibre-optic cable has capacity of 1.28 terabytes per second, which will enable high definition television and support surging Internet demand in eastern Africa that is currently reliant on satellite.

"Due to sensitivities around piracy issues, their impact on the project timeline was only fully established recently," said Brian Herlihy, SEACOM's chief executive.

SEACOM will connect South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia

Kenya's government said in April that foreign navies trying to deter piracy attacks off Somalia had agreed to protect the vessel laying down its TEAMS cable.

Officials: US to bolster efforts to train Somali forces, provide arms to foil Islamic rebels
25 June 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration has decided to bolster efforts to support Somalia's embattled government by providing money for weapons and helping the military in neighboring Djibouti train Somali forces, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The goal is to stem Islamic insurgent advances in the Horn of Africa, but the plan would commit the U.S. to a greater embrace of a shaky government atop one of the world's most chaotic states.

An administration review of U.S. policy toward Somalia found an urgent need to supply the Somali government with ammunition and weapons as it struggles to confront increasingly powerful Islamic militants.

Alarmed by terrorists' gains in Somalia, the administration decided it needed to do more to support Somalia's transitional federal government, officials said.

Officials said the U.S. would not conduct the training and that the U.S. military would not be in Somalia. The U.S. would provide logistical support for the training, and provide arms to the Somalis. The U.S. officials spoke about the emerging plan on condition of anonymity because the details have not yet been finalized.

But even with the administration's careful effort not to leave an American footprint in a country wracked by violent upheaval, the move amounts to a budding foreign complication for the U.S. as its own armed forces wage two distant wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The effort to bolster Somalia's tattered military and police forces faces heavy odds. Somalia has been in chaos for nearly 20 years, and the current U.N.-backed government there controls only a few blocks of the capital and comes under regular attack from increasingly powerful Islamic insurgents.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday the administration was concerned about continuing unrest in Somalia. Kelly confirmed that the U.S. organized an arms shipment made to the Somali government earlier this month, but did not confirm the plans to train Somali forces in Djibouti. One official said the shipment was ammunition delivered to Mogadishu. The Washington Post first reported the arms shipment Thursday.

The "threat to the government," Kelly said, "is causing real suffering -- this kind of violence is causing real suffering for the Somalian people and it's just prolonging the chaos and preventing the country from getting on stable footing. So, yes, we are concerned."

On Thursday, Idd Mohamed, the Republic of Somalia's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told The Associated Press that the planned U.S. effort represents a "new window of opportunity in which the two countries can coordinate strategy for peace and stability."

Mohamed said Somalia welcomes U.S. assistance in establishing his country's security forces, which he said will include $10 million in financial assistance for those forces.

Mohamed and other top leaders from the country told the House Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa that their country needs money to promote economic development, beef up their Coast Guard to battle piracy and resolve humanitarian crises as people flee the violence.

But, warned Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud, president of the state of Puntland, while the U.S. can play a leading role in political and economic assistance, "this does not and should not involve direct military intervention." Puntland is a more stable semiautonomous region in northeastern Somalia.

Warlords and Islamic al-Shabab militants control the countryside, which has become a growing base for al-Qaida terrorists arriving from Yemen and South Asia, U.S. officials have said. Somali pirates operating from coastal towns have hijacked dozens of cargo ships and confronted the U.S. Navy during an April standoff that ended when American snipers freed a hostage after killing three pirates.

Insurgents hold sway even inside Somalia's capital. That was evident Thursday as militants cut off the limbs of four men convicted of stealing cell phones during a public display of fundamentalist Islamic justice.

The government in recent years has depended on outsiders for protection, including more than 4,000 African Union troops in the capital and on forces from neighboring Ethiopia, which drove out the Council of Islamic Courts in 2007 and stayed in the country for two years, helping to prop up the government.

The shipment of arms was part of a series of deliveries of weapons and ammunition that are expected to be sent to African Union forces -- primarily Ugandans -- who in turn will relay them to the Somali government, the official said. Any nation operating under the auspices of the African Union in Somalia would be reimbursed for the weaponry handed over to the Somalis, the official said.

Kelly confirmed that at the request of the Somali government, "the State Department has helped to provide weapons and ammunition on an urgent basis. This is to support the Transitional Federal Government's efforts to repel the onslaught of extremist forces."

Both the U.S. military and diplomats have acted quietly in recent months to increase American involvement in Africa. A new Africa Command within the Defense Department is now coordinating aid across the continent, focused on ungoverned territories in the north and east where Islamic extremists are pressing for a foothold.

But the U.S. military does not want to be out front as the trainers, reflecting sensitivities in African nations that could view aggressive U.S. involvement as interference by the West. Instead, U.S. officials working in Africa to date have limited their efforts to aiding nations in dealing with their own internal security problems.

A chief concern in Somalia is al-Shabab, a terrorist organization whose name means "the youth." The faction has been gaining ground as Somalia's Western-backed government crumbles. The group's goal is to establish an Islamic state in Somalia

Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was elected president in January in hopes that he could unite the country's feuding factions, but the violence has continued.

Despite continuing chaos, State Department spokesman Kelly said the administration considers Somalia's current government the "best chance for peace, stability and reconciliation."

There is also a domestic American consideration to Somalia's violent insurgency. Several young Somali-American men have disappeared from the Minneapolis region in recent months and are believed to have traveled to Somalia to fight with al-Shabab militants. One strapped on explosives last fall in a coordinated attack in Somalia, becoming the first U.S. citizen to act as a suicide bomber.

U.S. counterterrorism officials say it is a disturbing pattern, one that mirrors al-Qaida methods in Somalia and could spawn homegrown insurgents and suicide bombers inside the U.S.

------

Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington and Elizabeth Kennedy in Nairobi contributed to this report.

Shippers, insurers fear Somali piracy may escalate

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Pirate attacks on vessels sailing off Somalia could get worse, pushing up insurance and shipping costs and possibly forcing companies to use longer sea routes, industry officials say.

Piracy has flourished in recent months off the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes and seaborne gangs have seized several cargo ships and collected tens of millions of dollars in ransom for the safe release of crews and cargoes.

Last week the Group of Eight powers said it was "seriously concerned" about the increasing threat.

"(The) piracy risk is likely to get worse before it gets better," said a report this month commissioned by Lloyd's of London, the specialist insurance market.

While foreign navies have been deployed off Somalia since the turn of the year to try to prevent attacks, those forces have found themselves stretched given the vast expanses of water involved leaving vessels vulnerable to attack.

"It's quite difficult to find vessels that will go through the Gulf of Aden these days," said a London-based shipbroker.

Marine insurance brokers said insurers were charging between 0.05 percent to 0.175 percent of the value of a ship per voyage in the Gulf of Aden versus zero to 0.05 percent in May 2008.

"Rates and charges may well escalate if the number of successful piracy attacks increases," said Paul Newton, head of hull and yacht underwriting in Britain with insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Speciality.

CONSUMER GOODS

While poorer weather has hampered pirate attacks of late, the lure of ransom money will ensure Somali gangs remain fully active when conditions improve, analysts say. Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipper owned by Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said it had put an emergency surcharge in December on all cargo transiting the Gulf of Aden, which it said would contribute to the additional costs including crew risk compensation.

Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez canal.

Freight rates have risen in recent months, with shipowners feeding in their higher costs.

"The cost of keeping global trade routes open could result in a growing 'piracy tax' that will be felt by a wider range of businesses and consumers, already battered by the effects of recession," the Lloyd's report said.

There have been concerns that the violence by Somali pirates may also disrupt the transport of consumer products.

"Retailers are highly reliant on their increasingly global supply chains and any unrest or piracy could have an impact on this crucial process," said Paul Howard, head of insurance and risk management with British grocer J Sainsbury.

"Although none have been confirmed, there have been rumours of deviations in delivery because of piracy events, the Gulf of Aden being a crucial route for many retailers in the UK," Howard said in the Lloyd's report.

Some shippers have already started to avoid the Gulf of Aden opting to go around the Cape of Good Hope, which adds as much as three weeks to transit times, raising transport costs.

A.P. Moller-Maersk said certain of its vessels with low freeboard -- the distance between a ship's railings and the water -- and low speed were being re-routed around the Cape.

"We welcome the efforts made by the international community to tackle the problem of piracy which is a threat to important international lanes," said Soren Skou, chief executive of the group's Maersk Tankers unit.

"However, the problem has not gone away and a long-term solution is needed."

All-Arab Red Sea anti-piracy force proposed in Riyadh
29 June 2009
Agence France Presse

Arab states of the Gulf and Red Sea said on Monday that they are planning a joint anti-piracy force, insisting defence of the crucial Red Sea waterway was the "primary responsibility" of littoral states.

Saying it was necessary to prevent the spread of piracy to the Red Sea or the Gulf, 11 regional states agreed to set up an all-Arab Navy Task Force, to be led at the outset by the Saudis, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The delegates to the conference in the Saudi capital stressed the "importance of the exclusion of the Red Sea from any international arrangements, especially the fight against sea piracy."

Royal Saudi Navy commander Lieutenant General Prince Fahd bin Abdullah told journalists: "This subject is now under negotiation and we are hoping to reach an agreement to form this force."

Joining the talks were representatives from Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Fahd said part of the effort would be to design ways of cooperating with the flotillas from some 20 foreign countries now patrolling sea lanes in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa to stop pirate attacks.

"One of the objectives of the meeting is to discuss joint Arab coordination with multinational forces operating in the region to combat piracy and to agree on the mechanisms of the Arab contribution" to these efforts, he said.

He said that the Gulf states were involved in the proposed task force because of the danger posed to their shipping, particularly vital oil and gas exports which pass via the Red Sea to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

A joint statement said the Saudi navy will coordinate efforts by the other Arab naval commands on the Red Sea and Gulf for a period of one year and then review the results.

Another meeting on the issue will be scheduled in two months, it said.

More than 70 vessels, including a fully-laden Saudi oil supertanker, have been hijacked for ransom by Somali pirates in the past two years. Despite patrols by a raft of foreign navies, attacks are still frequently reported.

Saudi Arabia has said in recent months that it has stepped up its high-seas patrols for pirates.

The International Maritime Bureau has reported a handful of attempted pirate attacks, none successful, at the southern end of the Red Sea this year, mostly in the strategically important Bab al-Mandab strait linking to the Gulf of Aden.

The bureau recorded no attacks in the Red Sea last year.

But the Saudi push for an all-Arab naval task force could also be related to what diplomats say are Riyadh's growing worries over the security not only of Red Sea shipping but also of its essential infrastructure in the area, including oil facilities, power generation and desalinisation plants.

S.Korea Conducts Anti-piracy Drill Ahead Of Somali Deployment

July 03, 2009 16:48 PM

SEOUL, July 3 (Bernama) -- The next batch of 300 South Korean troops to be deployed to Somali waters conducted an anti-piracy drill Friday, using a mock pirate boat off the southern coast of South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The troops practiced chasing pirate ships away and rescuing hostages from them, using a mock high-speed pirate craft," Lt. Cdr. Oh Se-seong said by phone.

The unit, which will depart for the Gulf of Aden on July 16, also practiced maneuvering a helicopter out of danger in case pirates obtained and fired portable surface-to-air missiles, Oh said.

According to the South Korean news agency, the South Korean destroyer, Munmu the Great, has been operating with a 300-strong crew as part of a U.S.-led anti-piracy campaign in the gulf, mainly convoying South Korean commercial vessels.

Its replacement, the Dae Jo Yeong destroyer, is expected to join the Combined Task Force in the region on Aug. 22, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The destroyer will carry a Linx anti-submarine helicopter and a UDT/SEAL special operation team of about 30, the Navy said in its release.

The drill took place at a naval port in the city of Jinhae, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, it said.

The Cheonghae unit, named after an ancient Korean naval base, has escorted about 30 South Korean ships and conducted six rescue operations since its deployment in April, the ministry said.

The 4,500-tonne Dae Jo Yeong belongs to the same class as the Munmu the Great. It was commissioned in 2003 and can travel at a maximum speed of 29 knots.

South Korean officials believe Somali pirates have yet to acquire Stinger missiles, which could be fired from boats at aircraft.

Approximately 500 South Korean ships ply the Gulf of Aden each year. About 150 of them are vulnerable to pirate attacks because of their low speed, according to the ministry.

Somalia has not had a functional government since its dictator was overthrown by warlords in 1991. Poverty has driven a large number of locals to piracy, and black market sales of weapons run rampant.

-- BERNAMA

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=422760

Japan to send new destroyers to Somalia anti-piracy mission
30 June 2009
Agence France Presse

Japan said Tuesday it would dispatch two destroyers to an anti-piracy mission off Somalia in July with expanded rules of engagement including scope for greater use of force.

The two warships, with a combined crew of 420, will set sail next Monday to replace two destroyers that have been in the Gulf of Aden since March.

"I ordered to send two patrol ships on July 6 to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia so that they will start their missions at the end of July," Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.

Because of limits on Japan's military imposed by the country's post-World War II pacifist constitution, its destroyers there now have no mandate to use force except to protect Japanese interests or when acting in self-defence.

But parliament passed an anti-piracy law in June that allows the Maritime Self-Defence Force to protect any commercial ships threatened by pirates, not just those sailing under the Japanese flag or carrying Japanese nationals or cargo.

The new law also widens the navy's rules of engagement and allows it to fire at the hulls of pirate vessels that approach other ships, as a last resort.

Hamada said that the new legislation takes effect on July 24, and that "the crew members have been trained to carry out the new mission."

Japan in March joined the United States, China and more than 20 other countries in the maritime operation against pirates who have attacked ships in the waters off the Horn of Africa, a key route leading to the Suez Canal.

In addition to the destroyers, Japan last month also dispatched two maritime surveillance aircraft and scores of military personnel to the region to beef up its anti-piracy mission.

Two Filipinos injured in anti-piracy drill with Japan
9 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Two Filipino coast guard members were injured Thursday in a joint drill with Japan near Manila port simulating anti-piracy operations off Somalia, Japanese officials said.

The two members of the Philippine Coast Guard broke their legs when they fell on to the deck of a Philippine ship while rappelling down a rope from a helicopter during the mid-morning drill, the Japan Coast Guard said.

They were taken to a Manila hospital but were "not in a life-threatening condition," the statement said.

The Japan Coast Guard patrol boat Mizuho was taking part in the drill.

The Mizuho with 58 personnel left the central Japanese port of Nagoya on July 1. It will leave Manila on Friday and take part in a joint drill with Indonesia to simulate dealing with an oil spill.

Japan in March joined the United States, China and more than 20 other countries in the maritime operation against pirates who have attacked ships in waters off the Horn of Africa, a key route leading to the Suez Canal.

Somali pirates face naval attack
11 April 2009
Herald-Sun

THE US is sending more ships to the scene of a stand-off with Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean.

A day after pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama aid ship before being overpowered by the unarmed American crew, the high seas drama was unresolved yesterday with both the pirates and the US Navy promising to move in reinforcements.

The four pirates were driven from the 17,500-tonne Danish-operated container ship, but were still holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat.

More naval ships were joining the destroyer USS Bainbridge, which arrived overnight to help secure the release of the American, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said.

``The safe return of the captain is the top priority,'' he said.

The reinforcements were coming from naval forces already deployed in the wider region, including a counter-piracy taskforce out of Bahrain.

``There's more naval assets being moved south from where they are towards where the Bainbridge is engaged in its activity with this pirate ship,'' said a US Central Command official.

The navy earlier had called in negotiators from the FBI to help with negotiations.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the pirates' lifeboat was apparently out of fuel.

A spokesman for the Maersk shipping company, Kevin Speers, told reporters that ``most recent contact with the Alabama indicated that the captain remains a hostage, but is unharmed at this time''.

The freighter has since been boarded by military personnel and headed to Mombasa, Kenya, with its cargo of aid destined for African refugees, company officials said.

The guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge arrived overnight to monitor the situation and prevent the pirates moving their hostage to a bigger ship, accompanied by a P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft overhead.

It was believed to be the first American merchant ship hijacked since the North African Barbary Wars in the early 19th century, underlining the anarchy raging off Somalia despite an international naval effort against piracy.

A commander from pirates who took the ship said more were on their way to help those holding the hostage, who were effectively surrounded.

``We are planning to reinforce our colleagues who told us that a navy ship was closing in on them and I hope the matter will soon be solved,'' Abdi Garad said by phone from the northern pirate lair of Eyl.

``They are closely monitored by a navy ship and I think it will be difficult for us to reach the area promptly. But we are making final preparations and will try our best to save our friends.''

The Alabama's chief officer, Shane Murphy, told his father that the crew used brute force to overpower the pirates, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

Over the past week, pirates have seized several ships, including a German vessel, a yacht and a tugboat.

Flag state obstacle to anti-piracy protection
1 July 2009
Lloyd's List

BELGIUM refused a request to place armed officers on board a Belgian-owned ship sailing through the Gulf of Aden because the vessel was sailing under a foreign flag, it was revealed yesterday.

The request, thought to be from dredging giant Jan de Nul, was denied because the ship was on the Luxembourg register.

“This was a legal problem, that’s why we turned it down,” said Benoir Ramacker, spokesman for the Belgian crisis centre. “The ship had a Luxembourg flag.”

Jan de Nul declined to comment.

The incident follows other reports of legal difficulties when placing armed guards on board ships in pirate-infested waters.

While many owners choose a flag for tax and cost reasons, their vessel essentially becomes the territory of the flag state, meaning the flag state has to give permission for the posting of armed guards. Military operations on board have to comply with flag state laws.

The European Commission has also highlighted the problem. The European Union Navfor anti-piracy mission off Somalia is placing armed teams on board World Food Programme vessels delivering aid to Somalia.

“Experience shows that it is often hard to obtain agreement from the flag state of the civilian vessel to be protected, with that state’s prior agreement being a prerequisite,” the commission said.

John Knott, a consultant with legal firm Holman Fenwick Willan, said: “The difficulties of having armed guards on merchant vessels include physically getting the guns on board in view of port regulations and the laws of the countries within whose territorial waters vessels may pass; the legal problems that may well arise in the event of injuries or fatalities caused by weapons; and the serious risk of escalating a conflict, given that most Somali pirates are heavily armed and often high on drugs, therefore prone to be reckless.”

He added that there was often a difference between the national laws of countries involved in anti-piracy operations and the laws of the countries to which different merchant ships belonged.

“There is great uncertainty as to the outcome of many situations that can be envisaged where firearms could be used by armed guards. Thus there is a general reluctance, and in many situations an inability, to put armed guards on board merchant ships,” he said.

Belgium is offering owners flying the Belgian flag an eight-strong team of soldiers, flown in from bases in Dubai, Djibouti and Mombasa, at a cost of €115,000 ($161,375) per eight-day voyage. The services would be used for the first time “shortly”, Mr Ramacker said.

Separately, Belgian Defence Minister Pieter De Crem has claimed that ransom payments made by the shipping industry are making their way into the hands of terrorists.

“The money collected is spread around among the pirates, but it will also be used to finance terrorist networks and their operations,” he told Belgian press.

The shipping industry has claimed that there is no proof of terrorist links. If links were proven, ransom payments would become illegal.

“At the moment this is rumour,” said European Community Shipowners’ Association secretary-general Alfons Guinier. “There are those in the industry calling for ransoms to end, but at the moment most believe this is the only way forward.”

New piracy warning for South China Sea
30 June 2009
Lloyd's List

SHIPS have been warned to be vigilant against pirates off Mangkai Island in the South China Sea following three attacks in the area.

The International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre sent a warning to shipping to maintain strict anti-piracy watches around Mangkai and the Ananbas Islands.

Piracy reporting centre head Noel Choong said there had been three attacks by a group of five to eight pirates armed with long knives.

On June 25, pirates attacked a Vietnamese-flagged general cargoship bound from China to Indonesia and a Malta-flagged general cargoship sailing from Singapore to China. In both cases the pirates stole cash and personal belongings.

On June 27, pirates attacked a Singapore-registered liquefied petroleum gas carrier in the same area, robbing the crew.

The 12,300 dwt LPG carrier Sigloo Discovery was boarded by six pirates at 0400hrs local time on June 27, close to the Indonesian island Pulau Dumar in the South China Sea.

The Regional Co-operation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia said the pirates, armed with crowbars, batons and knives, entered the bridge of the Sigloo Discovery and tied up the master, second officer and a third seafarer on duty at the time.

The pirates stole a laptop, mobile phones, a watch and cash before fleeing in a wooden boat. There were no injuries to the crew of 28 onboard.

Mr Choong said the IMB believed all three attacks were carried out by the same gang. It is an area that has seen spates of pirate attacks in the past.

“We have notified the Indonesian authorities and are hoping some action will be taken soon,” he said.

ReCAAP reported a fourth attack on June 28 on the Panama-flagged general cargoship White Tokio to the south of the area where the three other incidents took place.

ReCAAP said the vessel was boarded by six pirates 34 km south of Pulau Aur at 0115hrs local time when transiting from Malaysia to Japan. The pirates held two crew members hostage and demanded money from the master.

After the master handed over money they released the crew and made a getaway in their own boat.

It is not clear if the attack is related to the three other incidents off Mangkai and the Ananbas Islands.

ReCAAP advised masters and crew to maintain vigilance against pirates at all times when operating in the area.

Operation Atalanta halves risk of hijacking
30 June 2009
Lloyd's List

THE European Union’s anti-piracy mission has more than halved the risk of hijacking off Somalia, according to the European Commission, though Brussels is still struggling to place armed teams on board as permission is not granted by vessels’ flag states, writes Justin Stares in Brussels.

Operation Atalanta has directly brought about a reduction in the number of successful attacks as a proportion of attempted attacks from one in three to one in eight, said the commission.

Vessels passing through the Gulf of Aden under the instructions of the operation commander of the Horn of Africa’s Maritime Security Centre have seen a “particularly noticeable” decline in successful attacks.

However, Brussels admits that attacks have increased since March this year — an increase attributed to improved weather conditions.

“Not all shipping traffic can be closely escorted, given its scale and nature,” the commission said.

One such example of an unescorted ship was the St Vincent-flagged Titan, captured in the Gulf of Aden on March 20 and released on April 16.

EU commanders are struggling to obtain agreement to place military protection teams on board certain vessels, the commission statement revealed. “Experience shows that it is often hard to obtain agreement from the flag state of the civilian vessel to be protected, with that state’s prior agreement being a prerequisite.”

The fact that pirates’ area of activity is widening is proof that the deterrent is working, said the EU executive, although attacks as far away as the Seychelles are in themselves a “troubling development”.

The Greek-owned, 1997-built, 8,742 dwt chemtanker Nipayia was captured on March 25 at a distance of 450 nm east of Mogadishu. EU surveillance planes can only fly for short periods at this distance.

Somali pirates shift attacks to new locations: IMB
18 June 2009
Agence France Presse

A maritime watchdog Thursday warned seafarers that Somali pirates were targeting ships at the southern end of the Red Sea and off Oman due to bad weather and the absence of naval warships.

"The two new areas are at Bab al Mandab, southern Red Sea, and the Arabian Sea, off Oman," Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, told AFP.

Choong said the IMB had recorded eight attacks in the past two weeks in the two areas, adding that pirates were staging raids under the cover of darkness.

"Pirates are expanding their attacks from the Gulf of Aden. Bad weather conditions in the east coast of Somalia due to the southwest monsoon are pushing them to launch attacks in the two new areas," he said.

Choong also said the international flotilla of warships was concentrated in the Gulf of Aden, forcing pirates to expand their attack areas to ensure successful hijackings.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

At the last count 14 ships were still being held by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, together with more than 200 seamen, almost a quarter of them Filipinos.

Pirates flee after gunfire with Guyana Coast Guard
11 June 2009
Agence France Presse

A gang of suspected pirates who opened fire on a high-seas patrol are believed to be Guyanese hiding out in neighboring Venezuela, the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) said Thursday.

The suspected pirates opened fire on the Coast Guard patrol which was escorting two Guyanese fishing boats with 10 fishermen to an army base in northwestern Guyana, after they were set adrift late Tuesday by pirates.

Deputy Coast Guard Commander Trevor Blenman told AFP on Thursday that the suspected pirates were in an unnamed blue and red speed-boat at the time they opened fire on the patrol.

"While the Coast Guard patrol towed the vessels to Morawhanna a speedboat was observed to be approaching from Venezuela. The Coast Guard attempted to intercept it and were fired upon by the occupants of the boat", said GDF Lt. Col Windee Algernon.

The "Coast Guard returned fire while pursuing the speedboat which beat a hasty retreat in the direction of Venezuela," he added.

Commander Blenman explained that the captains and crews of the fishing vessels told the security forces that they concluded that the pirates were Guyanese based on their accents.

The pirates did not injure the captains and crew members of the two Guyanese fishing boats, but carted off their outboard motor engines.

Guyana is a former British colony on South America's northern coast just east of Venezuela.

US Navy says Red Sea could be new pirate hunting ground
9 June 2009
Agence France Presse

The US Navy warned on Tuesday that the southern Red Sea was a potential new target area for attack by Somalia-based pirates threatening shipping in one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet also said in an advisory aimed at helping ships tackle the threat that the May-September monsoon season was likely to disrupt pirate strikes, and that commercial shipping could exploit this.

"A new area of potential risk following a confirmed pirate attack (in late May) is in the southern Red Sea," US Navy said.

"Mariners are encouraged to take advantage of areas of heightened sea state but should continue to remain at a high state of alert."

The advisory, which outlines recent changes in pirate tactics, contains detailed recommendations for the crews of merchant ships transiting high-risk areas to ward off Somalia-based pirates, it said.

