Somali Piracy RE-Located

Somali Piracy has not gone away. There have been many articles that have praised the Naval Forces for the reduction of piracy lately. The fact is, yes the naval forces have had a significant impact on piracy, but even more, is the weather this time of year. This is the Monsoon Season and operations are difficult, if not almost impossible for the pirates to operate in the Indian Ocean and in the areas of the actual IRTC.

As you can see, the wind in the Gulf of Aden as of this writing, is up to 30 knots.

The wave heights in the Indian Ocean are actually up to 8 meters at their highest and an average of 4 meters.

This has caused a push into the Red Sea with 5the furthest attacks yet to the North and the first hijacking inside the Red Sea to date. It is nice to give a bunch of credit to the naval forces in the reduction of piracy, but with the actual reality of the full story, it must be understood that the weather is the most contributory factor in the current reduction of piracy, and also the adaptation of pirates to go further North into the Red Sea than ever before. Attacks have actually taken place North of Al-Hudayda, Yemen, near the Saudi Arabian border.

Tanker Hijacked in Red Sea

As reported HERE



NAIROBI, Kenya — The EU's anti-piracy task force says Somali pirates have hijacked a chemical tanker carrying lubricating oil in the Red Sea.
The force says pirates attacked the Marshall Islands-flagged MT Motivator on Sunday in the northern Strait of Bab al Mandeb. The seizure was only confirmed early Monday after communication with ship was lost, the force says in a statement.
The EU Naval Force says the 13,065 ton-ship has a crew of 18 Filipinos on board.
The Horn of Africa nation's 19 years of lawlessness have allowed piracy to flourish. The waters surrounding Somalia, including the Gulf of Aden that connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, are known to be among the world's most dangerous.