Pirates have recently increased night attacks and extended the range at which they operate to beyond the Seychelles with the help of "mother ships" that allow them to strike farther from the coast, according to the advisory.

Early April this year saw an unprecedented flurry of hijackings, but less favourable weather recently has led to a relative lull in pirate attacks.

Somali pirates on Saturday freed a Nigerian tugboat captured around 10 months ago, ending the longest such hijacking off the coast of Somalia.

More than 30,000 vessels transit the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden annually, heading to and from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

So far this year there have been 114 attempted attacks on merchant vessels in the region, 29 of them successful, according to the US Navy.

Pirates currently hold 14 ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, along with more than 200 seamen.

Pirates extending range of operations says US Navy
9 June 2009
AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Pirates from Somalia are expanding their areas of operation far from the coast and into the Red Sea, the U.S. Navy warned on Tuesday.

Pirates are now targeting merchant vessels around and beyond the Seychelles islands, using larger vessels for logistical support, the Navy said. It also warned of pirates' "potential move" into the southern Red Sea and their increased activity at night.

In the updated Special Maritime Advisory message, that regularly notes changes in pirates' tactics, merchant mariners were also advised on Tuesday to "use the weather to their advantage" and plan new routes due to the start of the southwest monsoon season along the east African coast, which will deter pirate attacks.

The advisory also urged heightened vigilance from vessels traveling through "the high risk areas" in and around of the Gulf of Aden even at night. Pirates are increasingly attacking ships under the cover of darkness, said Tuesday's statement, sent from the Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

Most of pirate attacks in 2008 and in early 2009 took place during the day time in the Gulf of Aden, the Navy said. Recently pirates have attacked vessels farther out on the high seas and at night.

The advisory identified the southern part of the Red Sea as a new area of potential risk for commercial ships after a pirate attack there.

Driven by Somalia, piracy attacks double this year

KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 (Reuters) - Piracy attacks worldwide more than doubled to 240 in the first half of 2009, driven by a rise in waters off Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre said in a report on Wednesday.

There were 114 attacks in the first six months of 2008, the centre said.

A lull in attacks in June due to the monsoon season was broken last week when Somali pirates made four attacks in four days in the Gulf of Aden.

"The attackers were heavily armed with guns and knives in the majority of incidents. Violence against crew members continues to increase," the report said.

It also warned of rising attacks off the coast of Nigeria, where 13 incidents were reported in the second quarter and where 24 were not directly reported to the body.

"There is a need for every incident to be reported and brought to the attention of the Nigerian authorities. This is the only way in which the true risk associated to the area can be determined and accurate advice be given to shipmasters, owners and traders," said bureau director Pottengal Mukundan.

It also warned of "a clear indication that piracy and robbery in Southeast and East Asia have the potential to escalate" after attacks in the region hit 21 in the second quarter, up from 10 in the first.

How 2009 became the year of the pirate
Raiders strike 240 times in six months Somalia
16 July 2009
The Times

The number of attacks by pirates in trouble spots around the world more than doubled in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year as a direct result of the surge in activity among Somalia's pirate gangs.

According to a report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the total number reached 240 by the end of last month, compared with 114 incidents in the first half of 2008. This means that 2009 is already a record year for piracy. The previous highest annual tally was 182 attacks, in 2004.

So far this year ships have been boarded in 78 cases and 31 vessels have been hijacked, with 561 crew taken hostage, 19 injured and 6 killed, the bureau said in its quarterly report.

With a weak interim government in Somalia fighting Islamist insurgents on land, the lawless seas around the desolate coastline have proved fertile hunting grounds for the well-armed raiders. An international armada of warships has been patrolling the most dangerous areas — yesterday there were 27 warships from 16 nations on duty in the waters around the country — but this has not been enough to stem the hijackings as the pirates simply roam farther afield.

The Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia accounted for 130 of this year's attacks. Kenyan maritime officials believe that 16 vessels with at least 225 crew members are being held in Somali waters.

Sleepy fishing villages such as Eyl, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, have been turned into pirate dens where new villas and gleaming 4x4 vehicles stand out amid the poverty — and the lure of ransoms of as much as $3 million in some cases attracts more and more young men to the seas.

Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the director of the IMB, said that the presence of warships had reduced the number of hijackings in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping channels. But he added: "On the other hand, the pirates are going beyond there, to the east coast of Oman, and so we are seeing the problem being displaced, which is very worrying indeed." This month is the low season for Somali piracy, as monsoon winds whip the seas into storms too rough for their low-riding skiffs.

Captain Mukundan said however that they would return at the end of August and that without an end to Somalia's anarchy, the pirate scourge would remain. The fractured nation has been without a central government since 1991.

With no coastguard or navy, the coastal waters were plundered by foreign trawlers throughout the 1990s. Local fishermen took the law into their own hands, boarding the illegal fishing boats and demanding a share of the catch. They soon realised that demanding a ransom offered a more lucrative lifestyle than putting to sea for fish.

Little has changed in the past decade, as Somalia lurches from one failed government to another and clan rivalries sabotage each new leader's hold on power. At present, forces loyal to the Transitional Federal Government are locked in battle with gunmen from two Islamist groups, al-Shabaab and Hizb al-Islam. The latter group is thought to be holding two French security agents who were abducted from their hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday.

Fighting has prompted a fresh exodus of refugees from the city and thousands of people are crossing into neighbouring Kenya each week.

Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said it was impossible to protect shipping spread over more than a million square miles. "Piracy will continue to be a problem where there remains no support for law or government on land," he said.

Royal Marines round up pirates in the Gulf of Aden but the vast area in which they operate gives the raiders the edge.

A ray of hope in Nigeria
17 July 2009
Lloyd's List

SOMALIA over the last year has become almost synonymous with piracy, but on the other side of the African continent acts of violence continue to threaten shipping.

West Africa has always held some danger for global business, whether those offering shipping services or the multinationals that trade in its rich natural resources.

Nigeria is no exception and its war-torn and often troubled history since independence half a century ago from British colonial rule has also been blighted by lawlessness, political violence and piracy.

During the period from 1982-1986, Nigeria was the world’s piracy hotspot although a government crackdown reduced attacks. This decade has seen a steady rise in the number of attacks and scale of violence employed by armed gangs in the Niger Delta region.

The International Maritime Bureau confirmed that hijacking and violent attacks are mounting again off Nigeria, with 13 incidents in the second quarter alone and at least two dozen others that were not directly reported to its monitoring unit.

As is often the case on the ground and on the water — not to mention among insurers and the insured and in courtrooms — there is a blur around the definition of whether many of these attacks are motivated purely by criminal intentions or are political acts of terror.

The tension in the Niger Delta between foreign oil companies and ethnic minorities has simmered since the early 1990s, confused by an unholy mix of militant gangs and state government corruption.

Since May, government forces have mounted what reports from the region say is an increasingly brutal military campaign in the Niger Delta in response to attacks on seafarers and soldiers.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has in recent months stepped up acts of sabotage against pipelines and oil facilities and kidnaps of foreign workers and seafarers.

However, Mend’s leader Henry Okah was released under a government amnesty early this week and a 60-day ceasefire in the campaign against the country’s oil industry has been declared to give a chance for negotiations.

Amid another chapter of violence in Africa’s largest oil producing nation, there does seem to be a ray of hope for peace and, perhaps, a reduction of attacks on shipping.

Stability returns A NEW word is creeping into the shipping lexicon, or at least one that has not been heard for some time in the container and ro-ro sectors — stability.

Conditions in the car trades have stabilised in recent weeks. Container lines are starting to see stability on some routes, and several of Europe’s big box ports are now saying throughputs have stabilised.

This is a far cry from the catastrophic drop in business at the start of the year when most sectors were in meltdown.

Finally, the slump in volumes appears to be bottoming out, giving shipowners and port operators a chance to catch their breath.

But stability is very different from recovery. Cargo volumes may have stopped shrinking, but that does not mean growth is about to resume. Demand for consumer goods and automobiles is likely to remain sluggish while the spectre of unemployment looms.

Furthermore, the banking crisis may have receded but credit is still hard to obtain and households are trying to reduce debt levels before rushing to the stores for some retail therapy.

So those ships taken out of service, or earmarked for scrap, have not had a reprieve.

Shipowners will need to keep a very tight lid on supply if they are to shore up their finances and eventually return to the black.

But that is way in the distance, and more stable conditions simply mean that some sort of floor has been reached — not that any green shoots have been spotted.

Owners enlist Inmarsat for communications aid
16 July 2009
Lloyd's List

SHIPOWNERS seeking to keep one step ahead of pirates intent on attacking their ships have been contacting Inmarsat about monitoring communications in the areas where the pirates are operating, writes Steve Matthews.

Owners have asked for help in intercepting data and voice communications from shore to ship and vice-versa. Inmarsat’s maritime business director Piers Cunningham told Lloyd’s List that Inmarsat itself could not offer this facility, but said the company tells owners to refer to their Inmarsat service provider.

Intercepting satellite communications was tightly controlled from a legal perspective and subject to specific permission from the relevant authorities in each country, he said. It was also a complex process.

Shipboard satellite communications systems have proved valuable in assisting vessels and crews in the event of pirate attacks.

Inmarsat is working on the distress and safety aspects of its latest FleetBroadband system with a view to including it within the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.

It is also looking at developing new emergency alert functionality and further data and voice capability, including using its Broadband Global Area Network system.

BIMCO stands firm on armed guards for ships
17 June 2009
Lloyd's List

THE world’s largest shipowner organisation has pledged to fight mounting pressure from within the US State Department for shipowners to use the services of armed guards to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden, writes David Osler in Lisbon.

Speaking outside the European Maritime Safety Agency conference in Lisbon yesterday, BIMCO secretary-general Torben Skaanild told Lloyd’s List that the use of military forces to rescue the master of US-flag boxship Maersk Alabama had increased the appetite in some quarters for an armed solution. However, BIMCO urges that shipowners should instead follow its best practice guidelines.

Only where this is not practicable, for instance, where vessels have either limited speed or low freeboard, should armed guards be used.

Even in these cases, BIMCO recommends that operators should negotiate with flag states for the provision of armed services personnel, and the use of private military contractors should only be considered as a last resort.

V.Ships’ Sea Owl aims to detect piracy threats
17 June 2009
Lloyd's List

SHIPMANAGEMENT giant V.Ships has developed maritime threat-detection technology that it hopes to see deployed soon in the Gulf of Aden as a non-lethal response to pirates, writes John McLaughlin.

Sea Owl was developed over two years and is being marketed by V.Ships’ Paris-based V.Navy unit. It combines an infra-red sensor with standard navigational radar to identify threats over long distances with 360º visibility.

V.Navy director for security Xavier Genin said Sea Owl’s range depended on sea conditions, but it could detect a small boat at a distance of 2.5 km day or night.

The company is working towards certification of the product by Bureau Veritas, and is targeting the offshore oil and gas industry, whose platforms are vulnerable to security threats, and port authorities as its prime initial markets.

Mr Genin said the company hoped to approach the International Maritime Organization and eventually the European Union with a view to having such detection technology made compulsory for merchant shipping.

In a connected development, it has also approached the European Commission with a proposal to help in the development of a Somali coast guard by supplying patrol vessels equipped with Sea Owl.

The proposal is with staff in the office of Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani, who has spoken recently of the need to tackle piracy by building stable institutions and shoring up the rule of law in Somalia.

The development of Sea Owl reflects increasing efforts in the shipping industry to develop technological responses to the piracy threat alongside more traditional deterrence methods.

In Italy, for instance, Finmeccanica is working on enhanced onboard radar to provide earlier warning of attack for vessel crews.

Beluga learns from piracy experience
16 June 2009
Lloyd's List

BREMEN-based Beluga Shipping was a high-profile victim of Somali pirates last year, when a $1.1m ransom was paid in September to release the BBC Trinidad and its 13 crew.

Beluga president and chief executive Niels Stolberg said the total cost of the operation was closer to $2.5m for the heavylift and project cargo specialist, taking into account the specialist negotiators and the logistics for a sea drop from Mombasa.

Mr Stolberg now reflects on “a difficult time”, and the conclusions drawn.

“The pirates are quite smart and educated,” he said. “They know about AIS for instance, enabling them to check the value of the vessel, the value of the cargo, port of loading, port of discharge, the freeboard of the vessel and its top speed. They collect all the information they require.

“The authorities need to arrest the motherships, while the warships need to check the different locations on the Somali coast frequented by the pirates.”

But Bremen’s highest profile shipowner, known for the variety of social projects he supports, added: “We also need a special UN programme to build up suitable infrastructure for the local people. An adequate start could be the re-strengthening of the fishery industry.

“As soon as new business opportunities occur, people are more likely to return to their roots. Otherwise, we could face the disaster of terrorists working together with the pirates if we do not create economic set-ups ashore.”

Mr Stolberg is firmly against the arming of crew to combat piracy: “I am convinced that it is up to the politicians to work out how we can run our vessels through these high-risk waters without danger. We will definitely not bring any weapons on board our vessels.”

The BBC Trinidad was captured before the convoy system was in place, but Mr Stolberg states firmly: “It is of utmost importance to announce any transit to the central operations office in Dubai and even if we have to wait for one or two days to join a scheduled convoy we will be patient and continue our voyage safely, rather than in a rush without any security at our side.”

Despite the global financial storms, Beluga will progress with its super heavylift newbuildings.

“We are going ahead with our shipbuilding programme,” said Mr Stolberg. “We have 66 ships currently in the fleet and we will get 20 newbuildings of the P1 and P2 type vessels within the next three years.”

The E3 ice-class P1 and P2 ships, with gearing able to hoist combined cargo loads of between 800 and 1,400 tonnes, are aimed at the super heavyweight offshore and project sectors where long-term revenue streams beckon.

“Our task in this current market is to employ the P class with good paying cargo voyages to compensate for the desperately low rates in normal general cargo, with pieces lower than 100-150 tonnes which have fallen by up to 50%,” said Mr Stolberg.

The SkySails project — Beluga’s commitment to greener shipping — is continuing beyond the initial test phase, though that process was not without its technical problems.

From August, a 600 sq m SkySails system will be installed on two P class ships. “For one year, we were more or less an on board training camp on the high seas with the crew and the specialists on board having to check a lot of details in the system and learning by doing it,” said Mr Stolberg. “They had to deal with eight Beaufort and with high waves.

“I believe in the SkySails system and since we will face higher oil prices by mid 2010, this technology is the future. But you need to take your time to improve it — make it better and better, day by day, month by month.”

Beluga’s unwavering conviction in the potential of the super heavylift market is based upon the specialist nature of this area of maritime business. “We observe that some shipowners are moving away from container to heavylift vessels in order to benefit from obviously more profitable markets,” he said. “But they are not switching their yard orders into vessels in the super heavylift segment as it is unrealistic that every owner can handle project or heavylift cargo with single weights of 1,400 or 2,000 tonnes.”

Malacca Straits logs only 2 cases of piracy in Jan-June
By Kang Siew Li
Published: 2009/07/20
Source: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/pirat19/Article/

THE Malacca Straits, one of the world's busiest waterways, saw two pirate attacks on ships in the first six months of this year, similar to the number recorded in the same period of 2007 and 2008.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) attributed the stable figure to the continued efforts of the Indonesian authorities to bring down piracy and armed robbery in their waters.

However, maritime pirate attacks worldwide more than doubled to 240 between January and June this year, from 114 in the same period a year earlier.

"As in the last quarterly report, the rise in overall numbers is due almost entirely to increased Somali pirate activity off the Gulf of Aden and east coast of Somalia, with 86 and 44 incidents reported respectively," said IMB director Captain Pottengal Mukundan in a statement, following the release of the international maritime watchdog's "Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships" report for the first half of 2009 last week.

The year's second quarter saw 136 reports of piracy compared with 104 in the first three months of 2009, a rise of almost a third.

A total of 78 vessels were boarded worldwide, 75 vessels fired upon and 31 vessels hijacked with some 561 crew taken hostage, 19 injured, seven kidnapped, six killed and eight missing.

"Violence against crew members continues to increase," said Mukundan.

Nigeria continues to be a high-risk area, with 13 incidents reported in the second quarter to the IMB and at least 24 other attacks which have not been directly reported.

"The majority of attacks are against vessels supporting the oil industry," said Mukundan.

"There is a need for every incident to be reported and brought to the attention of the Nigerian authorities. This is the only way in which the true risk associated to the area can be determined and accurate advice be given to shipmasters, owners and traders," he added.

Attacks in Southeast Asia and the Far East increased 100 per cent, from 10 in the first quarter to 21 in the second quarter, confirming a similar trend seen in 2008, with the difference being that the attacks in the first quarter were against vessels at anchor, while in the second quarter they were against vessels at sea.

"This is a clear indication that piracy and robbery in Southeast and East Asia have the potential to escalate and shipmasters should remain alert and be aware of the risks involved in the seaway and ports transited during the voyage," Mukundan said.

http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/pirat19/pix_bottom

EU Anti-Piracy Mission Cmdr Warns Of Attacks By Somalis -FT
20 July 2009

LONDON (Dow Jones)--The commander of the European Union's anti-piracy operation has warned merchant shipping that a significant number of attacks might take place in the Gulf of Aden in September in spite of increased surveillance operations by national navies off Somalia, the Financial Times reports on its Web site Monday.

Peter Hudson, the senior U.K. officer commanding the E.U. anti-piracy mission, is quoted as saying that the monsoon season - with waves rising up to four meters - had led to a drop in the seizing of merchant ships in the region.

But as the weather changed in the next few months, pirate activity could pick up sharply, Rear Admiral Hudson said.

"There's a possibility that pirates will come out in force in the autumn," he is quoted as saying.

Asked whether Somali pirates could seize a ship on the scale of the Sirius Star, the Saudi oil tanker taken last autumn, Hudson said: "If by scale you mean a big ship, then yes, it can happen again. And if it's scale in terms of the volume of attacks we've seen in the past, then yes, there's a risk of that, too."

Yemen navy repels pirate attack on tanker
21 July 2009
Agence France Presse

The Yemeni navy repelled a attack by Somali pirates on a Yemeni oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, a military spokesman said.

"Somali pirates on 14 boats tried to attack the oil tanker Yemen Oil 7 on its way from Aden to Hudeida" on the Red Sea, the spokesman said in the defence ministry's online newspaper 26sep.net.

"Navy forces immediately took on the boats, submitting them to a burst of fire which forced them to flee," he said.

The tanker, whose tonnage was not specified, was undamaged and continued its route towards Hudeida, a port city in northern Yemen, 420 kilometres (260 miles) from Aden, the spokesman said.

In April, the government said it had recaptured a Yemeni oil tanker a day after Somali pirates had seized it. Eleven pirates were caught.

Marine Police Rescue 15 Crewmen Robbed By Pirates
July 21, 2009 22:26 PM

JOHOR BAHARU, July 21 (Bernama) -- The Region Two Marine Operations Force arrested five pirates who robbed 15 crewmen and the captain of a vessel in the Pengerang waters, near Kota Tinggi, early Tuesday.

Its commander Datuk Isa Munir said acting on a public tip-off, the team raided the PNG Express vessel berthed at 2.7 nautical miles south of Tanjung Setapa at 3.35am.

"The robbery was committed by six pirates, believed to be Indonesian nationals. Five of them were arrested while the other managed to escape by diving into the sea during a scuffle with marine officers," he told reporters, here, today.

Isa said the 15 crewmen and the captain were found in a room with their hands tied.

Four machetes, four face masks, passports, some cash, a laptop computer, binoculars and five mobile phones were seized from the suspects.

Isa said the pirates' modus operandi was to approach berthed vessels with low decks and rob the crewmen of their cash and valuables.

He said the initial investigation did not rule out the possibility that the pirates were the same group involved in several other robbery cases at sea.

The suspects, aged between 17 and 41, are being held for further investigation.

Puntland president vows to address its piracy problem
21 July 2009
Lloyd's List

PUNTLAND — the northern area used by many Somali pirates as an operational base — is fully committed to tackling piracy, the president of the breakaway region told foreign policy experts in London last week.

However, Abdirahman Farole offered only evasive answers to questioners who suggested that elements of his administration are complicit with the pirates, deflecting criticism to shipowners who pay ransom demands and thereby fuel the crisis.

“The policy of the government of Puntland is strictly not to pay ransom money to pirates, because ransom payments help fuel future pirate attacks and attract new recruits,” he said.

Mr Farole argued that piracy had developed out of the long-running civil war in the lawless nation, which has not had a central government since 1991.

“Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have contributed to the overall insecurity in Somalia and aggravated economic hardship, including the livelihoods of coastal communities,” he said.

He conceded that the piracy problem is “mainly concentrated in Puntland”, attributing this to its strategic location along the shores of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, a key maritime trade route used by an estimated 20,000 vessels each year.

The issue is being addressed by empowering Puntland police and courts to apprehend and sentence active pirates, while traditional elders and Islamic scholars are being encouraged to conduct educational and spiritual campaigns to discourage new recruits and to encourage existing pirates to quit the business.

Foreign warships off the coast of Somalia cannot fight the pirates alone, Mr Farole insisted, and therefore targeting pirates on the ground will be a crucial part of the anti-piracy effort — for which Puntland requires international assistance.

Co-operation between international warships and local authorities, especially Puntland, is vital if intelligence is to be shared and pirates isolated.

“We believe that finding a permanent solution to the piracy problem is linked in part to finding a political settlement for Somalia,” he said.

International task force warns of hike in Somalia piracy
27 July 2009
Agence France Presse

The multinational anti-piracy force operating off the coast of Somalia warned on Monday of an increase in attacks when the monsoon season ends in the next few weeks.

"The Combined Maritime Forces are warning mariners of an anticipated increase in piracy incidents when the southwest monsoon ends in the coming weeks, and are reiterating that merchant mariners must continue to take proactive action to help prevent piracy attacks," said the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

Somali hijackers attacked more than 130 merchant ships off Somalia last year, a rise of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre.

The Combined Maritime Forces said that high seas in the Somali basin over the past few weeks had resulted in fewer attacks on vessels travelling through the area but said seamen must continue to remain vigilant.

"The prior preparation and vigilance of merchant mariners at all times of day and night is more important now than ever," said task force commander Rear Admiral Caner Bener of Turkey.

"While our ability to deter and disrupt attacks has improved over time, we are constantly adapting the way we do our business as the pirates adapt and modify their tactics," he said in a statement.

More than 30 ships and aircraft from 16 nations including members of NATO and the EU are patrolling the waters off the Somali coast to try to ensure safe passage of sea traffic through the region.

Turkish navy commandos seize pirates off Somalia

ANKARA, July 31 (Reuters) - Turkish navy commandos taking part in a NATO mission to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia captured seven pirates on Friday, the military staff said, in the second operation of its kind in a week.

The pirates were taken as they were trying to hijack a boat in the Gulf of Aden. Last week, Turkish commandos backed by a helicopter seized five pirates in the Gulf of Aden as they were about to launch an attack on a ship.

NATO member Turkey has sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden under an international mission deployed off Somalia since the start of the year to try to prevent attacks.

Somali sea gangs, operating in the strategic shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe, have made millions of dollars in ransom from hijacking vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.

Piracy has surged off the Somali coast in recent years where sea gangs continue to defy foreign navies patrolling the vast shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe.

Shippers fret over expected Somali piracy upsurge

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Pirates are likely to step up attacks on ships off Somalia's coast in coming months as the end of the monsoon season brings better weather, naval and shipping officials say.

Deploying military personnel on vulnerable vessels may be the best response to pirates, who have collected millions of dollars in ransom for cargo ships and crews hijacked in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes, maritime officials say.

"We have got to the point where everyone is just resigned to more attacks," a London-based shipbroker said. "It is getting tougher to find ship owners willing to travel there."

Poorer weather has led to less attacks recently. But the Combined Maritime Forces anti-piracy naval coalition said it expected an increase in incidents when the southwest monsoons end in the coming weeks.

Foreign navies deployed off Somalia since the turn of the year to prevent attacks have been stretched over the vast expanses of water, leaving vessels open to attack.

Frustration has led some shipping companies to deploy private security teams on board their vessels. But maritime organisations have urged shippers to leave any armed role to foreign navies.

Shipping bodies have sought instead to deploy military forces on vulnerable vessels with low freeboard -- the distance between a ship's railings and the water -- and low speed.

"The only thing that can be effective is to have military guards on board the ships," said Spyros M. Polemis, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).

Polemis, whose association represents 75 percent of the global industry, said the job of the military teams would be to prevent pirates boarding vulnerable vessels.

"As we go further into the future and there are more and more hijackings, I think more governments are going to start thinking that maybe this is the right solution," he said.

The number of attacks by Somali pirates in the first half of 2009 soared to 148 from 25 in the same period a year ago, data from watchdog the International Maritime Bureau showed.

MARINES

Insurance and shipping costs have risen as Somali pirates use sophisticated communication systems and better weaponry.

Polemis said France was willing to provide military personnel and Germany was thinking about it.

A French defence ministry spokesman said France began deploying marines in late June and early July on its tuna ships off the Seychelles under an agreement with Orthongel, an association of French frozen tuna producers.

The mandate was for the fishing season which lasts about three to four months.

"It's really a French initiative for the French ships," the spokesman said, adding there were no plans to widen the mandate to other private vessels.

A German defence ministry spokesman said deploying German troops on board merchant vessels "is not a sensible suggestion".

Kim Hall of the U.S. government-funded Center for Naval Analyses said it was unlikely to happen.

"I don't think it is the best use of taxpayer money, no matter who the taxpayer is to use military personnel for that mission," she said.

J. Peter Pham, an African security advisor to U.S. and European governments and private companies, said with global economic difficulties and tight defence budgets there were growing questions over using naval resources to tackle piracy.

"There is an increasing desire, perhaps not articulated publicly, of many navies wanting to pull out of this," he said.

"They are looking for a graceful way out of this open ended commitment," said Pham.

With no political solution in sight to Somali lawlessness, the shipping industry said it remained in the firing line.

"We have to have an effort which prevents hijackings altogether," Polemis said.

Pirates flee with million dollar booty, and toothbrushes
8 August 2009
Agence France Presse

Somali pirates vanished within minutes of freeing a German cargo ship, taking with them a 2.7 million dollar ransom -- and toothbrushes belonging to the entire crew, a navy captain said Saturday.

The pirates released the 20,000 tonne Hansa Stavanger on Monday after holding its crew captive for four months.

"The pirates took over all the belongings of the 24 crew members including toothbrushes," said Torsten Ites, captain of the German navy's Brandenburg frigate, which arrived on the scene within 12 minutes of the pirates' departure.

"We had to provide medical assistance to the crew members including dental services as they had stayed for some time without brushing their teeth," he said.

The crew were in good health and after "putting a smile on their faces" were looking foward to being reunited with their families, he added.

The vessel, which arrived back in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Friday, was seized in April around 400 nautical miles from the Somali coast, between Kenya and the Seychelles.

Ites said the pirates appeared to have vanished into thin air despite the frigates' prompt arrival and a helicopter search operation.

2009 aug. 14
Abducted Lithuanian ship crew freed in Nigeria

VILNIUS, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Five Lithuanian seamen kidnapped from a cargo ship off Nigeria's coast last week have been freed, Lithuania's foreign ministry said on Friday.

Shoot at the pirates? West weighs arming ships
13 August 2009

ISTANBUL (AP) - Challenging a global aversion to guns aboard ships, France has put troops on tuna boats in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium is offering military units to its merchant vessels off the Horn of Africa. Now, U.S. lawmakers are weighing similar action to fight piracy.

Opponents fear such moves will escalate the violence and raise a minefield of legal issues.

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to put armed teams on U.S.-flagged ships passing through high-risk waters, specifically around the Horn of Africa where Somali pirates have become a scourge of world shipping.

The amendment now goes to the Senate. A separate bill introduced last month would grant immunity from prosecution in American courts to any "owner, operator, time charterer, master, or mariner who uses force, or authorizes the use of force, to defend a vessel of the United States against an act of piracy."

Both measures face tough debate -- U.S. military resources are spread thin and onboard weapons, especially in the hands of civilian crew, are seen as an extreme option.

"Work and watch-keeping take up most of a seafarer's day," Sam Dawson of the International Transport Workers' Federation, which represents hundreds of unions, told The Associated Press by e-mail. "The practice, handling and use of weapons would be a duty too far."

But there is a strong push for action following the April seizure of the MV Maersk Alabama.

That standoff, which transfixed the American public, ended with the killing of three pirates by Navy SEAL snipers and the release of the vessel's captain, Richard Phillips.

The wider potential fallout from the Western initiatives is uncertain because countries such as the Philippines, which supplies most of the world's ship crews, don't have the resources to protect them. Besides, the laws of many nations prevent vessels from carrying weapons, historically for fear they would be used by mutineers.

A range of maritime groups and insurers oppose arming ships because of liability issues and fears that violence could provoke an arms race with the pirates. Still, some ship-owners hire private guards; Israeli commercial boats are believed to routinely carry arms.

"What the Americans do will not necessarily lead the way in terms of the global shipping industry," said Daniel Sekulich, the Toronto-based author of "Terror on the Seas: True Tales of Modern Day Pirates."

Sekulich said a global trend could take hold if international groups such as the U.N. International Maritime Organization develop a comprehensive approach to arming ships. In the meantime, he said, the U.S. initiatives could encourage a "two-tiered or three-tiered system" in which a few wealthy nations protect ships flying their flags, while pirates prey on softer targets.

International patrols, including U.S., European, Chinese, Russian and Indian ships, have reduced the success rate of Somali attacks. But with ransoms running into millions of dollars, pirates have adapted, raiding boats far into the Indian Ocean.

Advocates say onboard teams with weapons would deter or defeat ragtag bands of pirates in flimsy skiffs. On April 25, pirates tried to board the Italian cruise liner MSC Melody as it headed in the Indian Ocean from southern Africa to Europe, but Israeli private guards opened fire and the assailants departed.

For opponents, the worst-case scenario is pirates getting bigger weapons.

"It's something that could actually stoke up the attacks, take the attacks to a higher level," said Andrew Linington of London-based Nautilus International, a union that represents 24,000 mariners, most of whom work on British- or Dutch-registered ships.

But internal polling among Nautilus members has indicated a "hardening of attitudes" in recent months, with more calling for armed protection, Linington said.

This summer, the Netherlands turned down a plea from parliament to put marines on especially vulnerable, slow-moving Dutch vessels threatened by Somali pirates. The refusal was based on fear that pirates could react more violently if they spot weapons and that wounded marines would not get medical care at sea.

Belgium, however, decided in early May to offer an onboard detachment of at least eight troops for euro115,000 ($162,000) a week per unit to its commercial vessels, but so far there has been only one taker, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Kurt Verwilligen.

The French government signed a deal with a tuna fishermen's union in June allowing for military protection of tuna boats in the Indian Ocean during the fishing season, according to Lt. Col. Phillippe de Cussac, a military spokesman. No attacks have been reported so far.

Global pirate attacks more than doubled in the first half of 2009 to 240, from 114 in the same period last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. A surge of raids in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia accounted for many attacks, though waters off Nigeria are a serious trouble spot.

The Somali attacks are in a lull because seas are rough, but are expected to increase around the end of this month when the weather should improve.

The measure to put military guards on U.S.-flagged ships passed in the House by a vote of 389-22.

In testimony in May, Arthur J. Volkle Jr., vice president of American Cargo Transport, Inc., said private guards were already on his group's ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf. He said the best way to protect U.S.-flagged ships was by deploying military teams to avoid "regulatory shortfalls, liability concerns, and international reluctance to permit armed merchant vessels into their ports."

Phillips, the Maersk Alabama captain, has testified that senior crew members should have access to weapons, though he acknowledged that even this limited approach opens "thorny" issues. Maritime experts say some seafarers travel with small arms, but don't declare them.

The separate bill granting immunity has yet to go to a House vote. It would direct Washington to negotiate deals through the U.N. maritime agency to provide similar exemptions from liability in other countries, as well as to ensure armed U.S. crews can enter foreign ports.

But implementing the measure could be difficult because the U.N. agency discourages onboard weapons.

------

Associated Press writers Robert Wielaard in Brussels, Arthur Max in Amsterdam and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

Malta says hijacked ship never disappeared

VALLETTA Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Malta Maritime Authority said on Tuesday a hijacked merchant ship recaptured by the Russian navy had 'never really disappeared'.

The ship Finnish owned and Russian operated vessel, the Arctic Sea, sailed under the Maltese flag. Maltese authorities said a Maritime Security Committee that grouped representatives of Sweden, Finland and Malta had continued to closely monitor developments of the incident involving the ship.

"The committee would like to clarify that the movements of the Arctic Sea were always known for several days, notwithstanding reports that the ship had disappeared," the Maltese Maritime Authority said.

"There was consensus amongst the investigating authorities of Finland, Malta and Sweden not to disclose any sensitive information in order not to jeopardise the life and safety of the persons on board and the integrity of the ship."

Russia said earlier on Tuesday that eight people from Latvia, Estonia and Russia had been arrested for hijacking the merchant ship and were being questioned aboard a Russian naval vessel.

The apparent disappearance of the cargo ship and its 15-man Russian crew aroused suspicions of piracy.

The vessel left European waters and failed to deliver its cargo of timber to Algeria in early August. On Monday, Russia's navy said it had found the vessel in the Atlantic off Cape Verde.

The hijackers were being questioned onboard the Russian anti-submarine ship Ladny, Interfax news agency reported.

Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told reporters: "This was an act of piracy."

Hijackers threatened to blow up mystery ship-agencies

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The hijackers of a cargo ship that disappeared off the coast of France threatened to blow it up if their ransom demands were not met, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.

Russia on Tuesday arrested eight people on suspicion of hijacking the Arctic Sea off the Swedish coast and sailing it to the Atlantic Ocean, ending weeks of silence about the fate of a ship which has intrigued European maritime authorities.

The limited information from Russian authorities has failed to satisfy sceptics who voiced doubts about whether the piracy actually took place or was a convenient cover story to conceal a possible secret cargo of arms or nuclear material.

"The crew members have already confirmed that the captors demanded a ransom and threatened to blow up the vessel if their orders were not obeyed," Interfax quoted a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman as saying.

"The crew members also claim that the people who seized the Arctic Sea were armed and got rid of their weapons when the ship (Russian navy ship) Ladny ordered the dry cargo carrier's crew to stop the vessel," he said.

Climbing gear, flares and a high-speed inflatable boat supposedly used in the hijack were found aboard the Arctic Sea, RIA news agency quoted the spokesman as saying at a briefing for Russian media.

The agencies did not say what ransom was demanded. Nobody answered the phone when Reuters called the ministry's press service to attempt to verify the reports.

The Maltese-registered, Russian-crewed vessel and its $1.3 million cargo of timber disappeared from radar screens three weeks ago, prompting speculation ranging from an attack by an organised crime gang to a top-secret spy mission.

The Malta Maritime Authority said on Tuesday, without elaborating, that the Arctic Sea had "never really disappeared", a comment which increased speculation that security services might have been involved in the affair.

There was no comment on the eight detainees, which Russia had said were citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia who on July 24 boarded the ship, forced the crew to change route and turned off its navigation equipment.

After heading through the English Channel in late July, radio contact was lost and the 4,000-tonne ship did not deliver its cargo to the Algerian port of Bejaia on August 4.

The Russian navy found the missing ship on Monday in the Atlantic Ocean near the Cape Verde islands.

The official version of events was questioned by Yulia Latynina, a leading Russian opposition journalist and commentator.

"The Arctic Sea was carrying something, not timber and not from Finland, that necessitated some major work on the ship," she wrote in the Moscow Times newspaper on Wednesday.

During two weeks of repair works in the Russian port of Kaliningrad just before the voyage, the ship's bulkhead was dismantled so something very large could be loaded, she wrote.

"To put it plainly: The Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it," she said.

Cape Verde authorities said they had granted the ship's crew a three-day visa to allow them to recuperate and that they would be taken to the island of Sal before being flown to Russia.

French warship hands 4 Somali pirates to Yemen
19 August 2009

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - The Yemeni government says four Somali pirates captured by a French warship in international waters off Yemen's southern coast have been handed over to the country.

The Interior Ministry says a French frigate handed the pirates over Wednesday and confiscated their boat.

In December, the Indian and Danish navies handed 30 pirates over to Yemeni authorities.

Pirate attacks worldwide more than doubled in the first half of 2009 amid a surge in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia.

U.S. planes to join Seychelles anti-piracy push

VICTORIA, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday it would be deploying unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in the skies above the Seychelles archipelago to bolster anti-piracy patrols.

Maritime security groups warned in May of an increase in the number of pirate "mother ships" operating in Seychellois waters.

Piracy has increased off the Somali coast, where sea gangs defy foreign navies monitoring the vast shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe, although monsoon rains have caused a lull in attacks.

"We have the recent arrival of our P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft that will aid in conducting the surveillance of Seychelles territorial waters and as we look into the future, (we will) bring unmanned surveillance vehicles," said General William Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).

Two vessels flying the Indian Ocean nation's flag have been hijacked this year while in April an Italian cruise ship fended off an assault in Seychelles' waters.

Piracy attacks worldwide more than doubled to 240 during the first half of 2009, driven by a surge in hijackings in the waters off the Horn of Africa, according to an International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre report in July.

US commander says Somali piracy reduced but still a threat
23 August 2009
Agence France Presse

The Gulf of Aden is safer for shipping than it was a year ago but piracy is likely to increase as the weather improves, a US naval commander said on Sunday.

"The maritime environment is much more peaceful because of the international cooperation," Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations for the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet, told a press conference.

"The situation is better than it was about a year ago.

"The situation in the Gulf of Aden may witness a surge in piracy ... I think it will pick up when the weather improves.

"I think we might witness a change in their tactics to attacks that achieve their goals," he said without elaborating, adding that he had "great confidence" in the multinational counter-piracy operation in the key shipping lane.

Early April this year saw an unprecedented flurry of hijackings, but less favourable weather recently has led to a relative lull in pirate attacks.

More than 30,000 vessels a year transit the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, heading to and from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

So far this year there have been 114 attempted attacks on merchant vessels in the region, 29 of them successful, according to the US navy.

Somali pirates open fire on US navy helicopter
27 August 2009
Agence France Presse

Somali pirates aboard a captured vessel have opened fire on a US navy helicopter on the high seas as it carried out a surveillance mission over the boat, the navy said on Thursday.

There were no reported casualties or damage from the incident which occurred on Wednesday morning off the pirate-infested coast of Somalia, said a statement from the Bahrain-based US Naval Forces Central Command.

"Somali pirates aboard the motor vessel (M/V) Win Far fired what appeared to be a large calibre weapon at a US navy SH-60B helicopter," the statement said.

"The helicopter was conducting a routine surveillance flight of M/V Win Far, currently held at anchorage by Somali pirates south of Garacad, Somalia, when the incident occurred," it added.

The shooting came as the helicopter returned to the USS Chancellorsville, where a video recording of the incident was noted, it said, adding that during the flight the crew was unaware of the attack.

The navy identified the Win Far as a Taiwanese-flagged vessel which was seized by pirates earlier this year.

"Over the past 135 days it has been used as a 'mother ship' to conduct other known pirate attacks, most notably the US-flagged Maersk-Alabama in April," it said.

According to the US navy, the pirates are holding hostage more than 30 crew members of the Win Far.

So far this year, there have been 114 attempted attacks on merchant vessels in the region, 29 of them successful, according to the US navy.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

A multinational force should invade and occupy Somalia.

There's far more justification for that than invading Iraq.

occupy somalia? nahh, just get rid of those pirates.

Well .. the Americans tried many years ago and failed badly.

Arctic Sea illegal weapons editor flees Russia

MOSCOW, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A Russian maritime expert who said a cargo ship reported missing en route to Africa had been carrying weapons said on Thursday he had fled the country after being threatened.

"Some influential people called me and ... advised me to leave Russia within several hours," Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's respected Sovfracht maritime journal, told Reuters by telephone from Turkey.

"I am afraid of being detained (in Russia)." He said the callers did not identify themselves.

The Maltese-registered Arctic Sea, officially carrying timber from Russia to Algeria, was boarded by a group of eight men on July 24.

Its whereabouts were a mystery for weeks until Russian warships intercepted it off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 17.

Charges of kidnapping and piracy have been brought against eight men -- citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia -- last week in Moscow. Their lawyers had called them "peaceful ecologists".

Prosecutors maintained the ship was carrying timber.

While the ship was still missing, Voitenko caused an international storm by saying the ship was carrying illegal weapons. Describing the situation as "cloak and dagger stuff", he had said the state was most likely involved.

Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, he said: "They warned me, saying they didn't want another scandal."

He rejected a comment made by his journal on its website, www.sovfracht.ru, that he had not fled but rather gone on a business trip to Istanbul.

"Sovfrakht simply doesn't want any problems connected to me," he said.

Last week Russia's top general said the military would search the 97-metre (318 ft), 4,000 dwt ship for any possible secret cargo.

The missing ship made headlines around the world, both because of the talk about it carrying weapons to the Middle East and because its initial disappearance raised talk of a spread of piracy into European waters for the first time in centuries.

Yemen set to become the next piracy hotspot, says US academic
10 September 2009
Lloyd's List

YEMEN is set to become a failed state in the medium term, with a real possibility that its people will emulate the example of nearby Somalia and turn to piracy in the Gulf of Aden, a US Navy-affiliated academic told an industry audience in London yesterday, writes David Osler.

Any such development would inevitably be viewed with alarm by both merchant shipping interests and international navies engaged in anti-piracy operations in the region.

Kim Hall, of the US Navy-funded independent Center for Naval Analyses think-thank, argued that Somalia’s transitional federal government was not in control of its own territory, and as a result was unable to control piracy, which had now reached such an extent that it was sparking economic growth in the country.

This has not gone unnoticed on the other side of the Gulf of Aden, where predominantly Sunni Yemen is currently experiencing a little-reported rebellion by Shi’ite Muslims in the northern part of the country.

There is also successionist unrest in the south, and al-Qaeda-inspired elements are also active. To cap the situation, there is an increasing shortage of water, as much of the water supply is diverted to grow the narcotic plant khat.

Ms Hall made the strong prediction that the already weak central authorities could collapse within a timescale of 10-15 years. “There is going to be problems on both sides of the Gulf [of Aden] if we are not careful,” she warned.

Netherlands navy captain George van Aalst, on secondment to the European Union anti-piracy effort, told the conference that while EU Navfor’s mandate expires towards the end of 2010, he expected that it would be renewed for at least two to three years.

Capt van Aalst pointed to some of the anti-piracy initiatives being taken by navies, many of which would not be seen as traditional military activity. They include liaison with the Somali diaspora and local communities.

These follow what he called “the inkspot approach” of seeking community dialogue in small areas of Somalia, in the hope of expanding from these initial bases.

He also made clear the scale of the challenge facing international naval forces, which have a maximum of 30 vessels at their disposal, and far fewer on some days. The job is equivalent to policing an area the size of the US with just 20-30 patrol cars, he pointed out.

However, the Seychelles government has recently given permission for patrol aircraft to be based in Seychelles territory, which Capt van Aalst said represented a “huge increase in capability”.

When a CD says "anti-piracy warning: unauthorized copying is punishable by law"?

Anti-piracy shipping pact gets U.S. boost

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The United States and other shipping nations have agreed on new guidelines to curb rampant piracy off the Horn of Africa, the State Department said on Wednesday.

The State Department said the United States, Britain, Cyprus, Japan, Singapore and South Korea had recently signed the "New York Declaration" on measures to protect against attacks, like increasing lookouts and keeping fire pumps ready to repel would-be pirates.

"Piracy is a 17th century problem that demands a 21st century solution," an official release quoted senior State Department official Andrew Shapiro as telling a Washington symposium on high-seas crime.

Shapiro said efforts were also underway to boost cooperation among naval patrols now stationed in the region, arrange for the prosecution of suspected pirates and to help Somalia and its neighbors secure their own territorial waters.

"We all understand that piracy is a result of the decades of failed governance in Somalia," he said.

The nonbinding declaration also covers smaller shipping countries such as Panama and Liberia, and altogether agrees guidelines for nations accounting for more than 50 percent of the world's shipping by gross tonnage.

Shapiro said that 33,000 commercial ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, making it one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

In 2007, there were 19 pirate attacks on ships. In 2008, the number rose to 122 and in the first nine months of 2009, there have already been 140 attacks including the April attempted hijacking of the U.S. cargo ship the Maersk Alabama.

The attacks continue. This week, Somali pirates freed a Greek ship after they received a $2 million ransom for the vessel and its 21 Filipino crew.

Shapiro said the area imperiled by pirates now stretched over huge swathes of the west Indian Ocean and into the Red Sea and that naval vessels will never be able to keep up -- giving boat captains and owners more responsibility.

"Effective defensive counter-measures by merchant vessels will remain pivotal to preventing their capture by pirates," Shapiro said.

France asks Seychelles to help with pirate trials

PORT VICTORIA, Seychelles, Oct 18 (Reuters) - French Defence Minister Herve Morin asked authorities on the Seychelles on Sunday to prosecute suspected pirates operating in the Indian Ocean.

Bringing to justice suspected Somali pirates captured by international navies in the Indian Ocean has proven difficult as lawless Somalia cannot try them, while most European countries do not want to take in a pirate who may then claim asylum.

Earlier this month, eleven suspected Somali pirates were captured after they tried to attack French tuna boats. They were released shortly after due to a lack of evidence.

On a trip to the Seychelles, Morin told reporters he had asked authorities to set up a legal system allowing for the trial of such suspects.

But Joel Morgan, the Seychelles minister in charge of environment, resources and transport, said the island lacked resources.

"We have a single prison here, for some 300 people, so taking in a large number of Somalis can cause problems with capacity," he said.

France is protecting its tuna fleet off the Seychelles by deploying marines on the civilian ships. Morin said that mission would be extended into next year.

China tells its ships to avoid pirate seas off Africa

BEIJING, Oct 21 (Reuters) - China has warned its ships to avoid waters off Somalia where pirates seized a Chinese coal ship on Monday, as Beijing sought to recover the vessel and crew.

Somali pirates took control of the De Xin Hai and its crew of 25 Chinese nationals about 700 nautical miles east of the failed Horn of Africa state, where piracy has become a bane to the region's busy sea lanes.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the government had set in motion efforts to rescue the captured ship, but one of the pirates told Reuters that the crew could be killed if authorities try such an operation.

A negotiated solution appears possible.

"Experts said it was more likely that a ransom would be paid than a rescue operation mounted," said the China Daily, the country's official English-language newspaper.

For now, however, China's Ministry of Transport has warned the country's ships to avoid the area, the ministry's website (www.moc.gov.cn) reported.

"The maritime authorities have issued a notice warning all vessels belonging to our country to avoid the area as far as possible, and telling ships in the vicinity to raise their vigilance and strengthen protection," it said.

The report did not specify what area Chinese ships have been told to avoid.

The China Transport News warned that the growing effectiveness of naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden and seasonal shifts bringing milder winds made it more tempting for pirates to go after ships in the broader seas of the Indian Ocean.

"This may lead to increased hijackings," said the Chinese-language newspaper. "In particular, vessels with low freeboards and slower speeds must be especially vigilant."

Indian coal traders feared Monday's incident, the first reported hijacking of a coal vessel by Somali pirates, could mean the gunmen would start targeting other coal ships because these dry bulk vessels lie low in the water and have few crews onboard.

The freeboard is the section of a ship's side between the waterline and the deck.

Chinese vessels had already been advised to stay 600 nautical miles off the East Coast of Africa, but the De Xin Hai was outside that zone when it was captured. It was unclear whether China would expand the advised perimeter, which would add to the time and cost of voyages along that route.

Attacks on coal ships could disrupt an expected increase in South African coal shipments heading to India in coming months to meet a surge in demand during the past two years.

The European Union's counter-piracy force said an EU maritime patrol aircraft had located the vessel on Monday.

Despite a major deployment this year by foreign navies in the strategic shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia through the Suez Canal, pirates have continued to prowl the waters off Somalia, making tens of millions of dollars in ransom.

China sent three warships to Somali waters late last year after a ship carrying oil to China was attacked by pirates. Those Chinese warships, like those of other navies, mostly patrol the narrow Gulf of Aden, not the much larger Indian Ocean.

But Somali pirates are shifting their focus towards the Indian Ocean, Per Gullestrup, president and chief executive of Clipper Projects, a unit of Danish ship-owning group Clipper, told Reuters on Tuesday.

A Chinese shipping executive agreed.

"The Indian Ocean is too big to defend," a Captain Zhang of the China Shipping Group told the China Daily. "It has definitely become a hot spot for Somalia's pirates."

Pirate threat unites world rivals
U.S., Russia and China teaming up to stem tide of thievery threatening shipping off Africa
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12 November 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya -- World powers including the U.S., Russia and China are teaming up at sea to tackle the pirates plaguing Somalia's lawless coast, as a sharp increase in attacks has forced nations who may be rivals on land to make unlikely alliances.

Analysts say the shift from competition to co-operation is also helping to safeguard naval budgets in countries like the United States and Britain that are fighting land-based wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's remarkable you have in what is generally considered not to be the most strategically important corner of the Earth, you have the Chinese, the Russians, the Americans, the Indians, all working together against a common enemy," said piracy expert Roger Middleton from the London-based think-tank Chatham House.

"They've been trained to fight each other, not small enemies," he said.

Pirates have launched increasingly bold attacks against vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in hopes of capturing a ship and crew and collecting millions of dollars in ransom.

They currently hold at least 230 hostages from around the world, including a British couple taken last month.

Lt. Nate Christensen of the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet said 25 ships from 14 nations are now patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

Russia and China announced in September that they would be doing joint anti-piracy patrols under "Operation Blue Shield," and many non-aligned countries such as Japan or South Korea also have sent ships to the region. Russia is also supporting the NATO patrols.

Cmdr. James Kraska, a professor at the Center for Naval Warfare Studies in Newport, R.I., says all except Iran are sharing data and protection.

Major players in the region meet once a month to share information and to specify areas of surveillance responsibility.

Last week, navies from 26 nations, including the EU, NATO, China, India, Japan and Russia met. Ukraine participated for the first time.

"The bottom line is that the way we describe it is unprecedented co-operation between all anti-piracy players in the Gulf," said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

The effort is not always trouble-free. The U.S., India and Pakistan all have non-compatible cryptography equipment, said Christensen. And the Chinese and Americans have been forbidden to communicate using their official military email addresses because of fears of espionage, so the crews email each other using Yahoo or Hotmail addresses, Middleton said.

Even working together the warships cannot prevent all attacks. The Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden are simply too vast.

Patrols by a multinational naval force in the shipping lanes that link Europe to Asia through the Gulf of Aden appear only to have forced the pirates to extend their range deeper into the Indian Ocean.

The longest range Somali pirate attack to date was a failed attempt to seize a Hong Kong-flagged crude oil tanker on Monday, around 1,600 kilometres east of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Medvedev suggests creation of criminal court for piracy
20 November 2009
ITAR-TASS World Service

MOSCOW, November 20 (Itar-Tass) —— President Dmitry Medvedev suggests getting back to the discussion about a possible creation of a separate criminal court for piracy, or about the vesting of the existing courts with corresponding powers. He spoke about it at a meeting with ministers of transport of foreign countries, who came to Moscow to attend the International Transport Forum, entitled “Transport of Russia: establishment, development, prospects.”

Medvedev said that piracy had become a threat similar to terrorism or illegal drug trafficking. “The number of pirate actions is growing, despite the facts that troops from many countries are now guarding the ships. Anyway, we shall continue to tackle the problem,” he said.

Medvedev regrets that measures taken so far have not helped to radically improve the situation. In his opinion, this could be explained by the fact that piracy has become a profitable business, while the world community has not yet worked out a coordinated stand on the problem.

“Russia favours the working out of coordinated measures against pirates, including the creation of a separate criminal court for piracy,” Medvedev continued. “The problem is that when pirates are captured, no one knows what should be done next. If they are sent back to their home country, on the very next day they will take seats in their boats and resume piracy. In the medieval ages pirates were hanged on the yard, but this way is somewhat at variance with our notion of humaneness.”

“This is why the only way is to upgrade the criminal procedure,” Medvedev said. He mentioned the proposal to use national courts, but he believes this is not the right thing to do. “We should either get back to the idea of creating a separate court for piracy, or vest with corresponding powers the existing criminal courts,” the President said.

'Pirate waters can be safe'
30 November 2009
International Freighting Weekly

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has claimed that it is still possible for commercial ships to transit pirate affected areas, despite warnings that vessels should avoid the Indian Ocean, except in exceptional circumstances.

Tony Mason, secretary general of ship operator association ICS, said it was still safe to sail through the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden if the right precautions were taken.

He said: "We are seriously concerned about the piracy problem, and we would like to see some more naval resources.

"But we think the most important thing is that ships continue to follow the agreed best management practices, adopt the passive defensive measures that have been agreed within the industry and report their whereabouts to the relevant navies.

"We also recommend that each ship carries out its own assessment.

"Some smaller, slower ships may wish to avoid the Indian Ocean, but taking the proper precautions and risk assessments should still mean the majority of ships can safely transit that area."

Mason said there had been a resurgence in the number of incidents of piracy over the last six weeks because the monsoon season had come to an end.

He added that pirates were also travelling further into the Indian Ocean for prey because the navies had done a good job at patrolling the Gulf of Aden. Therefore they were heading into areas where it was harder for navies to patrol, he added.

Last week, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) warned that shipowners should no longer send ships through areas affected by piracy because of the risk to seafarers.

In a motion adopted by its fair practice committee, the ITF said flag states and shipowners that had not taken anti-piracy measures in the Indian Ocean should act before it became "impossible for seafarers to pass through the ever-widening danger area".

The ITF said: "Save in exceptional circumstances, ships should not transit the area. Risk of attack is now so great that putting seafarers in harm's way amounts to a breach of the shipowner's duty of care."

Meanwhile, a study published by shipowner body Bimco has revealed the cost of sending ships around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Indian Ocean and Suez Canal.

It found a post-panamax container ship would cost an extra US$2.4m a year by sailing round the Cape.

occupy somalia? nahh, just get rid of those pirates.

You've got to remove the source of the problem.

"But we think the most important thing is that ships continue to follow the agreed best management practices, adopt the passive defensive measures that have been agreed within the industry and report their whereabouts to the relevant navies.

Can you think of a greater oxymoron?

Can you think of a greater oxymoron?

Yes .. ironic considering some ships are now trying to repel pirate attacks and there are a lot of warships in the Gulf of Aden trying to secure safe passage!

Shipowners alarmed by long-range piracy threat
11 November 2009
SCMP

Shipowners are warning of the need for even greater precautions against pirates across the Indian Ocean, fearing Monday's attack on a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker proves that Somali gangs have extended their reach to menace new routes far from the Horn of Africa.

Arthur Bowring, managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, said the range of the pirates, which was once limited to the Gulf of Aden, was now "absolutely incredible".

"I think the message is that you can't be too careful once you start across the Indian Ocean ... as the pirates come under greater pressure off the Somali coast, they are managing to get further and further out. It is like pressing a balloon," he said.

Bowring's comments follow an unsuccessful attack on the 160,000-tonne BW Lion about 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 1,000 nautical miles east of the Somali capital Mogadishu - further east than the hijacking of the Chinese ship De Xin Hai and its 25 crew members three weeks ago.

Pirates attacked the BW Lion with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons but the ship increased speed and outmanoeuvred the attackers.

For months, ships have been advised to take precautions on reaching the 60th meridian just east of the Seychelles - the outer limit of existing anti-piracy patrols by international naval forces. Precautions can include blocking entry points on ships - sometimes with barbed wire - priming fire hoses and shutting off location transmitters, as well as registering with international anti-piracy flotillas. Bowring said captains may have to start considering precautions well before the 60th meridian.

Commander John Harbour, spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy task force - one of the largest in the area - said reviews were under way to possibly extend deployments. "We are pushing the pirates further out and quite clearly we are going to have to find new ways of responding," he said.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang reminded Hong Kong mariners that they could call on protection from the nation's "historic deployment" of warships on anti-piracy patrols in the Indian Ocean.

"If Hong Kong ships need Chinese naval protection, they can apply through relevant channels," he said.

Chinese officials told international naval counterparts during a meeting in Beijing at the weekend that China wanted to join the rotational leadership of monthly co-ordination meetings held in Bahrain, sessions that involve more than 40 navies. The unprecedented move - yet to be agreed to - is being closely watched by regional analysts seeking the first signs that China is displaying military diplomacy and engagement to match its armed build-up.

"China's sending of warships to Africa was a big surprise but that clearly is not enough for Beijing," one Asian military attache said.

"They want to show everyone that they are ready to take a seat at the table ... when it comes to piracy, they will be welcomed. This problem is going to be with us for a long time yet, so it is a perfect one for China to win some friends over."

Xu Guangyu , a retired PLA general, said: "China could use this opportunity to tell other countries that we are not just talking without action. We are going to contribute more to international security."

Cargo ship attacked in Indian Ocean, pirates seized

In the afternoon of 2 December, 150 nautical miles south of Salalah, Oman the Antigua & Barbuda flagged General Cargo Ship MV BBC Togo was attacked by pirates in two attack skiffs.

Because the ship was well prepared in accordance with the ’Best Management Practices’ with barbed wires and other Self Protection Measures, the pirates failed to board the vessel. Automatic weapons were fired, luckily no casualties were reported.

On indication of the attack EU NAVFOR Netherlands warship Evertsen just leaving the port of Salalah, was tasked to search and neutralize the pirate attack group. Canadian warship HMCS Fredericton of NATO, also in the area on counter piracy patrol, responded also and closed to participate in the search for the Pirate Attack Group.

In the evening Evertsen localized a dhow with two skiffs in the area of the earlier attack and fitting the given description. Evertsens boarding team secured the dhow and the two skiffs. In total there were thirteen pirates and two of the original crew on board. Ladders, grappling hooks, and nine automatic weapons, 1 RPG with three grenades and cases with amunition were found. The suspected pirates have been detained.

HNLMS Evertsen takes part in the EU NAVFOR mission Operation ATALANTA. The main tasks of Operation ATALANTA are to escort merchant vessels carrying food of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), the protection of vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.
(source: EUNAVFOR (http://www.eunavfor.eu/2009/12/cargo-ship-attacked-in-indian-ocean-pirates-seized/))
-----
Some pictures by the Dutch Defense Ministry (http://www.defensie.nl/missies/nieuws/wfp/2009/12/03/46141705/Evertsen_onderschept_piraten):
http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?image=/media/HrMs_Evertsen_onderschept_piraten001_tcm46-141722.JPG&size=lightbox
The dhow, with HNLMS Evertsen in the background.

http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?image=/media/HrMs_Evertsen_onderschept_piraten003_tcm46-141724.jpg&size=lightbox
Weapons found on the pirate vessel.

http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?size=lightbox&image=/media/D090821SH1037_tcm46-134987.jpg
Picture of the HNLMS Evertsen, now in it's last weeks as Flagship of the EUNAVFOR anti-piracy mission.

Oh good ... they were captured! Hope they don't get released back to Somalia and be put back into circulation!

Seychelles grants immunity to anti-piracy naval staff
11 December 2009
Lloyd's List

THE European Union has negotiated extensive immunity for its naval staff stationed on the Seychelles islands.

As part of a growing military presence designed to fight the piracy insurgency, the Seychelles government has agreed to waive liability and exempt EU Navfor forces from taxes and duty. The Seychelles asked for an EU naval presence, according to the EU Council of Ministers.

Details of the agreement, signed in Victoria, the Seychelles capital, were made public yesterday.

The EU promised its military staff would respect local laws and regulations and would inform the host government of the size of its force. In return, the Seychelles promised all EU Navfor facilities, vessels, aircraft, documents and correspondence would be “inviolable.”

EU Navfor personnel were assured “immunity from the civil and administrative jurisdiction of the host state in respect of words spoken or written and all acts performed” in the exercise of their official functions.

Goods purchased or imported “shall be exempt from all national, regional and communal dues, taxes and charges.” EU Navfor submarines (there is thought to be at least one) are not required to navigate on the surface, the agreement stipulates, while personnel “cannot be compelled to give evidence as witnesses”.

EU Navfor forces are allowed to renovate the facilities they are allocated and do not have to compensate the Seychelles authorities for modifications made.

“EU Navfor personnel shall not be liable for any damage to or loss of civilian or government property,” the agreement states.

In the event of loss or damages not connected with official duties and exceeding €40,000 ($59,000), an arbitration tribunal will be set up.

Smaller claims are supposed to be settled by “diplomatic means”.

EU Navfor specified that it would need free-of-charge spectrum for its radio operations.

A separate agreement has been struck between the two parties covering the transfer of suspected pirates and guaranteeing humane treatment for detainees.

A third EU document extending Operation Atalanta for another year has been amended to give EU forces additional responsibility. Forces should now “monitor fishing activities” and “assist Somali authorities by making available data relating to fishing activities compiled in the course of the operation”.

There are claims Somali pirates took to the seas in defence of their territorial waters, which had been invaded by illegal fishermen.

1cent:
Maybe the military-industrial complex can come up with
a dedicated anti-piracy/smuggling Fast Attack Craft:

long endurance & high speed (?55knots enough?)
a radar to pick up those cargos/oilers in help & detect those small pirates' boats
a single AK630/Phallanx CIWS -> for self-defence
single 20/37mm cannon -> enough to sink the fast-boat of the boats
(longer range cannon is not neccessary, because of the need for visual id)
no need for anti-air defence/anti-sub defence/electronic counter-measures suites

The ships would be under UN flag with rotaring crews from different countries
or ship would ship be cheap enough for emerging/developing countries to buy/build/maintain and so they could conduct their own partols and gain international recognition.

2cents: An eye on Yemen. Somalia alone is troublesome enough.

Pirate cash suspected cause of Kenya property boom
By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer Tom Odula
Fri Jan 1, 3:47 pm ET

NAIROBI, Kenya – Property prices in Nairobi are soaring, and Somali pirates are getting the blame.

The hike in real estate prices in the Kenyan capital has prompted a public outcry and a government investigation this month into property owned by foreigners. The investigation follows allegations that millions of dollars in ransom money paid to Somali pirates are being invested in Kenya, Somalia's southern neighbor and East Africa's largest economy.

Even as housing prices have dropped sharply in the United States, prices in Nairobi have seen two- and three-fold increases the last half decade.

"There is suspicion that some of the money that is being collected in piracy is being laundered by purchase of property in several countries, this one being one of them," said government spokesman Alfred Mutua. "Especially at this time when we are facing global challenges of security such as terrorism and others, it is very important for us to know who is where and who owns what."

The investigation will also help the government catch tax evaders, he said.

Kenya may be the most attractive spot for pirates to launder their money because it shares a roughly 500-mile (800-kilometer) border with Somalia and has investment opportunities and a large Somali community of up to 200,000 people, Mutua said.

In a neighborhood of Nairobi now called "Little Mogadishu" because of its Somali community, large business and apartment buildings have sprung up. A similar explosion of real estate development can be seen in higher-income areas of the city.

Somali pirates have been paid more than $100 million in ransoms the last two years, said Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House. The average ransom is also up, from $1 million per vessel a year ago to about $2 million today.

Pirates in Somalia say they invest their ransom money outside their war-torn country, including in Kenya. One pirate who gave his name as Osman Afrah said he bought three trucks that transport goods across East Africa. A second pirate, who only gave his name as Abdulle, said he's investing in Kenya in preparation for leaving the pirate trade.

"Pirates have money not only in Nairobi but also other places like Dubai, Djibouti and others," said Abdulle. "I have invested through my brother, who is representing me, in Nairobi. He's got a big shop that sells clothes and general merchandise, so my future lies there, not in the piracy industry."

Kenya also does not have stringent laws against money laundering, though a bill to curb the practice is being debated in parliament. The U.S. State Department in its annual report by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs describes Kenya as major money laundering country.

The investigation has drawn angry reactions from the Somali community, and business leaders said Somalis would not cooperate with the investigation and may go to court to try to stop it.

"This is very, very unfair discrimination," said Hassan Guled, the chairman of the Somali business community. "We consider this order rubbish."

Guled said Somalis living in Kenya have acquired property by pulling resources together and borrowing from banks. Somalis here also depend on money sent by a large Somali population in Europe and America who cannot invest in those economies because of religious beliefs, Guled said.

Bellow Kerrow, a former member of parliament and a Kenyan national of Somali descent, said it is high demand, not money from piracy, that is behind the rise in property values. But Pius Khaoya, a real estate agent, said factors outside the economy are influencing property prices.

"The prices have gone through the roof and it does not tally with the performance of the country's economy," said Khaoya, who works for Crystal Real Estate.

Khaoya said under normal circumstances in Kenya, it would take 10 years for property values to double, but that real estate prices have tripled in the last five years.

A real estate agent who spoke only on condition he wasn't identified so as not to draw the wrath of Somali customers said some Somali businessmen pay double a property's worth just to easily and quickly complete the sale.

Such a market puts home ownership out of reach for some Kenyans. Frank Mbata said he left college 15 years ago with a plan to climb the corporate ladder and buy his dream home in Karen, a leafy up-market Nairobi suburb.

But because of a huge rise in property prices, a four-bedroom home in Karen that would have sold for $200,000 five years ago sells for $500,000 today.

"This is something I was aspiring for, but today it is not possible unless something drastically changes," Mbata said.

___

Associated Press reporter Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.

Piracy is a sideshow that could skew naval investment
18 January 2010
Financial Times

The practice of sounding the alarm over the threat to world shipping posed by piracy has become commonplace. Casual observers could be forgiven for thinking that second to climate change or terrorism, piracy is the greatest menace to the security and prosperity of the western world. We are experiencing the biggest upsurge for four centuries, according to Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd's of London. His chief executive officer, Richard Ward, has spoken of millions of young men in failing states around the world looking with envy at pirate attacks perpetrated by gangs of marauding Somalis in the Gulf of Aden.

Nato naval planners and even Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance's secretary-general, have joined the rising chorus. In recalling that 90 per cent of the world's trade travels by sea, a common refrain is the importance of expeditionary counter-piracy missions such as the one under way off the Horn of Africa.

But just how serious is the problem? First, worldwide, the chance of experiencing a pirate attack is extremely rare. The numbers are actually down in many regions. In the Malacca Strait, an important trade route, there were only two actual or attempted attacks in the first nine months of 2009. According to a recent Danish study, even in previous years when incidents were marginally higher, the annual loss to the total value of shipping through the Strait was estimated at just 0.001-0.002 per cent. To be sure, there has been a regional spike off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, but in relative terms the threat is not great. Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year. According to the International Maritime Bureau, from January to September last year the number of actual and attempted piracy and armed robbery incidents in the region was 100. Even if the final tally shows that the average of 11 attacks per month was sustained through to the end of 2009, less than 0.7 per cent of shipping was affected.

Second, where piracy does occur, the effectiveness of warships in tackling it is doubtful. Most analysts concur that the real cause lies ashore - in high poverty levels and government instability. The same IMB report shows that in the first three quarters of 2009, almost 60 per cent of actual or attempted attacks worldwide occurred while ships were anchored or in port. Thus, they constituted a local law enforcement issue hardly serving as a pretext for more counter-piracy missions on the high seas.

So, if public oratory and reality do not align, why does piracy account for so much of our security discourse? And what are the implications? The answers turn on three things: profit, purpose and the public purse.

Simply put, keeping piracy in the headlines and warships on alert contributes to the financial bottom line. From 2005, piracy has for the most part been transferred from a yearly hull insurance policy to a pricier "war risk" coverage per voyage. While insurers suggest the change is geared towards better management of risk based on clients' needs, sizeable profits have been reaped - about $300m-$500m in the Gulf of Aden in 2008 compared with roughly $100m (£60m, €70m) paid in ransoms. Moreover, evidence suggests that most commercial shipping enterprises have been reluctant to invest in anti-piracy systems such as ship-wide alarms and anti-boarding devices. It has been more appealing to shift the burden to state-run navies.

Several navies, including those in Nato, have been willing to accept this. At a time when land and air forces are well employed in Afghanistan, counter-piracy missions have presented Nato maritime forces with an attractive opportunity to add to their repertoire of functions in the post-cold war era. A new Alliance Maritime Strategy to replace the 1984 version is under development with such security missions receiving much attention.

Yet, elected officials charged with stewardship of the public purse must judge between competing calls on how best to invest in Nato's navies. Basing an investment strategy substantially on the marginal menace of piracy is dubious when there are more pressing threats such as those from other navies or the proliferation by sea of weapons of mass destruction. We all know the fable of the shepherd boy who cried "Wolf!" Nato's navies - and policymakers - should bear in mind what happened to him. The writer is senior research analyst in maritime strategy at the Nato Defense College in Rome. He is writing in a personal capacity.

Pirates holding ships for less time but cost to owners growing
22 January 2010
Tradewinds

Negotiations to release hijacked ships are being processed more quickly but the cost to owners and insurers is growing.

The release of the 300,300-dwt VLCC Maran Centaurus (built 1995) this week after a comparatively short 62 days comes just a few weeks after the release of the 53,600-dwt Delvina (built 1984), held for just 43 days, and 76,400-dwt Cosco bulker De Xin Hai (built 2008) after 63 days.

By comparison, hijackings last year were taking between three and six months to resolve, with the 69,000-dwt Ariana (built 1984) and 2,980-dwt Charelle (built 1985) both held for more than six months.

The quicker release could be coming at a cost. Estimates of the ransom paid for the freeing of the Maran Centaurus range between $6m and $9m, the highest so far. TradeWinds understands some $7m was paid in cash directly to the pirates in a drop to the ship, with another $2m paid into a Saudi bank account.

The value of the cargo and tanker may have added to the urgency of negotiators in the case of the Maran Centaurus . International Maritime Organisation (IMO) head Efthimios Mitropoulos warned that there could have been an environmental disaster if the pirate-controlled ship had had an accident. In the only other instance of a fully laden VLCC hijacking, the 318,000-dwt Sirius Star (built 2008), the vessel was released after just 49 days.

Some $4m is said to have been paid to secure the release of the De Xin Hai , again representing an increase on earlier ransoms, although there are suggestions that pirates are deliberately trying to inflate reports of what has been paid.

In a separate development, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) urged governments and navies to do more to stop piracy and take action against motherships, which enable pirates to spread their activities even further.

ICS chairman Spyros Polemis said: "Little is being done to stop pirates operating in their bases in Somalia or to disable motherships, which they use to launch attacks up to 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) from the Somali coast. In addition to calling for governments to take a more strategic approach in the suppression of piracy, the shipping industry is seeking refinements to the existing military response."

INTERVIEW-Yemen, DP World to expand Aden container port

ADEN, Yemen, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Yemen and Dubai's DP World plan a major expansion of Aden's container port, betting on growth in the poorest Arab country despite al Qaeda, instability and Somali pirates, officials said.

In 2008, Yemen formed a joint venture with the Dubai-based port operator to develop and operate the container port in the southern Yemeni city, strategically located on the southwest rim of the Arabian peninsula.

Thanks to its location on the Gulf of Aden and proximity to the Red Sea, Aden was one of the world's biggest ports decades ago when steamers bound for the Suez Canal called in to refuel.

The advent of bigger ships meant fewer stops were required and Aden's port diminished in importance.

Hit by global turmoil and piracy from neighbouring Somalia, 2009 container traffic fell by 39 percent to 265,459 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs), a benchmark for transportation.

The number of ships calling fell to 315 last year from 438 in 2008, official data showed.

"Piracy... This is a very troubling issue," said Mohamed Mubarak Bin Aefan, head of Aden port management.

The number of piracy attacks worldwide leapt almost 40 percent last year, with gunmen from the failed Horn of Africa state accounting for more than half the 406 reported incidents, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Despite the slump, the port is now investing at least $270 million to widen and deepen the entry channel and add facilities to receive more and larger container ships, said Bin Aefan.

Aden hopes to develop the port as a hub for East Africa and the Gulf as the city lies on a shipping Europe-Asia route and is home to most of Yemen's oil industry. In October, it started with France's Total a $4.5 billion project to export Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from south Yemen.

Last month Yemen said it was in talks with investors to upgrade its main oil refinery in Aden, hoping Gulf Arab producers might use it to lower dependance on the narrow Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, the main oil shipping route.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have said Iran would impose controls on the Strait of Hormuz if attacked over a row with the West over Tehran's nuclear plans, according to Iranian media.

Aden's container capacity will rise by 500,000 TEUs to 950,000 TEUs within three or four months as eight kilometers of storage area would be added, the port head said.

Aden port also plans a tender for a dry docking and repair station, he said, without giving a value.

"This will give us the opportunity to receive more ships," he said, adding that three to four container lines were now regularly calling at the port.

In the next stage of expansion, another 400 meters would be added to the container terminal within three years, said Adel Abdullah al-Sammak, DP World's senior operations manger in Aden. He gave no value but Bin Aefan put it at $220 million.

"Aden has an excellent geographic position. Of course, the economic crisis has had an impact but this is not a specific Aden issue," Sammak said.

Under a business plan, the number of berths might increase from two to five by 2025 with container traffic reaching 2.2 million TEUs by then, the official port newspaper said.

"The total quay length will reach 2,000 meters at Aden Container Terminal," it said.

But DP World Aden advisor John Fewer cautioned expansion beyond the 400 meters would depend on "commercial requirements."

He declined to give a forecast, saying only: "Yemen is growing. That's why we are here."

Somali pirates: Hunting given them by the international force has not produced the expected results.

And 'certain that the international mission against Somali pirates did not produce the desired results. Although warships have saved many merchant ships from the clutches of pirates in 2009, Somali pirates have established their new record by doubling the number of attacks scored the previous year. The data provided by the Center on piracy International Maritime Bureau report that 214 attacks on ships 111, 2008, of these 47 were seized in 35 cases and then released following the payment of ransoms ranging between 2 and 4 million dollars . Are still a dozen ships currently being held hostage by their crews. Although three UN resolutions authorizing the international fleet to attack the pirates even on the coast of Somalia, no one has so far approved similar actions, the only ones able to eradicate the phenomenon, and indeed there is more, no unit opened fire on simply put them to flight. The pirates can then go merrily all'arrembaggio of other ships. The pirates can be attacked and captured only if caught in flagrante delicto, ie while attacking a ship, but most of the criminals caught last year were released often because no country agreed to try them as happened to the 13 pirates captured by the frigate Dutch Evertsen, belonging to the EU fleet, which had to release them even giving them food and fuel. In the case of Kenya, which houses many trials against Somali buccaneers following an agreement with the EU, the pirates are almost always released because when you launch the discussion in court are not present in witnesses, sailors and commanders who have already taken over the sea. The impunity of gangs seems almost guaranteed.
They also attacked the World Food Program cargo ship, carrying humanitarian genres in Mogadishu.

Monitoring the seas is not the same as actually going into Somalia to capture pirates, or to resolve the stateless political situation there that's causing all this. Monitoring is always a more passive, and not a real, solution.

Somali pirates: 2 TWO ATTACKS IN TWO DAYS

http://i49.tinypic.com/2nhi72g.jpg

February 23, 2010
After a few weeks relatively calm, partly because of unfavorable weather and sea conditions at the weekend Somali pirates attempted two attacks, one by one by a tanker and a container. The first attack ended with the intervention of some naval ships and a helicopter, which led to the arrest of eight people. In the second case, the pirates were intercepted and put to flight by a Turkish military vessel.

Source: Chamber of Labor in Pozzallo

Increasing incidents of piracy in Asia


February 28, 2010
There has been an increase in the number of attacks by pirates in Asian waters in January 2010, fewer than 11 reported incidents by anti-piracy center ReCAAP (REGIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT ON
COMBATING PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AGAINST SHIPS IN ASIA
In particular as regards the incidents that occurred in January nese must say that 8 were actual attacks, while three are counted as attempts. However, despite the strong increase in the number of attacks, all the 11 episodes were classified as "less important" by ReCAAP, (the lowest of the three categories). The anti-piracy center reported that most "incidents" took place in ports or estuaries of Indonesia.
The ReCAAP Information Sharing Center (ISC), BIMCO and PETROSPOT jointly organized, on 29 April 2010, a conference titled "The Piracy and Sea Robbery Conference 2010 to be held during the Singapore Maritime Week 2010. The aim of the conference is to provide a platform for exchanging views on issues related to the issue of piracy and robbery at sea in order to foster better understanding and closer cooperation between governments, industry leaders, associations of shipping, ship owners and operators and seafarers.

http://marittimipozzallo.blogspot.com/

PIRATES / PAID ransom GREEK CARGO "NAVIOS Apollon

http://i45.tinypic.com/33jixig.jpg

February 28, 2010
E 'was paid ransom to Somali pirates for the release of a greek freighter and its crew of 10 sailors held off the Seychelles on 28 December 2009. "The payment of a ransom was performed successfully to stop the seizure of the Panamanian-flagged freighter greek 'Navios Apollon'," explained the EU's anti-piracy naval force, NAVFOR, in a statement. The sum of the ransom was not revealed. The captain of the vessel is of Greek nationality, the Filipino crew. Somali pirates have captured the freighter using fast boats in December, while they were en route to Thailand. According to a spokesman for NAVFOR, Commander John Harbor, are usually 24 hours to pirates to release a ship and its crew "after the money was counted. Again thanks to the payment of a ransom two days ago was freed an Indonesian chemical tanker, flying the flag of Singapore, pramonė and its crew of 24 men, he added Harbor. The ship of over 20 thousand tons had been captured in late January in the Gulf of Aden as he headed towards the port of Kandla, India.


The 'Navios Apollon' "is a freighter built in 2000 with a length: 190 Width mex me 32 Gross tonnage: 52,073 t

ANALYSIS-Somali pirates set to gain from Asia coal boom
1 March 2010

LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - Booming Asian demand for South African coal will put more ships at risk from Somali pirates operating in the Indian Ocean and raise insurance and freight costs already hiked due to seaborne attacks.

Emboldened by rising ransom payments, Somali pirates have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

While pirates have hijacked oil tankers, passenger ships and yachts, they have started to target slow moving coal bulk carriers, which are easier to overcome than a large tanker.

A Somali pirate who gave his name only as Hassan told Reuters that armed gangs can operate far out to sea and were able to dodge naval warships deployed to combat their activities.

"If there are more coal ships coming, it is good news," said Hassan, who was involved in a coal vessel hijacking last year. "A bulk ship means bulk ransom."

Last October, a Chinese coal ship headed for Indian trader Adani's Mundra port was hijacked and ransomed for $4 million.

"Piracy is becoming a real headache and it's going to get much worse as more coal leaves South Africa for India, China and elsewhere in Asia," one South African shipping source said.

"It is definitely costing people more money in insurance, in fuel, in security measures."

Asia, led by India and China, could take 75 percent of South Africa's 65 million tonnes of thermal coal exports in 2010 as demand shifts from glutted Europe, putting many more ships in the gun sights of Somali pirates, analysts said.

VULNERABLE VESSELS

Companies involved in this seaborne coal trade said they have already had to swallow higher costs due to taking longer routes to avoid pirate hotspots and insurance premiums.

A senior shipper said piracy risk cover on a voyage from South Africa to India added $30,000 on top of the basic insurance cost. A further $40,000 to $50,000 had to be added for longer diversions aimed at avoiding pirates.

J. Peter Pham, an African security adviser to U.S. and European governments and private companies, said dry bulk ships carry commodities such as coal, iron ore and grains, were vulnerable partly due to their slow speed and older age.

"When they are fully loaded with their cargo they tend to have a low freeboard (the distance between a ship's railings and the water) so they are easier as targets to attack even when they are moving," he said.

"If you are moving more coal in these types of carriers, it is fairly reasonable to say you are probably going to get more attacks on them."

Global pirate attacks on dry bulk carriers hit their highest last year since 2003 with 109 ships targeted, data from the International Maritime Bureau watchdog showed.

FLAMMABLE CARGOES

Foreign navies have been deployed off the Gulf of Aden since the start of 2009 and have operated convoys, as well as setting up a transit corridor across dangerous waters.

But their forces have been stretched over the vast expanses of water including the Indian Ocean, leaving merchant vessels vulnerable.

Pirates typically use mother ships to sail hundreds of miles to sea and then attack in small skiffs, turning the Indian Ocean into a major risk.

"It is a massive area and there are just not the warships to patrol it," said Peter Hinchliffe, marine director with the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents 75 percent of the global shipping industry.

Hinchliffe said it was vital to ensure the "free and unhindered passage of world trade by sea", urging the targeting of mother ships.

"We are seeing governments effectively not doing much more than putting a sticking plaster over the problem," he said.

With Somali pirates increasingly firing rocket propelled grenades to force vessels to stop, coal ships face other perils.

John Dalby, chief executive of MRM, which provides armed and unarmed personnel to merchant vessels in the region, said coal was as dangerous to transport as petroleum cargoes.

Coal gives off toxic gases in a sealed cargo hold which would ignite and explode if a ship was fired upon. "Crews should consider themselves to be on a similar level of risk as on a tanker," Dalby said.

Some of India's biggest coal traders said they doubted much could be done to combat piracy.

"We haven't been affected so far, perhaps we've just been lucky," one major coal trader said.

SHIP SUNK MOTHER OF SOMALI PIRATES

http://i50.tinypic.com/2whdzc4.jpg

March 2010

The Danish Destroyer 'HDMS Absalon', part of the NATO fleet in the region, has sunk a mother ship Somali pirates, after forcing the bandits to leave the ship, which had been found all the necessary equipment for attacks off Somali waters. With more favorable weather conditions - Marina, the next three months are considered the most risky for the attacks on merchant ships.

Source: Chamber of Labor in Pozzallo

Gulf of Aden, Somali pirates seized small tanker Arabia

http://i46.tinypic.com/9hifbb.jpg

March 3, 2010

Somali pirates have seized a small ARABIA 5100 dwt tanker sailing in the Gulf of Aden. The Kenyan officials said. The ship, with a crew of 14 people, was sailing out of the recommended transit corridor and had notified the EU military force NAVFOR that would cross the Gulf.
It 'been asked for a ransom of 10 million dollars for his release. According to the satellite TV al-Arabiya, the Saudi authorities have indicated not want to deal with those responsible for the attack.
The tanker to travel back from Japan to Jeddah. The moment of the ship was empty. This is the second arrest of a Saudi oil tanker by Somali pirates after the run in November of 2008.
Meanwhile, six other seamen of the ship of Panamanian flag Leila detained in Somalia for more than six months were able to leave the country.

http://marittimipozzallo.blogspot.com/

Can't understand how the US & British Governments could conspire to entirely remove the population of Diego Garcia to Mauritius to give the US a base in the NW Indian Ocean ... yet they can't protect one of the world's most important shgipping lanes, just over the horizon.

Totally ridiculous.

Malacca threat raises cost stakes for shippers

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Heightened fears of an attack on oil tankers transiting the Strait of Malacca, a key shipping lane for world trade, could lead to higher insurance costs for shippers and may lead to longer journey times, analysts say. The Singapore Navy believes a group is planning attacks on oil tankers in the Strait, a Singapore shipping body warned on Thursday.

John Dalby, chief executive of maritime security company MRM, which provides risk assesments to companies, said ships diverting could be one of the major risks in the event of an attack.

"The damaging part is not just a potential oil spill or the loss of a crew it's the knock on effect of owners even thinking about re-routing their vessels," he said. "The economic backlash would be very, very significant."

Up to 80 percent of China's oil imports and 30 percent of its iron ore imports, and 90 percent of Japan's crude oil imports, pass through the Strait.

"Longer term, if there is a big incident, it will encourage, if not force, some of the crude shippers to use the Sunda and Banda straits in preference to Malacca Straits," Al Troner, president of Houston-based Asia Pacific Energy Consulting, said.

Sunda and Banda lie south of Malacca and passing via them would add at least 900 nautical miles or three days sailing time from the Middle East Gulf to Japan, shippers say.

Industry group Intertanko, whose members own the majority of the world's tanker fleet, on Thursday said it had advised its members to take "extra care" when passing through the area.

Shipping groups including Denmark's Maersk Tankers said they had increased vigilance on their vessels which included passing through the Strait at the maximum speed and posting more lookouts on a vessel's bridge.

"I don't think we would change the route. Basically the area is dangerous, so we have been taking precautions," a spokeswoman for Japan's second-biggest shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd said.

TERROR RIDER

One European shipping analyst said if the risks escalated insurance costs for tanker owners would rise, adding that the industry already faced tough conditions due to weak oil demand.

While daily crude tanker earnings on the benchmark Middle East Gulf to Japan route have risen from lows last year to around $37,000 this week they are still below their peak of over $200,000 a day in 2007 before the economic downturn.

"The insurance industry will certainly miss no occasion to reap a windfall profit by adding the requirement of a 'terrorism rider' much like the 'piracy rider' that has made it considerably more money than it has had to pay in ransoms off the coast of Somalia," said J. Peter Pham, an adviser on strategic matters to U.S. and European governments.

Piracy in the Malacca Strait became so serious a decade ago that in 2005 the Joint War Committee of the Lloyd's Market Association added the area to its list of war risk zones, sending premiums sharply higher. The decision was reversed in 2006 following lobbying from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Neil Roberts, secretary of the Joint War Committee, told Reuters there was no reason for it to meet at this stage.

"In the short term there is no effect. Trade continues as normal. Underwriters are keeping a careful eye on the situation," he said.

(Additional reporting by Luke Pachymuthu in Dubai, Osamu Tsukimori and James Topham in Tokyo; Editing by Keiron Henderson)

Somali pirates release Thai fishing vessel upon payment of a ransom.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2z516p4.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/jrtlj5.jpg

March 8, 2010
EU NAVFOR confirmed the release by pirates of a fishing vessel flying the flag of Thailand. The release took place in the port of Heard after the payment of a ransom.

The fishing vessel "Thai Union 3" had been arrested October 29 last year to about 200 miles north of the Seychelles and 650 miles off the coast of Somalia. A hacker has announced that the vessel was unfrozen after payment of a ransom of three million dollars. The French general staff has made that the transactions undertaken by the frigate nivosa, lasted two days, leading to "more important to capture Somali pirates brought to sign off the Horn of Africa" The nivosa acted in synergy with the ship Etna and with the assistance of a Spanish patrol plane.

Source: EU NAVFOR Public Affairs Office

Photo: http://www.marina.difesa.it/diario/2010/0308_oceanoindiano/index.asp

Frigate Scirocco free pirate Iranian vessel

http://i41.tinypic.com/2ptndar.jpg

March 2010
The frigate Scirocco of the Italian Navy involved in the Indian Ocean, has released the trawler Saad The Iranian people and 19 crew seized by Somali pirates January 13.
The vessel with the crew was captured by force and used as mother ship to approach and launch attacks on merchant ships transiting the Indian Ocean.
Thanks to sophisticated tracking systems of the frigate Scirocco and following a strict surveillance at sea, the pirates were forced to abandon the vessel.
The commander of Saad I, taken on board ship Scirocco, could make the first call and reassure his family about the good condition of health of its people.
Interventions made by the crew of the Scirocco on the vessel and logistical support provided has enabled fishermen to resume navigation.
Scirocco The frigate, commanded by Commander Maximilian Giachino, is inserted in the device's permanent NATO Standing NRF Maritime Group 2 "committed by March 8 in fighting piracy called" Ocean Shield "under the coordination of the Union.

:applause::applause:

Canción del Pirata

de José de Espronceda



Con diez cañones por banda,
viento en popa, a toda vela,
no corta el mar, sino vuela,
un velero bergantín.
Bajel pirata que llaman,
por su bravura, El Temido,
en todo mar conocido,
del uno al otro confín.

La luna en el mar riela,
en la lona gime el viento,
y alza en blando movimiento
olas de plata y azul;
y ve el capitán pirata,
cantando alegre en la popa,
Asia a un lado, al otro Europa,
y allá a su frente Estambul:

«Navega, velero mío,
sin temor,
que ni enemigo navío
ni tormenta, ni bonanza
tu rumbo a torcer alcanza,
ni a sujetar tu valor.

Veinte presas
hemos hecho
a despecho
del inglés,
y han rendido
sus pendones
cien naciones
a mis pies.»

Que es mi barco mi tesoro,
que es mi dios la libertad,
mi ley la fuerza y el viento,
mi única patria, la mar.

«Allá muevan feroz guerra,
ciegos reyes
por un palmo más de tierra;
que yo aquí tengo por mío
cuanto abarca el mar bravío,
a quien nadie impuso leyes.

Y no hay playa,
sea cualquiera,
ni bandera
de esplendor,
que no sienta
mi derecho
y dé pecho
a mi valor.»

Que es mi barco mi tesoro,
que es mi dios la libertad,
mi ley, la fuerza y el viento,
mi única patria, la mar.

A la voz de «¡barco viene!»
es de ver
como vira y se previene,
a todo trapo a escapar;
que yo soy el rey del mar,
y mi furia es de temer.

En las presas
yo divido
lo cogido
por igual;
sólo quiero
por riqueza
la belleza
sin rival.

Que es mi barco mi tesoro,
que es mi dios la libertad,
mi ley, la fuerza y el viento,
mi única patria, la mar.

¡Sentenciado estoy a muerte!
Yo me río;
no me abandone la suerte,
y al mismo que me condena,
colgaré de alguna antena,
quizá en su propio navío.

Y si caigo,
¿qué es la vida?
Por perdida
ya la di,
cuando el yugo
del esclavo,
como un bravo,
sacudí.

Que es mi barco mi tesoro,
que es mi dios la libertad,
mi ley, la fuerza y el viento,
mi única patria, la mar.

Son mi música mejor
aquilones,
el estrépito y temblor
de los cables sacudidos,
del negro mar los bramidos
y el rugir de mis cañones.

Y del trueno
al son violento,
y del viento
al rebramar,
yo me duermo
sosegado,
arrullado
por el mar.

Que es mi barco mi tesoro,
que es mi dios la libertad,
mi ley, la fuerza y el viento,
mi única patria, la mar.

PIRATES: Attachment 2 SHIPS

http://i41.tinypic.com/211o1tj.jpg

Pirates have seized a cargo ship off the coast of Oman Virgin Islands. This was a source of EU naval mission working in the region. Talca 11 thousand tons of the ship is flying the flag of Bermuda and was directed from Egypt to Iran. On board there are 23 Sri Lankan sailors, a Filipino and a Syrian. Somali pirates also seized a ship flying the Maltese flag with 21 crewmen in the Indian Ocean. The news' was widespread Turkish news agency Anatolia. The Mv Phrygia was sailing to Thailand with a cargo of fertilizer.
Oman and the seizure 'occurred at a distance of 120 nautical miles from shore. The freighter had just passed in a corridor patrolled by an international mission NAVFOR EU, NATO and other countries by sea. These seizures demonstrate that the Somali pirates have expanded their range.

This afternoon, Tuesday 23 March, the Bermuda British Virgin Islands owned flagged cargo ship MV TALCO WAS Reported Hijacked.
The hijacking Took Place Approximately 120 nautical miles off the coast of Oman and 180 miles south of Mazer. MV TALCO WAS Sokhna in Egypt heading from Iran to Bush. Already it HAD passed through the Recommended International Transit Corridor, Which is patrolled by warships and maritime patrol aircraft from NAVFOR EU, NATO, Combined Maritime Forces and other navies. Twenty-three of the crew are from Sri Lanka, one from the Philippines and one from Syria. MV TALCO has dead weight of 11 055 tonnes. NAVFOR EU will continue to monitor the situation.
Operation Atalanta's main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying Humanitarian Aid of the 'World Food Program' (WFP) and vessels of AMISOM, and Vulnerable to protect ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter piracy and Disrupt. Also NAVFOR EU monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

Photo: http://www.indicius.it

MARCH 28 2010
Somali 'pirates' mistakenly attack Dutch warship

Dutch marines disarmed 12 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia who had attacked their warship thinking it was merchant vessel.

Dutch marines on Sunday disarmed 12 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia who had mistakenly attacked their warship thinking it was a merchant vessel, the Dutch defence ministry said.

The Dutch frigate Hr. Ms. Tromp, responding to a sighting from a German patrol plane, encountered the pirates' "mother boat" and two smaller motorised attack boats about 270 nautical miles off the Somali coast, said a statement.

"When the Tromp came within eight nautical miles of the pirates, two attack boats stormed the Tromp on the assumption that the frigate was a merchant vessel," said a ministry statement entitled: "Pirates miscalculate".

"When they realised they were trying to storm a war ship, they abandoned the attack and made haste trying to get away," throwing overboard a number of weapons and ladders normally used for boarding hijacked vessels.

Warning shots fired from the frigate forced the three pirate boats to come to a halt, and marines found a total of 12 people on board, the statement said.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_bihlClbJ4zQ/RmwkgKAKcDI/AAAAAAAAAMk/EWFth8YeUgk/s400/F803+Tromp.jpg

It was already the second time this week that Somali pirates mistakenly attack the Dutch warship HMS Tromp.

I'm surprised the warship didn't blast them to the bottom of the ocean.

^^ The new policy of the EU naval forces is to hunt down the pirates and disarm them. Their attack skiffs will be destroyed, while the pirates will be released on their mother skiff, with just enough fuel to reach the coast. It is just virtually impossible to prosecute them, as experiences with 13 pirates captured by HNLMS Evertsen showed in december. They were released after being two weeks in custody on the frigate, because no country wanted to bring them to court.

So far, this new approach seems to be succesfull. French and Italian warships have both disarmed 35 pirates, while the earlier mentioned HNLMS Tromp has already disarmed 61 pirates. In just less than three weeks.

Some nice pics from the Dutch ministry of Defence (http://www.defensie.nl/missies/nieuws/wfp/2010/03/28/46153005/piraten_vergissen_zich):
http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?size=lightbox&image=/media/20100317-TROMP-ATALANTA_02_tcm46-149949.jpg&filesize=575%20KB
RHIB launched to intercept the pirates.

http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?size=lightbox&image=/media/moederskiff_overgave2_tcm46-149800.jpg&filesize=968%20KB
Skiffs being searched by Dutch marines.

http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?size=lightbox&image=/media/20100329_DSC_3176_tcm46-153167.jpg&filesize=502%20KB
Two skiffs being destroyed using the Goalkeeper of HNLMS Tromp.

Italian container attacked by Somali pirates

http://i44.tinypic.com/wtj0n7.jpg

April 2, 2010
Once again, the Somali pirates are targeting an Italian ship, after the past incidents involving two ships of Messina and a cruise ship MSC. This morning, the container "Ital Garland Trieste Italy Maritime company was approached by two small boats of pirates around three hundred kilometers off the coast of Oman. Aboard each punt there were 4 people, ship immediately alerted the Coast Guard operations center

From small boats were fired a few volleys of gunfire against the bulwarks of the vessel, with a series of maneuvers in a zig - zag and by the increase in speed was able to free from pirates. The Ital Garland, 270 meters long, belongs to the company Marittima in Trieste Italy. A boron there are 22 people, including 9 Italian. The ship was sailing from the port and the Malaysian Danjung of Aden. The Ital Garland has contacted the military units in the area, including the Italian Navy ship Etna, which is 300 miles away and has quickly taken the route to intercept the ship attacked.
Headquartered in Trieste Italy Maritime did not want to comment on the incident. We only know''- said the secretary of the President Pier Luigi abusive - that everything 'went well and that there would be casualties. More 'I can not say.''

The Pozzallese Guglielmo Cacciatore (from Pozzallo - Sicily) on the ship attacked by pirates bazooka shots

An Italian ship, the container Ital Garland, was attacked yesterday morning about 300 miles off the coast of Oman. The pirates on board two small boats, they fired several volleys of gunfire against the ship, with a series of maneuvers and accelerating the rate has succeeded in distancing the punts. The men on board were armed even bazookas. He did know the Coast Guard. The Ital Garland, 270 meters long and 46 thousand tons, belongs to the company Marittima in Trieste Italy. On board there are 22 people, 9 of which are Italian, including a Sicilian, the pozzallese Guglielmo Cacciatore (= William Hunter). The ship is at sea by the Malaysian port of Aden and the Danjung. When he suffered the attack - on board each punt of 10 yards, there were 4 people - the ship immediately alerted the Coast Guard operations center has suggested that some operations (speed and proceed in a zig zag) to do to get away quickly by pirates, who also fired a gun against the Italian side of the container damaged some equipment.

The two small boats which then seems to have desisted. Meanwhile, Garland has contacted other military units in the area, including the Italian Navy ship Etna, which is 300 miles away and was going to ship attacked.

Headquartered in Trieste Italy Maritime did not want to comment on the incident. "We only know - the secretary said the president Pier Luigi abusive - that everything 'went well and that there would be casualties. More 'I can not say. "

The family of the pozzallese Guglielmo Cacciatore yesterday came aware of the news on television and was immediately worried. Then, during the day has finally managed to get in contact with the ship's captain and the son who reassured them that the worst was over.

http://www.radiortm.it/2010/04/03/il-pozzallese-guglielmo-cacciatore-sulla-nave-attaccata-dai-pirati-a-colpi-di-bazooka/#more-43199


^^
I know him. He's of my own town.

Pirate hunting is getting more serious:
Pirated German ship rescued – EU NAVFOR HNLMS Tromp retakes pirated MV Taipan
April 5, 2010, published in Press Releases and tagged EU NAVFOR, hijack, Somali Basin by EU NAVFOR Public Affairs Office

MV Taipan, a German flagged and owned container ship of deadweight of 12612 tonnes, was on route to Mombasa from Djibouti when pirates attacked and took control of the ship.

On the morning of the 5 April, 500 nautical miles east off the Somali coast, a Pirate Attack Group (PAG) attacked and got onboard the MV Taipan. As the pirates boarded the ship the MV Taipan crew followed EU NAVFOR Best Management Practice, retreated to a secure strong room and locked themselves in; they were able to stop all engines and thereby disable the ship, before alerting EU NAVFOR that the ship had been taken. HNLMS Tromp was sent immediately to the scene and located the pirated ship.

Initially HNLMS Tromp attempted to negotiate with the pirates to avoid casualties but when it became clear that the pirates intended resistng, HNLMS Tromp launched a highly professional operation to recapture the ship. Marines from the TROMP have now boarded and retaken control of the ship from the pirates. The crew of 13 (2 German, 3 Russian and 8 Sri Lankan nationals) have been released unharmed. 10 pirates have been taken into custody.

Source: EUNAVFOR (http://www.eunavfor.eu/2010/04/pirated-german-ship-rescue-eu-navfor-hnmls-tromp-retakes-pirated-mv-taipan/), april 5th 2010.

Three pictures by the Dutch Ministry of Defence (http://www.defensie.nl/marine/missies/nieuws/wfp/2010/04/05/46153649/Hr_ms_Tromp_ontzet_bemanning_gekaapt_schip):
http://files.newsnetz.ch/bildlegende/28136/357760_pic_640x400.jpg
Entering the ship.

http://www.defensie.nl/_system/handlers/ImageResizerHandler.ashx?size=lightbox&image=/media/DSC_3568%20(Custom)_tcm46-153654.JPG&filesize=131%20KB
Dutch special marine forces using a fast robe to enter the hijacked ship from a Lynx-helicopter, while marines on the frigate and helicopter were shooting at the vessel's bridge.

http://files.newsnetz.ch/bildlegende/28136/357761_pic_640x400.jpg
The bridge after being hit by several bullets.

Somali pirates, the Iranian navy prevents attackers to hijack an oil tanker

April 7, 2010
The Iranian navy has prevented the Somali pirates to hijack an Iranian oil tanker sailing in the Gulf of Aden. The tanker, called the Iran-Faraz was heading towards Turkey when it was attacked by Somali pirates in four speedboats. The boats carrying pirates were forced to abandon his grip and the area after the operation of certain units of the Iranian navy.

Iran, as is known, remains in the Gulf of Aden a number of warships in order to ensure a free and safe navigation to its vessels and those of other nationalities.

Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, is a thriving activity, gangs of pirates have seized a number of cargo units collecting, without risk, tens of millions of dollars in ransom for the release of crews and cargo.

marittimipozzalloblog

Russia Calls for Ban Ki-moon international rules for certain punishment to pirates

April 7, 2010
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said it had submitted a draft resolution to UN Security Council aimed at ensuring that the Somali pirates, once captured, can not escape punishment. The draft resolution requests the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prepare a report suggesting ways of strengthening the international legal system to ensure that there will be no impunity for pirates caught red-handed. The piracy industry is growing and is becoming a major concern of the international community, "said Churkin." We believe that one of the weak links ... is the legal process that will allow us to be sure that there will be no impunity for pirates once caught off the coast of Somalia. "

Source (http://marittimipozzallo.blogspot.com/)

Somali pirates freed without apparent reason, the bulk Turkish "YASIN C

http://i43.tinypic.com/htimw7.jpg

April 11, 2010
Fatih Kabal, a spokesman for Bergen's shipping, said: "The ship's captain gave the good news that the pirates left the ship," adding that the crew had taken refuge in the engine room until they realized the pirates had gone away. "

EU NAVFOR confirmed that the bulk Turkish YASIN C, hijacked on April 7 at about 250 nautical miles east of Mombasa, was suddenly released by the pirates on the evening of April 9, 2010. It seems that the issue was decided after some technical problems and / or damage occurred in the engine room. The ship was towed to rid the port of Mombasa. The Yasin C., has a deadweight of 36 318 tonnes and a crew of 25 people of Turkish nationality. It is believed that all crew members are fine.

Somali pirates capture cargo ship "Rak Afrikana"

http://i44.tinypic.com/rcpk0i.jpg

April 11, 2010
Somali pirates have captured today, Sunday, April 10, 2010, the cargo ship Rak Afrikana while he was probably a failure to stop the machines, the Indian Ocean 280 miles west of the Seychelles. It is not known when the nationality of the crew or the cargo carried. The ship of our navy Scirocco is heading area of the seizure. MV African RAK has a deadweight of 7,561 tons and is owned by Rak Afrikana LTD (Seychelles).

Somali pirates, "Asian Glory" still in the hands of pirates. "Samho Dream," started negotiations.

http://i39.tinypic.com/29uymn6.jpg

April 10, 2010
Despite the efforts of Zodiac to find a quick solution, the car carrier "Asian Glory" remains in the hands of pirates. It seems that pirates refuse to treat on the basis proposed by the company. The company continues to be available daily to dialogue and is strongly committed to finding a reasonable solution that would lead to the rapid release of the crew
.

The tanker Samho Dream, flying the flag of the Marshall Islands was hijacked while in the early hours of April 4, sailing about 600 miles off the coast of Somalia arrived off the coast of Somalia.


Samho The Dream has a deadweight of 319,360 with a crew of 24 men made up of 5 and 19 Korean fillipini. The captain of the Dream Samho said that pirates are "armed." From rumors it seems that the unit owner has already begun negotiations with the pirates for a quick and bloodless release of the vessel.

German container ship captured by pirates is released from the frigate (German!) HNMLS Tromp

http://i39.tinypic.com/302vprq.jpg

April 5, 2010, published by EU NAVFOR Public Affairs Office

MV Taipan, a German flagged and owned container ship of deadweight of 12612 tonnes, was on route to Mombasa from Djibouti when pirates attacked and took control of the ship.

On the morning of the 5 April, 500 nautical miles east off the Somali coast, a Pirate Attack Group (PAG) attacked and got onboard the MV Taipan. As the pirates boarded the ship the MV Taipan crew followed EU NAVFOR Best Management Practice, retreated to a secure strong room and locked themselves in; they were able to stop all engines and thereby disable the ship, before alerting EU NAVFOR that the ship had been taken. HNLMS Tromp was sent immediately to the scene and located the pirated ship.

Initially HNMLS Tromp attempted to negotiate with the pirates to avoid casualties but when it became clear that the pirates intended resistng, HNMLS Tromp launched a highly professional operation to recapture the ship. Marines from the TROMP have now boarded and retaken control of the ship from the pirates. The crew of 13 (2 German, 3 Russian and 8 Sri Lankan nationals) have been released unharmed. 10 pirates have been taken into custody.

EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and vessels of AMISOM, and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

European Union Naval Force Somalia

It's really a mystery to me how pirates even get on board some of these ships.

Somali pirates PROCESSES IN GERMANY ...
April 2010

A court in Hamburg, Germany, will judge a group of ten Somali pirates accused of the kidnapping of container Taipan MS. The suspected pirates are currently held by the Danish Navy, which last April 4 released the ship after his abduction in the Gulf of Aden. The jurisdiction of the Court of Hamburg is the fact that the airport is home port of the vessel attached, flying the German flag and is registered in Hamburg. If convicted, the alleged pirate threat of punishment from five to fifteen years imprisonment.

Source: Chamber of Labour Pozzallo

:applause:

Navy success cuts Somali pirate attacks - watchdog

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Pirate attacks around the world fell by over a third in the first quarter versus the same period last year although Somali gangs who accounted for over half the incidents were striking deeper offshore, a watchdog said.

Somali pirates have already increased their attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers, in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

The London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said Somali pirates accounted for 35 out of a total of 67 global incidents in the first quarter. That compared with 102 incidents in the same period last year, 61 of which were by Somali gangs.

"This marked reduction can be attributed to the continued presence and success of the navies in the Gulf of Aden along with the robust anti-piracy measures adopted by the merchant navy fleet," the IMB said in a report published on Wednesday.

Foreign navies have boosted activities off the Gulf of Aden since 2009 and have operated convoys, as well as setting up a transit corridor across dangerous waters. But their forces have been stretched over the vast area, leaving ships vulnerable.

IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said there had been a number of examples where navies in the Indian Ocean had destroyed pirate boats and confiscated equipment.

"Such positive and robust action by the navies against mother ships, pirate skiffs and pirate action groups has been vital to keeping the attacks under control and must be sustained," he said.

The use of mother ships has enabled Somali pirates to strike as far as the Mozambique Channel and off India's coast in recent months launching smaller boats known as skiffs against ships.

"Most of the attacks involve the use of weapons, which is a cause of great concern to the merchant navy fleet as it poses a serious threat not only to the injury and death of seafarers but also to the ship, cargo and environment," the IMB said.

The IMB added that better weather had made conditions over the next two to three months "more conducive for pirate, small boat activities".

"Attacks have been reported during the hours of darkness, particularly on nights with a full moon," it said.

Turning to Nigeria, the IMB said two pirate incidents were reported in the first quarter versus seven in the same period last year.

"Violence towards crews still remains high in these waters. In one of the incidents, two crew members had to be taken ashore for medical treatment after a piratical attack," it said.

LOWER pirate attacks
April 2010

According to data of 'International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur in the first quarter of piracy attacks worldwide have decreased by one third over the same period last year, with 67 incidents against the 102 last year. Specifically, boarded ships for the quarter were 26, those against whom were fired 18 shots with firearms, those seized 11, with 194 crew members taken hostage. Just over half of incidents (18 against 21 in 2009) occurred in the waters off Somalia. The presence of naval ships and the security measures taken by the merchant in the Gulf of Aden, which in the last two years had been the scene of major attacks, accidents dropped from 41 in 2009 to 17. Throughout the 2009 attacks was 406, the highest in six years. One of the characteristics of recent attacks has been the widening of range of the Somali pirates, with especially high risks for crews of fishing vessels.

Source: Chamber of Labour Pozzallo

Video released of retaking captured MV Taipan from pirates

The Dutch Ministry of Defense has released a video of the intervention of special forces entering the German ship MV Taipan, which was captured by Somali pirates. The crew could hide in a special secured room, giving Dutch warship HNLMS Tromp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNLMS_Tromp_(F803)) the opportunity to liberate the ship and capture the pirates. The pirates were flown from Djibouti to The Netherlands, where they were handed over to German authorities who will prosecute them in Germany.

The video (with voice-over of one of the marines, explaining what they did (unfortunately just in Dutch)):
IcqZKBJMNhI

Awesome!

HNLMS Tromp is back home in the Netherlands btw and a new ship, HNLMS Johan de Witt has taken her place in the EU anti piracy mission Atalanta.
HNLMS Johan de Witt is not a destroyer like Tromp but a amphibious ship and this is because of the new tactic of deploying the ship's landingcraft (at night) and stationing them off shore from the pirates' camps, effectively closing them off. Johan de Witt already caught two skiffs in the first few days of being on the scene!

NsJjMylImt4

2FokdgCnUsE

^^

Impressive.
_____________________________________________________________


Russian tanker attacked by pirates
May 2010

A 106,000 dwt oil tanker from Novorossiysk Shipping Company of Russian society has been attacked by Somali pirates on board two small boats about 350 miles fast off the Yemeni coast. The ship, flying the Liberian flag and has a crew of 23 people, was seized. Area was sent a warship of the Russian Navy. The same day a 40,000-dwt bulker Korea has managed to foil an attack about 200 miles from the Comoros Islands.

Source: Chamber of Labour Pozzallo

^^

RELEASING THE RUSSIAN TANK kidnapped by PIRATES
May 7, 2010

A Russian Navy vessel is assisted by a helicopter of the U.S. Navy released the 106,000 dwt tanker from Somali pirates yesterday seized about 350 miles off the coast of Yemen. Action a pirate was killed, while the other ten pirates were caught and will face trial in Russia is likely to Novorossiysk, a city where the tanker is registered. The ship was sailing in the Indian Ocean to China with a cargo of crude oil worth $ 52 million, belonging to the Chinese company Unipec.

OTHER PIRATES ARRESTED French Navy
May 7, 2010
OTHER PIRATES ARRESTED French Navy

The French Navy has arrested 12 pirates intercepted a Swedish surveillance plane about 400 miles from the Seychelles, equipped with the mother ship, fast motor boats and weapons. All the suspected pirates were captured.

Source: marittimipozzalloblog.it

:applause:

And a day later...HNLMS Johan de Witt disarms another 11 pirates.

Z1qJ1bgwYeA

FEATURE-Yemen faces Qaeda, pirate threats in vital strait

ADEN, Yemen, July 6 (Reuters) - On a rocky volcanic outcrop set in the deep and treacherous waters of a vital strait linking Europe to Asia, Yemen's coastguard is building a base to help secure one of the world's busiest waterways.

Somali pirates trawl the sea south of the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen's coast, and in recent months have stepped up attacks on tankers, cargo ships and fishing vessels in defiance of a major crackdown by navies from at least a dozen countries.

But Yemen has deeper worries about security off its coast after a resurgent al Qaeda arm called for a blockade of the strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, through which 25,000 ships -- 7 percent of world shipping -- pass each year. "The geographical nature of Bab al-Mandab, of the coast and the land, its beaches and islands, makes it very sensitive security-wise," Mohamed Mubarak bin Aefan, head of Aden port management, told Reuters.

Militants would struggle to block the strategic strait, experts say, but the shipping industry is still worried about possible attacks off Yemen's southwest coast. A Yemeni official said France was helping it build the base with the hope it would have a dual use in combating both piracy and al Qaeda.

Yemen has seen its ports and waters targeted before.

The U.S. government warned ships sailing off Yemen's coast in March of a risk of al Qaeda attacks similar to a suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors in Aden's port. Two years later, al Qaeda hit a French supertanker in the Gulf of Aden, south of Bab al-Mandab.

Worries over the strait, through which around 3 million barrels of oil bound for Europe and the United States are shipped daily, were further stirred when Yemen boosted security on its coast against possible militant attacks.

Yemen became a top Western security concern after a resurgent Yemeni al Qaeda arm claimed a failed bomb attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December, so alarming Washington that it has cranked up security assistance to the impoverished country.

In another bold attack in June that Yemen blamed on al Qaeda, gunmen killed 11 people at the southern regional headquarters of a Yemeni intelligence agency in Aden, the deadliest attack in Yemen since the Cole bombing.

But the group's call earlier this year for a blockade of Bab al-Mandab to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel does not mean al Qaeda is capable of such an operation, said Jim Cameron, senior analyst at Stirling Assynt.

"It's certainly a real threat although I think it's probably more an aspiration rather than a capability at the moment."

In addition, it would not be easy to completely close off the 22-km (14-mile) strait, experts say.

"The strait is wide and the currents are strong and complex, so it would be difficult to actually block it in a physical sense," said Roy Facey, port adviser to the Port of Aden.

"A Yemen coastguard base to support maritime interventions, and the ability of Yemeni forces to control any high land overlooking the strait gives me a lot of confidence that the threats we hear of would be very difficult to implement."

BUSINESS WORRIES

But calls to close Bab al-Mandab still impact sentiment in the region's shipping industry, reeling from pirate attacks, said Hisham al-Saqaf, general manager of shipping and marine services firm Gulf Agency Company (GAC) Yemen.

"I don't know how they would do it but of course this is a threat and ship owners take these things seriously," he said.

While Yemen's Western allies and neighbouring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability on several fronts in Yemen for attacks in the region and beyond, piracy is the most burning concern for the shipping industry.

Somali pirates are making millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers, in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than 15 ships and hundreds of sailors are being held off Somalia.

So far, Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels have not been directly involved in piracy, which has flourished in the absence of a strong government and lawlessness in the Horn of Africa nation.

Business in the region's ports has been badly hit and shipping lines are having to fork out millions of dollars in higher insurance rates, extra security costs and elevated crews' wages, all this despite the strong international naval presence.

The United States estimates that every day some 30 to 40 warships are involved in counter-piracy efforts from the EU, NATO and the United States as well as China, Russia, India, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

Serious security threats to ships at the Bab al-Mandab waterway would have global implications for the industry and could prompt an even stronger international military intervention, industry experts say.

The GAC's Saqaf, whose tanker business is 50 percent down compared to 2008, said the naval intervention had improved security, but more needed to be done.

"At the end of the day I want a peaceful passage, a peaceful waterway for ships to sail and to come to our ports. We need the business," he said.

The number of ships calling in Aden Port has fallen around 11 percent this year from 2008, bin Aefan said.

Dubai-based port operator DP World, which runs a container port in Aden, says there was no major impact on container lines but that piracy was a business worry.

"The business that we are in -- the transhipment trade -- is very, very competitive. Everyone wants a piece of it, from Aden to Muscat, Dubai and Jeddah, so any disadvantage we have against other ports is a concern to us," said Arthur Flynn, deputy general manager of the Aden Container Terminal.

Aden Port's bin Aefan said the problem of piracy could only be resolved if stability returned to the pirates' countries of origin and that the international community should be more aware of the possible dangers facing Bab al-Mandab.

"International and political efforts need to be aimed at the root causes and need to include an understanding of the dangerous situation this global waterway is in."

FACTBOX-Attacks in the Gulf of Guinea
Reuters News

May 19 (Reuters) - Gunmen raided a Russian cargo ship at anchor in the Cameroon port of Douala, seizing the Russian captain and chief engineer on May 16. A Lithuanian captain from a nearby vessel was also seized.

The incident is the latest in a string of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea, a region that is becoming an increasingly important source of oil to Western markets.

The U.S. military is training West and Central African navies and coast guards to combat piracy, drug smuggling and illegal fishing in the vast zone, which stretches from the Guineas in the west down to Angola in the south.

Here is a list of some of the attacks that have taken place in the Gulf.

BAKASSI PENINSULA -- CAMEROON/NIGERIA BORDER

* March 27, 2010 - Nigerian boat carrying goods off the coast of Cameroon is hijacked and attackers demand $1.5 million for the release of its captain and one member of the crew. Local military and administrative officials believe the attackers belonged to the Africa Marine Commando group. The boat and crew are released a few days later.

* March 13, 2010 - A Chinese fishing vessel with seven fishermen aboard is hijacked off the Bakassi Peninsula. The Africa Marine Commando demand ransom and the sailors are released.

* Oct 10, 2009 - Cameroon military forces repel attack on fishing vessel Rose Three, killing four gunmen and capturing three. Former rebel leader says Bakassi Freedom Fighters responsible.

* March 14, 2009 - Gunmen attacked supply vessel kidnapping four crew.

* Oct 31, 2008 - Gunmen saying they objected to the return of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon seized 10 crew, most of them French, working on an oil supply vessel.

* Sept 28, 2008 - Seaborne gunmen attacked Limbe, a coastal town near the port city of Douala, killing one person and robbing four banks.

BENIN

* Nov 24, 2009 - Pirates attack a Monrovia-flagged tanker carrying Nigerian crude oil, killing an officer.

CAMEROON

* May 16, 2010 - Unidentified gunmen raided the Russian cargo vessel North Spirit at anchor at the port of Douala, seizing the Russian captain and chief engineer.

* Jan 24, 2009 - About 30 pirates seize Greek fishing vessel off Kribi, killing a Greek sailor.

* Sept 28, 2008 - Gunmen attack the Cameroonian port town of Limbe, shooting their way into banks, killing one person as they fought off the security forces and made off with large amounts of money.

NIGERIA OFFSHORE

* Jan 4, 2009 - Gunmen hijack a vessel belonging to French oil services group Bourbon off Nigeria's Niger Delta as it travelled towards a Royal Dutch Shell offshore oilfield with four expatriates. This attack followed a June 2008 strike against Shell's $3.6 billion offshore Bonga oilfield that forced the plant, capacity of 220,000 barrels per day, to shut down.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

* Feb 17, 2009 - Seaborne gunmen attack oil-producing Equatorial Guinea's island capital, shooting their way into the presidential palace before they were repelled by security forces, backed by helicopter gunships. The government blamed militants from Nigeria's Niger Delta for the raid.

UK blocks move to hit Somali pirates with U.N. sanctions

LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Britain is blocking a move to place two alleged Somali pirate commanders on a U.N. sanctions list, fearing it could hurt the British shipping industry, officials said on Monday.

Britain has asked for a "technical hold" to be placed on a U.S. proposal to add Abshir Abdillahi and Mohamed Abdi Garaad to the list of people subject to sanctions under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1844, Britain's Foreign Office said.

The "technical hold", requested in April and in effect indefinitely, gives the British government time to look into the legal implications of implementing the measures.

Security Council Resolution 1844 imposes a travel ban and an asset freeze on people who "engage in or provide support for acts that threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia".

The U.S. proposal marks the first time that alleged pirates would be targeted by the sanctions, throwing up legal questions for Britain.

Pirates from Somalia, which is battling an Islamist insurgency, have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms for the release of ships and crews seized in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.

Britain does not condone the payment of ransoms and supports strong action against known pirates, the Foreign Office said.

However, it is not illegal under British law to pay ransom and if the two alleged pirate commanders were added to the list, it could create a legal conflict for British-based companies by outlawing ransom payments that ended up in the hands of the two suspects, a British government source said.

The move could throw "UK companies open to prosecution," the source said, adding that the issue created a "difficult balancing act" between cracking down on piracy and the shipping industry's commercial interests.

A number of options were being considered for resolving the problem, the source said without elaborating.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that the proposed sanctions would affect law firms, insurers and private security companies in London that arrange ransoms to release kidnapped ships and crews.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill from British-based BP's Macondo well and U.S. concern over the release last year of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya have caused strains between the United States and Britain's three-month-old coalition government.

Shipping groups warn of rise in southeast Asia piracy
23 August 2010

SINGAPORE, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Global shipping industry groups warned oil tankers and freight vessels on Monday to take precautionary measures when travelling in the South China Sea after a recent spike in piracy.

Armed pirates have attacked at least five vessels, including chemical and liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers, in the last week near the southeast Asian coast of Pulau Mangkai in Indonesia.

Analysts said vessels in the region were likely to remain vulnerable, but the violence was not expected to disrupt traffic in the key trading route.

"It is possible that more than one group of robbers were involved in the incidents, and they may strike again as they could still be lurking in the area," said regional government security agency ReCAAP.

Analysts say piracy in the South China Sea has increased in recent years, accounting for around 16 percent of worldwide sea attacks so far this month.

But the attacks, which usually involve gangs robbing crew members of their cash and personal belongings, are minor compared to other regions.

"Unless there is a clampdown then the illicit trade may continue to expand unabated," said John Drake, a risk consultant with security and risk mitigation firm AKE Ltd.

"However, the activity is never likely to match levels seen in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean."

Drake said maritime insurance premiums could increase for vessels travelling in the South China Sea if the attacks begin to involve hostage taking and ship seizures.

Accused Somali pirate pleads guilty in U.S. court

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - An accused pirate from Somalia pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court in Virginia to criminal charges over an April attack on a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa, according to the court and the U.S. Justice Department.

The defendant, Jama Idle Ibrahim, pleaded guilty as part of a deal with U.S. prosecutors at a hearing in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, where the criminal charges over the attack had been pending.

He was one of six defendants brought to the United States and charged with the April 10 attack on the USS Ashland, a warship that supports amphibious operations, in the Gulf of Aden.

U.S. prosecutors accused the six men aboard a small skiff of opening fire on the vessel with small arms from their boat. The U.S. vessel returned fire, sunk the skiff, killed one person and captured the others.

In addition, Ibrahim was charged on Friday with conspiracy to commit piracy and to use a firearm during a crime of violence during an alleged act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden against a merchant vessel, the M/V CEC Future, the Justice Department said.

In Norfolk, a federal judge earlier this month threw out the piracy charges, but the six men still faced other criminal charges. Ibrahim pleaded guilty to attacking to plunder a vessel, acts of violence against persons on a vessel, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

The six and a group of five other Somalis captured after allegedly firing on another U.S. warship were brought to Norfolk in April to face charges in U.S. criminal court over the attacks on the two vessels.

U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson set sentencing in the case for Nov. 29. Both the prosecution and defense agreed a 30-year prison sentence would be appropriate, the Justice Department said.

"Today marks the first conviction in Norfolk for acts of piracy in more than 150 years," said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride. "Modern-day pirates must be held accountable and will face severe consequences."

Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have hijacked vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden for years, making millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including oil tankers, despite the presence of dozens of foreign naval vessels.

Kenya jails 11 Somali pirates - EU Navfor

NAIROBI, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A Kenyan court in the port town of Mombasa jailed 11 Somali men for five years each for trying to hijack a Liberian-flagged ship last year, the European Naval force said on Thursday.

The 11 were charged in relation to the attack on the MV Safmarine Asia in April 2009. An EU Navfor patrol ship thwarted the attack and seized the men, who were then handed to Kenya.

"EU Navfor welcomes the third judgment, which was delivered on September 29," it said in a statement.

Last week seven pirates were convicted and given five years in prison for hijacking a Spanish ship in 2009.

Pirate attacks on the Indian Ocean off Somalia's coast have made the shipping lanes linking Europe with Africa and Asia the most dangerous in the world, increasing the costs of seaborne global trade.

Prosecution of captured pirates has been hampered by disagreements over which country should try them. Somalia itself lacks the legal infrastructure to hold trials.

EU Navfor said to date it had transferred 92 individuals to Kenya for prosecution.

In the latest transfer on Wednesday, it handed over four men, seized for hijacking a dhow with nine Kenyan fishermen and a Somali translator.

Kenya is worried it will be lumbered with pirates released after serving sentences or those acquitted by local courts, and has warned of security concerns.

PANAMA-FLAGGED SHIP WITH 20 FILIPINOS HIJACKED
NAIROBI, Oct. 11 (NNN-PNA/Xinhua) -- A Panama-flagged ship with 20 crew members, all Filipinos, have been hijacked by Somali pirates, the European Union anti-piracy force confirmed on Monday.

The EU Naval Force spokesman Lt. Col Per Klingvall said owners of the MV Izumi reported on Sunday that they had received an automatically released distress signal indicating that the vessel was likely to be under pirate attack.

Klingvall said the Danish warship HDMS Esbern Snare of the NATO counter-piracy force was dispatched to intercept and investigate.

"In the early hours of October 11 the captain of the vessel made contact with the Danish warship, stating that pirates were in charge of the MV Izumi," he said. http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=135935

Ship hijackings and piracy at 5-yr high - watchdog

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Ship hijackings worldwide hit a five-year high in the first nine months of this year, led by Somali pirates striking further away from the country's coast to avoid naval patrols, a maritime watchdog said on Monday.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said its piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur recorded 39 hijackings from January to September this year, up from 34 in the same period last year and only 11 in 2006.

The total number of piracy incidents globally, which includes attacks and boardings, dropped slightly by 5.5 percent from 306 in the first nine months of 2009 to 289 this year, the bureau said in its quarterly report.

"Somali pirates are striking further away from well-patroled waters such as the Gulf of Aden to larger adjacent seas," said Noel Choong, head of the IMB's piracy reporting centre.

Heavily armed Somali pirates equipped with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades were responsible for 35 of the 39 hijackings this year.

The total number of piracy incidents hit a six-year high of 406 last year due to attacks off the Somali coast, where the Gulf of Aden and its adjacent seas links Europe to Asia.

A strong foreign naval presence in the Gulf of Aden since the start of 2009 led to a drop in incidents in the area from 100 in January to September last year to 44 this year.

"However, this is a vast area and the navies cannot realistically cover it. The naval presence does however remain vital to the control of piracy in this area," said IMB director Pottengal Mukundan.

The South China Sea was another concern with 21 ships boarded this year, a three-fold increase on last year.

Hunt begins for Somali pirates Armed task force sets sail on security mission

Bangkokpost Published: 11/09/2010 at 12:00 AM


Two Thai navy ships with 351 sailors and 20 special warfare troops on board have set sail for the Gulf of Aden to take part in the hunt for pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The mission marks the first time Thailand has sent forces overseas to protect its own interest.

The HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan left yesterday with two helicopters lashed to the decks from Chuk Samet port at Chon Buri's Sattahip naval base to join a 28-country effort to police the shipping lanes off the Somali coast, which has become a piracy hotbed.

"The key mission of this 98-day operation is to protect Thai cargo ships and fishing vessels in those waters," said Adm Supakorn Buranadilok, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Fleet.

The navy expects up to 60 Thai ships to pass through the Gulf of Aden during the course of the operation.

The navy's SEALs unit will be part of the fleet involved in the mission.

The budget for the mission has been set at 270 million baht.

The ships are expected to take 17 days to reach the Gulf of Aden on a journey covering 4,573 nautical miles.

The ships are expected to return about Dec 12.

Political chaos and civil war in Somalia have allowed piracy to flourish off the country's 3,100km coastline.

Somali pirates were involved in more than half of the 406 reported pirate attacks worldwide last year.

They mounted 217 attacks in 2009, hijacking 47 ships and taking 867 crew members hostage with ransoms believed to total US$50 million (1.6 billion baht).

A number of Thai ships have been hijacked by Somali pirates over the past five years.


According to the Thai Shipowners' Association, there were 32 attacks on Thai ships last year.

In the latest incident which occurred in April, three fishing boats, the MV Pran Talay 11, 12 and 14, were hijacked, and are still being held by pirates. Efforts are under way to negotiate their release.

Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon said pirate attacks, particularly in Somalia, must be addressed urgently as they are a major issue of international concern.

The Thai government is proud to contribute to the mission, he said.

On Aug 16, the cabinet gave the navy the green light to send its ships to join the anti-piracy effort.


Navy personnel will receive a daily allowance of 2,100 baht each for the mission.

Rear Adm Chaiyos Sunthornnak, commander of the 2nd Fleet tasked with the anti-piracy mission, said the HTMS Similan is a logistics support vessel built in China in 1996, while the HTMS Pattani is an offshore patrol vessel built in China in 2005.

Rear Adm Suppachai Jaiyen, commander of the navy's special maritime warfare unit, said specially trained soldiers from the navy's underwater demolition team (UDT), better known as the SEALs (Sea-Air-Land), will be part of the navy's anti-piracy mission.

Pornpoj Ngamviriyatham, manager of the Thai Overseas Fisheries Association, applauded the government's decision to send the vessels to protect Thai boats.


The pirates' operating base has now extended to up to 1,931km from coast, and is not under the control of any one state and thus difficult to police. Somalia has been ravaged by 18 years of civil war and is without a functioning central government or a working justice system since the removal of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Illegal fishing and exploitation of marine resources off the coast of Somalia has also been blamed for giving rise to piracy.

Meanwhile, foreign vessels are accused of dumping toxic waste in waters off Somalia, jeopardising the livelihood of Somali people and prompting them to take action against foreign vessels.

Rear Adm Chaiyos said the Somali people had previously tried to protect their marine resources from foreign exploitation by demanding fees from fishing trawlers and cargo ships that might dump toxic waste.



They later turned to piracy and hijacked the ships for ransom.

Somalia is divided into five semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland, Puntland, Northland, Galmudug and Maakhir. Somaliland has declared itself a separate independent state but has not been internationally recognised.

Fighting is still rife in Maakhir between forces of the caretaker government and rebel groups.

More than 1,000 pirates are reportedly based in Puntland, divided into more than 10 different groups.

They are equipped with AK-47s, and rocket-propelled grenades.


http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1029/42113617.jpg (http://img23.imageshack.us/i/42113617.jpg/)

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3796/68996628.jpg (http://img258.imageshack.us/i/68996628.jpg/)

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3410/99732480.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/i/99732480.jpg/)

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/4882/82183509.jpg (http://img811.imageshack.us/i/82183509.jpg/)

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8517/60463019.jpg (http://img820.imageshack.us/i/60463019.jpg/)

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6931/30141340.jpg (http://img13.imageshack.us/i/30141340.jpg/)

Thai anti-piracy mission to be extended

Bangkokpost 14 October 2010 .


Prime Minister wants the navy to extend its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia for another month.

He will seek cabinet approval for an additional budget of about 100 million baht for this purpose, navy chief Admiral Kamthorn Phumhiran said on Thursday.

Adm Kamthorn said Mr Abhisit wants the mission extended on receiving compliments from the international community.

The Royal Thai Navy Counter Piracy Task Unit of two navy ships with 351 sailors and 20 special warfare troops on board left Thailand on Sept 10 and is now operating in the Gulf of Aden. The mission was originally set for 98 days, ending on

ICC-CCS Live Piracy Map (http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?option=com_fabrik&view=visualization&controller=visualization.googlemap&Itemid=219)

Royal Thai Navy captured a Somalia pirate group

23/10/2010


http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7533/99894818.jpg (http://img843.imageshack.us/i/99894818.jpg/)

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8830/66797699.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/i/66797699.jpg/)

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/6571/93785172.jpg (http://img826.imageshack.us/i/93785172.jpg/)

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4272/76726680.jpg (http://img254.imageshack.us/i/76726680.jpg/)

Royal Thai Navy in operation 29/10/2010


OPbPBLkYddU

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/2460/46199743.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/i/46199743.jpg/)


http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/9230/73060904.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/i/73060904.jpg/)

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/78/72543607.jpg (http://img9.imageshack.us/i/72543607.jpg/)

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/7095/97591800.jpg (http://img594.imageshack.us/i/97591800.jpg/)

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/9818/22960315.jpg (http://img811.imageshack.us/i/22960315.jpg/)

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1365/47346142.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/i/47346142.jpg/)

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4436/12809263.jpg (http://img251.imageshack.us/i/12809263.jpg/)

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/2646/61634055.jpg (http://img525.imageshack.us/i/61634055.jpg/)

LOL, I like the qat leaves. Never leave home without em...

Japan says to extend support to Yemen for antipiracy measures

Tokyo (Platts)--1Nov2010/1101 pm EDT/301 GMT

Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Seiji Maehara said Monday that Japan intended to extend support to Yemen in the area of anti-piracy measures.

Maehara told Yemen of Tokyo's intentions during talks with visiting Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Abdullah Al-Qirbi late Monday, when the Yemeni foreign minister said that Yemen was eager to achieve stability and tackle difficult issues including terrorism with cooperation from Japan.

On October 1, Japan's Ministry of Defense extended its anti-piracy operations by roughly 100 miles east to 14 degrees north and 54 degrees east in the Indian Ocean, close to India's west coast, from its operations in the waters off Somalia at the gate of the Gulf of Aden.

Japan's move followed requests from the Petroleum Association of Japan and the Japanese Shipowners' Association, or JSA, to strengthen security for Japanese vessels in the area, after attacks against a VLCC and a container vessel in April.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force started its extended its area of operations in October because piracy activities are expected to increase following the end of the monsoon season, Platts reported earlier.

Meanwhile, the JSA welcomed the government decision but urged the government to consider expanding its anti-piracy operations to the west of the Gulf of Aden to the Bab El Mandeb straits from around December, when piracy activities in the Indian Ocean are expected to decrease after the monsoon season starts there in the area, sources said.

The focus of the Somali pirates has in recent times also shifted to the Bab El Mandeb straits from the Gulf of Aden.

The Yemeni interior ministry was quoted as saying in June that Somali pirates had stepped up activities in the waters of the Bab El Mandeb straits.

The International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center said in a report that since early June pirates had attacked more than 10 Yemeni ships and oil tankers in the straits. However, all the attacks were thwarted by the coastguard and security aboard the ships and tankers, the center said.

The Japanese government is now examining options for the JSA's latest request, but no decision has been made, sources added.

On April 25, a Japanese VLCC belonging to Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, or K Line, was fired upon by suspected pirates just 300 miles off India's west coast in the Arabian Sea and this was thought to be the first such attack in that area.

The 299,984 dwt and 2004-built double-hulled Isuzugawa was fired on by the pirates causing minor damage to the supertanker's hull.

At the time of the incident, the fully laden ship was on a Persian Gulf-Japan voyage.

The attack on the Isuzugawa had surprised the tanker fraternity since it was the first time a tanker on a Persian Gulf-Japan voyage was attacked.

Navy saves Thai trawler Somali pirate castaways

Bangkokpost Published: 5/11/2010 at 03:05 PM

A Thai navy patrol ship taking part in an anti-piracy mission off the Somalia coast on Thursday rescued 23 crewmen from a Thai trawler which was robbed by pirates and then sunk by gunfire, the secretariat of the navy said Friday.


The source said the operation centre of the Thai anti-piracy naval force received a report on Nov 2 about 5pm (local time) that Sirichai Nava 11, a Yemen-registered Thai fishing vessel, had been attacked and seized by Somali pirates about 15 nautical miles from the coast of Yemen.

This was 360 nautical miles from where the Thai naval operations centre was located.

HTMS Pattani, one of the two Thai ships taking part in the 28-country anti-piracy mission, was immediately despatched on a rescue mission.

HTMS Pattani arrived in the attack area on Nov 3 about 7am (local time), but did not see the Thai vessel. A helicopter search was then launched.


About 12.45pm the next day, the helicopter crew spotted an oil slick, flotsam and survivors.

They plucked from the sea seven Thai and 15 Cambodia crew and one Yemeni policeman. Still missing were one Thai crewman and four Yemeni policemen.


According to an account given by the rescued crewmen, the Thai fishing vessel was attacked and seized by 10 armed Somali pirates who arrived on a speed boat on Nov 2.

After the seizure, two of the pirates left on the speed boat while eight others took control of the Thai boat and forced it to sail toward the Somali coast.

About 1am on Nov 3, the trawler was hit by gun shots from another boat of an unknown nationality and sunk.

The crewmen were left drifting in the sea until they were rescued by the Thai patrol ship. They did not know what happened to the eight pirates.

Adm Thakerngsak Wangkaew, the navy chief-of staff, said all of the rescued crewmen would be transferred to the support ship HTMS Similan, the other Thai vessel on the anti-piracy assignment, on Friday.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/1105/75407289.jpg (http://img560.imageshack.us/i/75407289.jpg/)

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/1120/17117331.jpg (http://img2.imageshack.us/i/17117331.jpg/)

Somali sentenced to 30 years for US warship attack

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A Somali man who pleaded guilty for his role in an attack against the USS Ashland warship in April was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison, the first sentencing in a U.S. piracy case in more than 150 years.

Jama Idle Ibrahim, 38, was one of six men brought to the United States and charged with the April 10 attack on the USS Ashland, a warship that supports amphibious operations, in the Gulf of Aden. They mistook the ship for a merchant vessel.

"Piracy is a growing threat throughout the world, and today's sentence, along with last week's convictions, demonstrates that the United States will hold modern-day pirates accountable in U.S. courtrooms," said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride.

Ibrahim in August pleaded guilty to attacking to plunder a vessel, acts of violence against persons on a vessel, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

It was the first sentencing in a U.S. court in more than 150 years for acts of piracy, MacBride said.

Ibrahim also pleaded guilty in September to piracy charges for another attack in the Gulf of Aden two years ago. He and others captured a merchant vessel the M/V CEC Future and held it for more than two months, releasing it only after a ransom was paid.

Last week, a jury in Norfolk, Virginia convicted five men from Somalia on piracy and other related charges for a separate attack on April 1 on the USS Nicholas Navy frigate.

Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have hijacked vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden for years, making millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including oil tankers, despite the presence of dozens of foreign naval vessels.

PIRACY IN 2010 72% OF THE FAILED ATTACK


According to the French admiral Coindreau Philippe, who spent the distance command under European Union anti-piracy in the Indian Navy Admiral Juan Rodriguez Spanish "In 2010, this year 72% of attacks by pirates have not been completed - 81% from August. The result derives from several factors, "from the EU NAVFOR, and high quality operations conducted in cooperation with other naval forces. " As for the Italian forces, the frigate 'target ' will return tomorrow at the naval base of La Spezia after three months of operational activity in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, played along 20,000 miles of maritime surveillance and 'questioning' 140 merchant transit area. The Navy continues to work to combat piracy with the frigate Zeffiro as part of the European mission Atalanta.
AscoltaTrascrizione fonetica

source: http://marittimipozzallo.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-16T10%3A30%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=10

Somali pirates seize Thai vessel with 27 crewmen

Bangkokpost Published: 25/12/2010 at 09:42 PM


NAIROBI — Somali pirates on Saturday captured a Thai bulk carrier with its 27 crew members in the Arabian Sea, a maritime official said.


The Thor Nexus was seized in the early hours while on its way to Bangladesh from the United Arab Emirates. All its crew members are Thai, said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.

Mwangura said the vessel was taken some 350 nautical east of Salala port, but the nature of its cargo was still unknown.

According to maritime watchdog Ecoterra International, Somali pirates are currently holding at least 40 foreign vessels and nearly 700 seamen.

Despite the presence of Thai and foreign warships patrolling the waters off the war-wracked Horn of Africa state, the pirates have continued to seize ships and rake in huge ransoms.

Observers have argued that ending the piracy problem lies in resolving Somalia's rotracted civil war which erupted in 1991 with the ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5685/60294463.jpg (http://img59.imageshack.us/i/60294463.jpg/)

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/8048/32723507.jpg (http://img809.imageshack.us/i/32723507.jpg/)

Thailand requests help with hostages Oman, Kenya join bid to stop Somali pirates

Bangkokpost Published: 28/12/2010 at 12:00 AM


The Foreign Affairs Ministry is asking Oman and Kenya to help the 27 Thai crew on board a cargo ship being held by Somali pirates.


Kamthorn: Orders decisive action
Pirates seized the MV Thor Nexus cargo vessel in the Indian Ocean on Saturday while it was en route to Bangladesh from the United Arab Emirates.

The 20,377-tonne Thai-flagged vessel was seized about 450 nautical miles northeast of Yemen's Socotra island. The vessel was then taken into Omani waters, about 350 nautical miles east of Salala port.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Royal Thai Navy had ascertained the position of the vessel and one of its craft had followed it at a distance. He asked the navy to be very careful for the sake of the crew's safety.

Deputy spokesman for foreign affairs Thani Thongphakdi said the ministry had ordered Thai embassies in Muscat and Nairobi to coordinate with the local governments because Oman and Kenya had more power in the area's waters.

A source said the Thai embassy in Kenya had coordinated with the regional maritime rescue coordination centre to negotiate with the pirates.

Mr Thani said the vessel owner had informed the relatives of the Thai crew of the situation and had coordinated with the Thai navy, which is working with the United Nations.

"The pirates have not yet demanded any ransom. We think they are towing the vessel to the coast of Somalia," Mr Thani said.

The pirates radioed HTMS Similan, which is operating in the Indian Ocean to protect Thai ships and is following the seized vessel, to say they would kill the crew of the Thor Nexus if the navy ship approached closer than 20 nautical miles.

Navy chief Kamthorn Phumhiran has ordered his subordinates in the Arabian Sea to take "decisive action" when they have a suitable opportunity - defined as the moment when officers have ascertained the safety of the Thai crew members.

Navy chief of staff Thagerngsak Wangkaew said helicopter surveillance had confirmed the 27 Thai crew members were being held on the bridge of their vessel to prevent an attack or rescue action. The surveillance revealed there were 12 armed pirates.

The immediate challenge for rescuers is to prevent the ship from entering Somalia's territorial waters, where the pirates will assume they are safe before issuing any demands.

If a ransom demand is made, the navy might then ask for the funds from the government or the company that owns the ship.

Adm Thagerngsak thinks they should reach Somali waters on Thursday based on the pirates' present speed.

The hijacking of the Thai ship brings to 25 the number of vessels held by Somali pirates, said the European Union's anti-piracy force. About 600 crew members were on board the captured vessels.

Somalia has been without an effective government for 19 years and the country's lawlessness has led to an explosion in piracy.

The Royal Thai Navy earlier sent 350 Thai navy personnel on a 98-day operation on board HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan as part of the international naval force combating piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Aden.

Navy seeks crew's safe rescue

Bangkokpost Published: 30/12/2010 at 12:00 AM


The Royal Thai Navy is giving top priority in its rescue operation to the safety of the 27 Thai crew on board a cargo ship held by Somali pirates, navy chief Kamthorn Phumhiran says.

Adm Kamthorn said yesterday that navy vessels in the Arabian Sea were ready to take decisive action but their first priority was to ensure the safety of the Thai crew members being held hostage.

Somali pirates are believed to be holding 29 foreign flag vessels and their crews hostage.

All countries know where the seized ships are being moored but none is prepared to resort to force to retake them and rescue the hostages.

"All nations put more importance on the lives of their citizens than anything," Adm Kamthorn said. "Our force will be very careful for the sake of the crew's safety."

Somali pirates seized the MV Thor Nexus cargo vessel in the Indian Ocean on Saturday while it was en route to Bangladesh from the United Arab Emirates.

The 20,377-tonne Thai-flagged vessel was seized about 450 nautical miles northeast of Yemen's Socotra island. The vessel was then taken into Omani waters, about 350 nautical miles east of Salala port.

The pirates have threatened to kill the crew if the navy ship comes closer than 20 nautical miles.

Adm Kamthorn said the 12 pirates were heavily armed.

"Although the pirates are heavily armed, the SEAL (Sea-Air-Land) special unit of the navy has better weapons. We put more importance on the safety of the 27 crew than anything," the navy commander said.

Adm Kamthorn has briefed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on the situation.

The SEALs comprise 32 specially trained soldiers. They are part of the HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan's anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. There are 371 navy personnel on board the two navy ships.

The Thai embassy in the Omani capital of Muscat reported yesterday that the two vessels were in pursuit to prevent the pirates from taking the seized Thai ship into Somalia's territorial waters. The embassy has sought help from Oman and Yemen to help the crew.

Somalia has been without an effective government for 19 years.

German govt plans anti-pirate conference in Berlin

BERLIN, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The German government said on Wednesday its officials would hold talks with shipping executives in January to discuss how to fight Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean where German vessels have been targeted. A spokesman for the Defence Ministry in Berlin told a regular news conference the meeting with shipping industry officials would take place in the second half of next month. "There will be discussions but no concrete legislation is planned," the spokesman said. He added the European Union's Operation Atalanta launched in 2008 provides a framework for deterring pirates and protecting shipping.

Officials from the ministries of defence, foreign affairs, transport, interior and justice will attend the meeting, as will Deputy Economics Minister Hans-Joachim Otto. It is expected to take place on Jan. 24, officials said. The VDR German shipping association has called for more protection of German ships after numerous attacks. On Tuesday, the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme said Somali pirates released the Marida Marguerite, a German-operated chemical tanker, after receiving a $5.5 million ransom.

Pirates have threatened trade routes in the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean. In recent weeks pirates have struck as far south as Tanzania and Madagascar. In November, 10 suspected Somali pirates captured by Dutch forces in April during the hijacking of a German cargo ship went on trial in Hamburg in Germany's first modern-day piracy trial.

The suspects were accused of boarding the German-flagged Taipan at gunpoint in April with the aim of demanding a ransom. The accused included seven adults and three youths who face prison sentences of 10-15 years if convicted.

They were the first group of modern pirates to be prosecuted in Germany and among the few to have been tried in Europe.

Navy leaves Thai captives in Somalia

Bangkokpost Published: 8/01/2011 at 03:11 AM


The navy has wrapped up its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, despite the fact that 27 Thai crew remain captive on a cargo ship seized by Somali pirates.

It plans to return home on Jan 20, but insists its mission was a success even though it has failed to rescue the Thais.

Admiral Takerngsak Wangkaew, the navy's chief of staff, said yesterday the navy had decided to end its mission after failing to make progress in negotiations for the return of the Thai-flagged cargo ship MV Thor Nexus seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Dec 24.

The ship was en route to Bangladesh from the United Arab Emirates when it was taken.

The navy insisted it had ensured the 27 Thai crew taken hostage on board the ship were safe before the decision was made to head home.

The pirates had taken the cargo ship into Somali waters. Following the vessel or taking it back by force would be too dangerous, he said.

HTMS Similan and HTMS Pattani, which took part in international efforts to patrol the Gulf of Aden, lifted anchor and started their return journey to Thailand on Tuesday.

``The company that owns the ship will continue the negotiations,'' Adm Takerngsak said. The MV Thor Nexus is owned by Thoresen Thai Agencies.

A grand ceremony will be held to welcome the ships back to Thai waters on Jan 20 in Sattahip, Chon Buri.

Somali parliament blocks piracy bill
Tue Jan 18, 3:56 pm ET

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Somali lawmakers on Tuesday blocked a bill criminalising piracy which was proposed by the justice minister to pave the way for a local tribunal.

The bill finalised last week by the government is meant to beef up Somalia's legal arsenal in prosecuting and detaining pirates, who have so far been mainly tried abroad.

"We ask lawmakers to endorse this bill against piracy which will help change conditions for many Somali youths who are serving prison terms outside the country," Justice and Religious Affairs Minister Abdullahi Abyan Nur said.

Nur said the law would be a major step in combating piracy, which soared to record levels last year, with sea-jackers dodging an armada of foreign warships to capture dozens of vessels and make hundreds of seamen hostage.

But severals lawmakers challenged the bill during a heated debate in the Somali capital and forced a revision of the document.

"This text on the punishment of pirates is not compatible with Islam and therefore cannot be approved," Mohamed Mohamoud Heyd, a member of parliament, said.

"It isn't necessary either at this point because the pirates are also fighting the foreign ships that are plundering our fish and other marine resources," he added.

Several other MPs voiced the same opinion and the vice president of parliament adjourned the session by instructing a 15-member committee to amend the bill within five days.

Suspected Somali pirates are currently on trial in Kenya and the Seychelles, which have both signed deals with foreign navies for the prosecution of piracy suspects, as well as in several Western countries.

Thai ships home from anti-piracy mission

Bangkokpost Published: 20/01/2011 at 02:36 PM


Two Thai ships of the navy - HTMS Similan and HTMS Pattani - arrived back home Thursday morning at the Chuk Samet naval port in Sattahip district of Chon Buri province, after 137 days of anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.

The two ships, with 351 sailors and two helicopters on board, were welcomed with smiles and flowers on arriving at the port by their families in a ceremony chaired by Admiral Kamthorn Phumhiran, the navy chief.

The ships departed the Gulf of Aden, where they took part in international efforts to fight against pirates off the Somalia waters, and headed back to Thailand on Jan 4.

Adm Kamthorn said he was proud of the success of the Thai ships and felt relieved seeing all sailors back home safely after winning praise for the navy and the government.

"The 308 million baht spent on the mission was very little judging from the fact that we could protect cargo ships from being seized. We could rescue 23 crew of a boat which had been robbed and saved three boats from being attacked by the pirates," he said.

He said the Thai ships were not able to help a boat which had been seized by Somali pirates for the safety of the hostages.

Adm Kamthorn was referring to Thai-flagged cargo ship MV Thor Nexus which was seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Dec 24 while en route to Bangladesh from the United Arab Emirates. The navy had decided to end its mission after failing to make progress in negotiations for the return of the cargo ship.

He said the navy is ready to send its ships to the Gulf of Aden again for the same mission if the government and private firms so wish.

The two ships - Similan and Pattani - left the Sattahip naval base on Sept 10 and ended its mission on Dec 31.

1181 SEA SEIZED IN 2010


According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), seamen seized by pirates in 2010 were 1,181. Of these, eight were killed. In the attacks on merchant ships were 445, with 53 kidnappings. 92% of accidents occurred off the coast of Somalia with 49 ships and 1,016 seafarers taken hostage. Seafarers seized in 2009 were 1,050, in 2006 'only' 188.

Source: Chamber of Labour Pozzallo

:ohno:

Danish ships seek more guards to protect against pirates

COPENHAGEN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Danish shipowners called on Denmark's authorities on Thursday to lower the threshold for putting armed guards aboard vessels sailing in pirate-infested waters as navy protection is not always available.

Members of the Danish Shipowners Association agreed on Thursday that the piracy problem is getting worse and shippers need to resort to a wide range of measures against pirates and "activate the full toolbox," the association's spokesman said.

Piracy is rife particularly off the Horn of Africa, disrupting crucial shipping lanes between Europe and Asia, putting seamen, vessels and cargoes at risk and costing shippers huge sums to protect themselves.

Navies remain stretched in combating piracy due to the vast distances involved as seaborne gangs expand their capabilities. This has led to a growing number of shipping companies seeking to hire armed security guards on treacherous routes.

Seafarers are also increasingly backing the deployment of armed guards despite potential legal issues in case of fatalities.

"This is a geopolitical problem," association spokesman Jan Fritz Hansen told Reuters. "If piracy continues to expand the way it is just now, this will be a black spot on the world map."

Up to now, Danish ships have been allowed to engage private armed guards in extreme circumstances, such as when navy escorts are not available or when vessels are caught in ports and fear pirates lie waiting for them just outside the harbour.

Alternatively ships are sometimes guarded by mariners assigned to them from navy vessels escorting them through dangerous waters.

"Our general attitude is that we would not like to arm our vessels -- we would like the navy to do that," said Hansen who speaks for the Danish shipping industry that carries 10 percent of world trade.

But because that is not always practical, Danish shipowners want easier permission to engage private armed guards more frequently than they do now, though Hansen said that it would still be an exceptional measure, not something for all ships.

Hansen said the threshold could be lowered for instance for slow vessels or those that give up changing routes to avoid pirates or if new security concerns emerge in a certain area.

Authorities could make it speedier to hire armed guards by a system of advance registration of guards, Hansen said.

Pirates are increasingly using larger "mother vessels", sometimes seized from fishermen, which enable them to operate more widely on the open seas than the small skiffs they tend to favour when boarding ships, Hansen said.

So the Danish association also called on Thursday on the international community to see what governments and navies could do "to intercept them, destroy them, sink them," Hansen said.

"We have to leave that to the professionals, but we want to point out that it is a crucial measure to limit the success of the pirates," Hansen said.

Italian tanker hostage by pirates



The Italian tanker Cavlyn Savina, property owner of Fratelli D'Amato of Naples, was attacked at 5:30 am by pirates while sailing in 'Indian Ocean. During the attack appear to have been fired numerous rounds of gunfire and rockets: On board there would not be injured. The freighter is now in the hands of pirates. On board is a crew of five Italians and 17 Indians.

The Navy frigate Zeffiro, located in the Indian Ocean about 500 miles from the scene of the attack area is heading to reach the area in a couple of days. Pirates remains high alert throughout the area. . Yesterday I arrived in Mumbai 28 Somali pirates captured by the Indian Navy Sunday, February 6 after a gun battle off the coast of the Lakshadweep archipelago. The men were aboard a Thai fishing trawler that was seized about six months ago along with 24 fishermen held hostage. On 28 January, in the same sea area, were arrested by the Indians 15 other pirates, including 12 of Somali citizens, who will be tried in India.
"We follow the evolution of the situation, said Frattini, the ship is currently on the high seas and the transaction is not completed yet"
The attack on Italian oil (105,000 tonnes) occurred in the Indian Ocean, is 880 miles from Somalia and 500 from India, and that means - is underlined by the Navy sources - that the little boat of pirates was probably put in water from a so-called "mother ship" crossing in that area. The captain of the tanker tried to avoid the pirates doing maneuvers, "evasive" referred to in those cases - rate of acceleration, sudden changes of direction - and using powerful jets of water against the punt, but the robbers did not hesitate to use machine gun and RPG rocket launchers, allowing them to board and seize the ship.


marittimipozzalloblog.it


^^
I hope everything ends up in the best way and, above all, that there are people I know on board. :ohno:

Norway Considers Arming Vessels Against Piracy - Report
4 March 2011

STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)--Norway is considering arming Norwegian ships to protect crews from piracy, Industry Minister Trond Giske Friday tells business daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

Giske said he will present proposals Friday for new regulations to combat piracy.

"Mafia organizations are involved in piracy. These are no poor kids who row out and highjack big boats," Giske said.

The Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry calls for regulation on the use of armed guards in accordance with the Ship Safety Act, and the Ministry of Justice has prepared a regulation change that would allow Norwegian-registered ships temporarily to have firearms on board.

Somali pirates cut ransoms to clear hijacked ships

MOGADISHU, March 13 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Sunday they would lower some of their ransom demands to get a faster turnover of ships they hijack in the Indian Ocean.

Armed pirate gangs, who have made millions of dollars capturing ships as far south as the Seychelles and eastwards towards India, said they were holding too many vessels and needed a quicker handover to generate more income.

"I believe there is no excuse for taking high ransoms. At least each of our groups holds ships now," pirate Hussein told Reuters from Hobyo on the Somalian coast. He said the pirates were holding more than 30 ships at the moment.

"We have lowered the ransom only for the ships we have used to hijack other ships. We sometimes release these ships free of charge for they generate more (money). But we shall not lower the ransom for the bulk ships we are sure can bring bulk money."

Using captured merchant vessels as launchpads for new hijackings, the pirates have grown bolder despite a loosely coordinated global response, and insurance premiums for shipping lines have rocketed.

Pirates hold seized ships for an average of up to 150 days before freeing them for ransoms, some as high as $9.5 million for the release of Samho Dream, a South Korean oil supertanker.

Abdullahi, another pirate, said any decrease in ransom would be calculated by the ship's value, its cargo and the length of time it had been held.

"We have changed our previous strategies. We have altered our operations and ransom deals with modern business deals," he said from the port town of Haradhere.

"We want to free ships within a short period of time instead of keeping them for a long time and incurring more expenses in guarding them. We have to free them at a lower ransom so that we can hijack more ships."

Attacks have grown since 2007 when young Somalis in small skiffs with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades took to the water is to seek their fortunes.

But since late February, the pirates have had to share their spoils with the Al Shabaab Islamist rebels, who profess loyalty to al Qaeda. The insurgents -- who have been waging a four-year insurrection against the country's Western-backed government -- struck a deal to get a 20 percent cut of ransoms in Haradhere.

Pirates said the rebels had no say in their plan.

"Al Shabaab has nothing to do with our plan to lower ransoms. We agreed on a fixed 20 percent cut. Low or high ransom, the agreement is fixed," said Abdullahi.

Asian shipowners hit out over inaction on pirate attacks
21 March 2011
SCMP

Asian shipowners groups, including associations in Hong Kong, Singapore and Southeast Asia, have expressed outrage at the lack of government action following further pirate attacks.

They made their comments after a meeting on Friday of executives from the Asian Shipowers' Forum, which represents 13 shipowner groups in the region, including the mainland, Australia and India. The meeting of the forum's safe navigation committee also gave tacit support to owners using onboard armed guards to protect vessels and crew.

Expressing the group's rage, committee chairman Teo Siong Seng said: "The current situation, where a handful of pirates in open skiffs can hold the world's economy hostage, is completely unacceptable - as responsible owners and managers, we must take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our seafarers."

Representatives at Friday's meeting said "all governments must act decisively and expeditiously to eradicate piracy and attacks on ships. The representatives thought the use of naval forces was not a long-term sustainable solution.

Arthur Bowring, manging director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association said: "Shipowners using private armed guards in the past tended to be very quiet about it for many reasons, one being that it was not recommended by industry associations and, therefore, also by governments."

He added: "The point was to get the use of private armed guards recognised as an essential issue - this has now been done, and submissions made by governments. Pressure is being kept up by recognising and accepting that private armed guards are becoming an option of choice for many shipowners."

Piracy is estimated to cost the global economy about US$12 billion. Teo, who is head of Singapore container shipping carrier Pacific International Lines and Hong Kong-listed container box maker Singamas Holdings, added: "Not only are seafarers being tortured and murdered, civilians and children are being targeted as well. The situation is increasingly untenable."

The committee said the use of private armed guards should be a measure of last resort.

But it welcomed a plan by Singapore, supported by the Philippines and global shipowners' group, the Baltic and International Maritime Council, calling for the development of rules for the use of armed guards.

The proposal, together with another recommendation that maritime security outfits should be accredited, will be discussed by the United Nations-backed International Maritime Organisation in May.

Hong Kong dry bulk cargo and tug operator Pacific Basin Shipping recently confirmed it used armed guards to protect more vulnerable vessels that have to enter pirate infested waters heading to and from the Suez Canal. Pirates hijacked 53 ships and took 1,181 seamen hostage last year, with most of the hijackings being carried out by brigands operating off the east coast of Africa and Indian Ocean.

The call by the Asian ship owners group for tougher government action follows moves by individual owners and other organisations for concerted action. Last week, Jan Hammer, chief executive of Norwegian tanker operator Odfjell Tankers, proposed a boycott by tanker operators from using the Suez Canal, the key trade conduit between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean.

He said such a move would increase oil and commodity prices to the extent that governments would have to intervene to ensure safe passage for ships.

The International Transport Workers' Federation is also mulling the possibility of calling for seafarers to boycott ships in piracy threatened areas.

This would include virtually all of the Indian Ocean as pirates, using captured merchant vessels as mother ships, have hijacked vessels close to the west coast of India.

Navy to put guards on Thai cargo ships

Published: 17/05/2011 at 12:00 AM


The navy will deploy armed guards aboard Thai cargo vessels travelling in the Gulf of Aden under its renewed anti-piracy mission set to start in July this year, navy sources say.

The guards, to be selected from Sea-air-land (Seal) special warfare units and recon servicemen of the Royal Thai Marine Corps, will work in parallel with 369 sailors on two navy ships - HTMS Narathiwat and HTMS Similan.

The 60-strong armed guard unit will put four of its members aboard each Thai vessel to provide protection until it travels out of the piracy-prone sea lanes off Somalia.

Last year, the navy sent 351 sailors and 20 special warfare troops on HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan to join the 28-country effort to police shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden between September and January.

The navy mission rescued 23 Thai and Cambodian crew and a Yemeni policeman from a Thai trawler that was sunk in November of that year. The unit was also involved in an operation to help 27 Thai crewmen taken hostage on a cargo ship seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean in December.

But their mission was called off in January and the naval vessels were recalled before they could help the victims. All the captured Thai crewmen were later released by the pirates and returned to Thailand in April this year.

The renewed mission, with a 355-million-baht budget approved by the cabinet, is scheduled to start in July and will last three months.

In another development, navy chief Kamthorn Phumhiran has asked Germany to extend the sale period for six second-hand submarines to Thailand for another three months, pending possible approval from a new government, a source said.

The controversial plan has not yet been approved by the Defence Council, a step required before it is forwarded to the cabinet.

"The navy chief will meet the new government again to clarify the need for the submarines and to ask it to approve the deal before his retirement in September," the source said.

Germany has agreed to reduce the price of the submarines from 7.7 billion baht to 7.5 billion baht and will ship them to Thailand in 2013 if the cabinet approves the navy's request.

The navy claims it needs to keep abreast of submarine technology, but its plan to buy the used U-206A submarines has raised doubts if they are worth it and whether it should buy new ones from other countries.

The Defence Ministry previously asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry to comment on the plan. It replied that the purchase would bolster the relationship between Thailand and Germany, the source said.

But he said the Foreign Affairs Ministry could not tell whether or not the German submarines were good because it has no knowledge of the technology.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/237371/navy-to-put-guards-on-thai-cargo-ships

Attack pirate bosses on land, Chinese general says

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The international community needs to attack pirate leaders on land and not just their ships, a top Chinese general said on Wednesday, in the latest call for a bolder response to hijackings at sea.

"For counter-piracy campaigns to be effective, we should probably move beyond the ocean and crash their bases on the land," said General Chen Bingde, the chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army.

China is among the countries fighting increasingly aggressive Somali pirates, who are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and increasingly in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier this year, a U.S. Navy Commander, Vice Admiral Mark Fox, said he believed some of the pre-emptive techniques used to battle terrorism should be used to combat pirates, particularly the aggressive approach to tracking terrorist financing.

Chen appeared to be favoring an even more aggressive approach.

"It is important that we target not only the operators, those on the small ships or crafts conducting the hijacking activities, but also the figureheads," Chen said.

"The ransoms, the captured materials and money flow somewhere else. The pirates (on ships) ... get only a small part of that."

Chen made the comments on a visit to the United States, where he and U.S. military leaders agreed to conduct joint maritime exercises, including in the Gulf of Aden.

Britons, US citizen handed long jail terms in Somalia
Sat Jun 18, 9:08 pm ET

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Six foreigners including three Britons and an American were jailed for between 10 and 15 years in Somalia after the seizure of a small aircraft carrying $3.6 million allegedly destined to be paid as ransom to Somali pirates.

"The American and one of the Britons who carried the cash were sentenced to 15-year jail terms and to pay $15,000 each," Hashi Elmi Nur, chief justice of Mogadishu's Banadir court, told reporters.

The six were arrested on May 24 after a plane landed at Mogadishu and was waiting for another small plane to come in, collect the cash and fly it to another destination in the country, Mohamed Omar, a Somali government security official, said earlier.

"The other four, among them the pilots of the aircraft, were given 10-year prison terms and have been fined $10,000 each," he said.

All the money they were transporting and both aircraft had been confiscated by the government, he added.

An official told AFP that the foreigners said the money was destined to be used as a ransom payment.

However, the nationalities of the other two foreigners and the exact circumstances behind the planned payment were not known.

Navy ships head off on pirate patrol again

Published: 13/07/2011 at 12:00 AM

CHON BURI : Captain Suwit Koeiram will be keeping watch for pirates out in foreign seas instead of looking at his baby's face when it is due to be born in about three months' time.

The navy officer would have been with his wife who is six months pregnant, but he is among 368 officers deployed to the Gulf of Aden to take part in the hunt for pirates off the coast of Somalia.

"It's the duty of a navy officer," Capt Suwit, of the Sea-Air-Land (Seal) unit, told the Bangkok Post minutes before he boarded his ship. "So I go."

HTMS Narathiwat and HTMS Similan, loaded with two Bell 212 helicopters, set off from the Sattahip naval base in Chon Buri yesterday.

Capt Suwit was on one of the ships which inched away from the dock as his relatives came to see him off. The farewell was similar to the scene last year when the Royal Thai Navy sent HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan to join for the first time international efforts to police the pirate-plagued shipping lanes off the Somali coast.

With a budget of 340 million baht, the new mission will last 140 days until Nov 28 this year.

The navy has made improvements to its anti-piracy planning. This time, navy commander Kamthorn Phumhiran said Thai cargo ships and fishing vessels must inform navy officers in advance before they enter risk areas.

During the first mission, the two navy ships were involved in rescue operations for Thai crewmen. In one case, the officers helped 23 Thai and Cambodian crewmen and a Yemeni policeman from a Thai trawler that was sunk by pirates.This year, Capt Suwit said during the interview, the navy would focus on prevention rather than efforts to cope with vessels already hijacked.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/246786/navy-ships-head-off-on-pirate-patrol-again

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/9905/287970.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/287970.jpg/)

Shippers in Asia prepare as theft risk rises
Countries like Malaysia find security measures appear to be effective
23 June 2011
International Herald Tribune

It was midafternoon one day at the start of this year when workers at a factory in the Malaysian state of Perak finished loading more than 700,000 condoms into a shipping container.

The container was then driven to Port Klang, the busiest port in the country, and loaded onto a ship bound for Japan.

It was a routine procedure for Sagami Rubber Industries, a Japanese company, but by the time the ship docked in the port of Yokohama at the end of January, the condoms had vanished.

‘‘The container was empty,’’ said K.K. Leung, the administration manager at Sagami’s Malaysian factory whose Japanese colleagues had alerted him to the theft.

The case of the missing condoms made headlines in Malaysia, but it was not an isolated case, according to industry groups.

Sagami, they say, was yet another victim of cargo theft, an underreported crime that sometimes includes violent hijackings in this Southeast Asian country.

The transporting of goods through countries in the Asia-Pacific region is generally safer than in other parts of the world — like the Americas, Africa and Europe — according to data collected by FreightWatch International, an organization in the United States that collates information on cargo theft from around the world.

But the organization’s global threat assessment report published in February 2011 states that ‘‘there’s little question that cargo theft and supply chain risk have increased throughout Asia’’ — a worry for international companies as economic momentum shifts eastward.

Malaysia, which lies along a number of important trading routes, is a particular concern. The country is increasingly becoming a key thoroughfare, as more companies ship their goods to and from neighboring Singapore, one of the world’s busiest ports, which is connected to much of the rest of Southeast Asia by road through Malaysia.

Industry groups say the number of companies taking preventive measures like employing armed guards to protect their trucks in Malaysia has increased in recent years, amid growing awareness of the threat of cargo theft.

‘‘There’s a syndicate in Malaysia which is quite rampant,’’ said Alvin Chua, president of the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders. He added that this group of bandits had focused on trucks carrying electronics in recent years.

The freight federation holds regular information sessions for its 1,200 members in which they discuss how they can better protect their cargo with measures like installing GPS devices and attaching electronic seals to containers to track their location around the globe.

‘‘There’s a lot of things we tell our members to do, but it’s still happening,’’ Mr. Chua said.

The measures to increase security appear to be having an effect, though. Figures provided by the Malaysian police show that cargo crime has declined in recent years, from 357 reported incidents in 2006 to 60 last year. In the first four months of this year, 21 incidents were reported. The police figures list the number of incidents, but not the value of the goods stolen.

Superintendent Fadil Marsus of the police Criminal Investigation Department said a number of operations conducted by the police and cooperation with the industry had helped reduce freight crime.

But the precise level of cargo theft in Malaysia has proved hard to pin down.

Companies are reluctant to report thefts because they are afraid the information may damage their reputations and increase their insurance premiums, said Tony Lugg, the Asia representative of the Transported Asset Protection Association, a nonprofit organization that provides security advice to technology and logistics companies.

The association estimates that more than $22.7 million worth of goods was reported stolen from Malaysian ports, airports, warehouses and trucks from 2007 to 2010.

Those figures give Malaysia the dubious distinction of having the second-highest level of cargo theft in the Asia-Pacific region after Hong Kong in terms of the value of goods stolen, according to the association’s calculations. Unlike the Hong Kong authorities, the Malaysian police have not shared data with the association, which compiles its figures on the basis of reports from companies and the news media.

Because of companies’ uneasiness about reporting thefts, the actual amount of cargo stolen in Malaysia is probably higher than figures from the association or the police indicate, Mr. Lugg said.

The thefts also tend to have an aggressive nature.

‘‘The crimes are more serious in Malaysia compared to Hong Kong, in the sense that there’s hijacks or some form of robbery with violence,’’ Mr. Lugg said. Weapons, including guns and knives, have been used to hold up trucks, he added.

FreightWatch International, the American organization, cites Malaysia and the Philippines as countries in Asia that report frequent occurrences of in-transit cargo hijackings with violence or the threat of violence.

In contrast, the United States has been experiencing a surge in cargo theft, but bandits there rarely use violence.

Regardless of their locations, most hijackings are ‘‘inside jobs’’ in which someone involved in transporting the goods leaks information to the thieves, Mr. Lugg said.

He said cargo theft was often carried out by organized crime groups and could result in multimillion dollar losses for companies, both in terms of the loss of merchandise and production delays.

‘‘If component parts are stolen on the way to the manufacturing plant, that plant may not be able to operate,’’ he said.

That is why companies are spending more and more money to try to prevent such costly thefts.

An executive at a company that manufactures semiconductors in Malaysia, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said his company had increased security measures after one of its trucks was hijacked eight years ago.

The company now requires all of its freight carriers to meet increased security measures, he said, including criminal background checks on drivers, installation of GPS tracking devices, having two people on board and minimizing night trips.

TNT Express, the multinational logistics company, increased its ability to keep track of its fleet in 2005 when it introduced its Asia Road Network, which spans Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China.

Using GPS devices installed on all trucks, and closed-circuit TV cameras on vehicles carrying more valuable cargo, the company monitors the location of its trucks traversing these countries from a security control center in Kuala Lumpur.

‘‘We can track the vehicles 24/7,’’ said David Stenberg, the Singapore-based general manager of the TNT Asia Road Network.

In Malaysia, the police have confirmed that six people have been arrested and 90 percent of the stolen condoms have been recovered.

Mr. Leung, the administration manager at Sagami Rubber Industries, said that no company employees had been among those arrested.

He said he believed it was most likely that the culprits had links to workers in the freight company that transported the condoms, which he declined to name.

‘‘I doubt we will continue to use them,’’ he said.

Piracy in Africa Spreads from Horn to Gulf of Guinea
Time.com Excerpt (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090608,00.html)
Wed, Sep 7, 2011

In late July, pirates stormed an Italian oil tanker, startling the 23 crew members guiding the ship toward its African port. But this was not another attack off the coast of Somalia, whose pirates have for years been the scourge of shipping lanes off its coast. The men who seized the Anema e Core work thousands of miles to the west, in the Gulf of Guinea.

In the past eight months, acts of piracy have spiked in the waters off West Africa, says John Drake, a senior consultant at the London-based security firm AKE. The wave of violence seems partly inspired by the Somali pirates and partly a result of the mixed blessings that come, countries in the region are finding out, with discovering vast oil reserves.

Piracy here is a combination of brazen criminality and vigilante redressing of economic imbalance. West Africa's waters are an oil-soaked frontier for downtrodden young men hailing from the lawless Niger Delta, the area of Nigeria that perhaps best exemplifies the widening gap between oil wealth and poverty. Many of the rebels are from fishing communities and need nothing but their small vessels and guns in a raid. Firearms are widely available around West Africa, particularly in the Delta.

The violence perpetuated against those sailing through the West's shipping channels is "much, much higher than in any other part of the world. The robbers and militants are abusing them quite a bit," says Cyrus Mody, manager of the London-based International Maritime Bureau, which monitors global pirate activity. "It's much higher than in East Africa or other areas where we see this crime being committed."

In the past two years, as has happened in Somalia, entire crews have been shot and killed, their gun-wielding assailants sneaking up on them in small fishing skiffs. Some sailors have been tied up, beaten with rifle butts and whipped with electrical cables. Last year, Mody says, pirates who had seized a ship panicked and shot crew members at random after an officer sounded an emergency alarm. Now the region is sounding its own.

Since January, the International Maritime Bureau has seen a sharp rise in the number of recorded pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea, a stretch of ocean that runs along the coastline of 12 countries, from Ghana to Angola. While in 2010 there were no acts of piracy off the coast of Benin, Sixteen attacks have taken place in its waters this year, including the hijack of the Anema e Core, whose crew escaped unharmed after intervention from Benin's navy. There have been six assaults off the coast of Nigeria, and three near the coast of West Africa's most stable country, Ghana. Mody says the number of attacks is underreported.

The sudden rise in West African piracy has prompted concerns that weak maritime security in the area could severely affect global oil, metal and agricultural markets, says Jonathan Wood, a security expert at London-based Control Risks, an international consultancy that advises businesses on operating in hazardous environments. Two of Africa's top producers, Nigeria and Angola, are nestled in the Gulf, and the U.S. is aiming to import 25% of its oil through West African shipping lanes by 2015. Recently London's Lloyd's Marketing Association placed Nigeria and Benin in the same risk category as Somalia.

***

But it's the armed attacks, not the legal ones, that have grabbed the attention of regional governments. On Aug. 18, Oyewole Olubenga Leke, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's senior special assistant on maritime services, told Reuters that the coastal states were discussing a joint patrol force that he hoped would be "a real force in the subregion to combat piracy." But with the Gulf countries boasting little manpower and equipment to secure a coastal perimeter that spans 12 countries, it may be too little, too late.

International assistance could be crucial to fighting the scourge. "Countries in West Africa are nowhere close to Somalia, which is a completely failed state with no governance," Wood says. "But there's a question about the capacity of the coast guard and naval forces. There are capacity limitations for long-distance patrolling and area surveillance." The U.S. has provided training to the navies of Nigeria and Cameroon, which has "had a significant impact on criminal activity off those waters," Wood says.

The pirates' increasing boldness is partly a case of follow the leader. "They're being inspired by the earnings of pirates elsewhere in the world," Drake says. But pirates in the oil-soaked West in some ways have it easier than their Somali counterparts: the region is strewn with soft, valuable targets in the form of the oil tankers and refineries that fuel the countries' economies - and are extremely hard to defend. "The key aspect of piracy in West Africa is that, unlike with what we see on the Horn, it's particularly geared towards targeting the offshore oil and gas industry," says Wood. "It's a narrower targeting than what we see in the East in terms of the industry and vessels they choose, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon."

***

Really sad to hear that piracy is lifting off at the African vest coast also now.

hawe been some incidents before but it seems to be much more now

I work at sea myself and find the whole situation is really frustrating.

i hope IMO(the international maritime organisation) and UN--Nato can lay a good plan for fixing it soon.

That takes cares of the poverty and wars/political unstability that is the catalyst for the whole situation and also put up great naval power. To put down the pirates at the same time.

because this really affect the global trade and many people and companies and also a good number of civilians that risk traveling in the areas on pleasure crafts.

UN council calls for criminalization of piracy
AP
Mon, Oct 24, 2011

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — All U.N. member states should make piracy a crime as the problem surges in Somalia, the Security Council said Monday.

Council members unanimously agreed to ask all U.N. member states to issue reports before the end of the year on measures they have taken to criminalize piracy, and to support prosecution of people suspected of piracy off the coast of the eastern African country.

The Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center reported last week that sea piracy worldwide has surged in the first nine months of this year, with Somali pirates intensifying their attacks despite more patrolling of nearby waters.

According to the global maritime watchdog, there have been a record 352 attacks worldwide in the first three quarters of this year, up 22 percent from a year ago. Pirates took 625 hostages, killed eight people and injured 41 in the nine-month period.

Somali pirates accounted for 199 attacks of those attacks, a 58 percent increase from last year, as they expanded farther into the Red Sea.

But the Somalis were able to hijack only 24 vessels, down from 35 in the same period last year, because of increased international naval policing and onboard security measures.

The Security Council will continue to examine ways to establish courts and prisons in Somalia and nearby countries with international participation and support.

Somalia remains unstable, making policing of piracy within the country difficult.

The al-Qaida-linked Somali insurgent group al-Shabab is fighting on two fronts there, against the U.N.-backed government and its African Union supporters in Mogadishu, and against Kenyan troops in the south.

China vows to make South China Sea safe
Updated: 2011-12-15 22:40
Xinhua

HAIKOU - China expects friendly cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to make the South China Sea safe, a Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.

Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin made the remarks during an international seminar on implementing the Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and maintaining the navigational freedom and security of the sea.

The seminar was held from Dec 14 to 15 in Haikou, capital of Hainan province.

"Politically mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation have been strengthened between China and ASEAN countries," Liu Zhenmin said, adding that each side's economy and social development have been promoted.

As an important pathway for China's foreign trade and energy transportation, the navigational freedom and security of the South China Sea is critical for the country's economy and opening up.

China continually insists that each country's navigational and flight freedom in the South China Sea area under the international law should be fully guaranteed, Liu said.

China also vows to make joint efforts with others to participate in international cooperation on regional offshore safety, Liu said.

Pitono Purnomo, Indonesia's ambassador of its Foreign Affairs Ministry, said the seminar reflects the determination of China and ASEAN to increase mutual understanding and cooperation.

"ASEAN countries will push the cooperative projects under the framework of the DOC with China," Purnomo said.

Nearly 60 officials and scholars from China and ASEAN countries participated in the seminar.

During the seminar, the representatives discussed the current situation in the South China Sea. It was widely accepted that navigational security has been effectively maintained.

However, they agreed that technological devices and cooperation remain weak in face of the threats of piracy and transnational crime. The engineering maintenance of the shipping channel should also be strengthened.

The seminar demonstrates that China and ASEAN countries have the ability and wisdom to maintain the navigational freedom and security of the South China Sea and boost regional prosperity and stability, the representatives noted.

China and the ASEAN countries signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002.

PIRATES, ITALIAN SHIP SEIZED OFF OMAN

December 27, 2011

(AGI) - Rome, December 27 - Another Italian ship falls into the hands of pirates. A few days after the liberation of the Savina Caylyn, now en route to Italy, pirates off the coast of Oman on board the "Henry Ievoli", attacked at 5 am, while he was sailing to the Mediterranean at 18.3 degrees North and longitude 57.6 degrees east latitude the ship carries more than 15 thousand tons of caustic soda, and 'game from Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, and is part of the fleet of the Marne, the shipping company specializing in chemicals and transport food, headquartered in Naples. Already 'March 7, 2006 the same ship had escaped, with the assistance of the navy frigate "Euro", in an attack by pirates off the coast of Aden in Yemen.
Now on board the "Henry Ievoli" There are 18 crew members, 6 of which are Italian, including the commander. The six components are Sicilian Italian, and with them there are five Ukrainians and seven Indians. The owner Domenico Ievoli received the news of the seizure by the master, Augustine Musumeci, who telefonto reporting that "the pirates are on board, but we're all good."
...
..

http://www.agi.it/estero/notizie/201112271430-ipp-rt10101-pirati_sequestrata_nave_italiana_al_largo_dell_oman