Comoran-Flagged Vessel Hijacked

As Reported HERE

Somali pirates seize ship with 29 people on board

03/11/10 18:58 GMT

Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a Comoran-flagged vessel as it headed to Tanzania from the Comoros with 29 sailors on board, the European Union anti-piracy mission said.
The 43-metre-long (140-foot) merchant vessel Aly Zoulfecar was en route between the Indian Ocean archipelago and Dar Es Salam when it was attacked, the EU NAFOR mission said in a statement.
"On the morning of 3 November 2010, the master of the MV Aly Zoulfecar reported that pirates were on board," the statement said.
The ship was carrying nine crew members and 20 passengers. Among those on board, 13 were from Tanzania, 12 from Comoros and four from Madagascar.
The UN reported on Tuesday that Somali pirates had increased the number of successful hijackings in 2010, become more violent and expanded their attack zone.
The pirates staged 37 successful hijackings of ships in the first 10 months of 2010, up from 33 in the same period of 2009, the UN report said.

Ocean Shield vs US Navy

 I had found it a bit curious that there are two piracy reports from
two different entities with the following:

THIS REPORT FROM OCEAN SHIELD:
Geographical Subregion: 61 Geographical Location:
12° 12' 00" S
64° 53' 00" E
Aggressor: PIRATES
Victim: MERCHANT VESSEL
Description:
WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN: Merchant vessel attacked in
12-12S 064-53E at 300232Z Oct.
Vessels may have been hijacked.
Vessels are advised to keep 100 miles clear of this position


THIS REPORT FROM GEO SPACIAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY:
October 30 2010
WARNING Indian Ocean
Latitude: 12°12N Longitude: 064°53E

Alert number 454 / 2010.

At 0232 UTC on the 30 OCT a merchant vessel
was attacked by 2 skiffs in position 12°12N 064°53E.

** This Vessel is Pirated **

Now it is obvious that one report is wrong. What would be the odds
of two piracy hijackings with the identical coordinates, but one as
12-12N and one as 12-12S but both having the exact same East Coordinate
on the exact same day? Just for thought on accuracy of reporting.

MV Polar Hijacked at night

As reported HERE


What is important in this post, is that the hijacking was at night. This is indicative of a change in tactics, there have been at least three attacks in the last week that have occurred at night.

MV POLAR

On the morning of 30 October 2010, the MV POLAR, a Panama-flagged tanker, was pirated in the Somali Basin.
The Liberian-owned MV POLAR was attacked during the night, approximately 580 nautical miles (almost 1,100 km) East from Socotra island. The owner confirmed this morning that his vessel was under pirate control.
The MV POLAR, deadweight 72,825 tons, has a crew of 24, of which 1 is Romanian, 3 are Greek, 4 Montenegrin and 16 Filipino.
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 African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). EU NAVFOR also protects vulnerable vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, deters and disrupts piracy. EU NAVFOR finally monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

Rejection of Private Anti Piracy Fleet

As Reported HERE

German shippers reject British plan for private anti-piracy battleships

 

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Nations are struggling to stem pirate operations

The organization that represents a majority of German shipping interests has talked down a British proposal to set up a multi-million-euro private fleet to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa.

 

German shippers have expressed doubts about a proposal by their British counterparts and cargo insurers to set up a private force of speed boats to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.
A spokesman for the German Shipowners Association (VDR), Max Johns, said such a move was not legislated by international law.
"We don't believe it would be a clever move to send out private armies on the open sea," said Johns. "In any case, we don't believe any such action would be covered by international sea law."
The British plan calls for 20 armed and privately financed speedboats to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa at a cost of 12 million euros ($16.5 million) a year. Shipowners are currently losing about 115 million euros annually due to piracy.
But Johns said a privately financed fleet consisting of combat-ready ships could set a dangerous precedent.
"Who knows who might also go out and buy themselves such a fleet," he said.
The British proposal comes after a German cargo ship was seized off the coast of eastern Africa earlier this week. The vessel was later released safely after the pirates were unable to move the captured ship.
The European Union says pirates are currently holding about 20 ships for ransom off the coast of Africa.

I totally agree that  a privately financed armed flotilla is a really bad Idea

Pirates seize two ships off Kenya

As reported HERE

BERLIN – Somali pirates seized a German freight ship off the coast of Kenya on Sunday — the second commercial vessel to be captured in the region in as many days, officials said.
The pirates took control of the German freight ship Beluga Fortune about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) east of Mombasa, Kenya, a spokesman for the German army said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with military regulations.
The German shipping company Beluga-Reederei, which owns the vessel, said Sunday night that Somali pirates were behind the attack and that the ship was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to South Africa.
Verena Beckhusen, a spokeswoman for the Bremen-based company, declined to give further details regarding the crew or the cargo, but the German news agency dapd said the vessel was carrying at least two German citizens.
On Saturday night, pirates seized a liquefied gas tanker 105 miles (165 kilometers) off the coast of Kenya in the Somali Basin, said officials in Singapore, where the ship is registered.
The MV York was traveling from Mombasa to Mahe in the Seychelles with 17 crew when pirates commandeered it, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement.
The authority said Sunday it was working with the ship's owner, York Maritime Co., and government agencies to recover the ship.
A Turkish warship sent a helicopter to investigate the attack, and its crew members saw pirates armed with weapons aboard the MV York, the European Union Naval Force said Sunday.
The 5,076-ton MV York had one German, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos aboard, the EU force said in a statement.

Greek Owned Tander Taken by Pirates

As reported HERE
ATHENS-- A Greek-owned tanker with a German skipper and a crew of 16 has been seized by pirates off the coast of Kenya, officials said on Sunday.

The Singapore-flagged vessel York, a 5,076-tonne tanker en route for the Seychelles, is carrying 17 crew including a German master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos, European naval forces in Brussels said in a statement.

It was attacked around 50 nautical miles east from the Kenyan port of Mombasa and initially drifted before moving at around 10 knots from Sunday morning.

The crew are believed to be in good health, a source at the ship's operating company, Athens-based Interunity Management Corporation, told AFP.

"We have not spoken to the crew but we believe they are in good health," the company representative said.

The Greek coastguard said the ship carries 150 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

"The authorities of Singapore are handling the case as they are the flag state and there are no Greeks on board," a coastguard spokeswoman said.

A Turkish warship confirmed the seizure Sunday after being dispatched to investigate after an attack on the MV York by two skiffs the previous day in the Somali basin, not long after it sailed out of Mombasa, the EU mission said in a statement.

The Turkish vessel TCG Gaziantep, operating under the Combined Maritime Forces, launched a helicopter to investigate.

"The helicopter was able to observe pirates with weapons on board the vessel," the statement said.

The EU mission said that in "a separate but seemingly linked incident" a fishing vessel, the Golden Wave that was pirated on October 9, was seen in the vicinity of the tanker.

Including this weekend's seizure, pirates currently are holding 19 vessels with 428 hostages, the statement said.

LPG Tanker Hijacked

as reported HERE

Somali Pirates Hijack LPG Tanker Off Kenyan Coast

By Peter Feuilherade

Published Oct 24, 2010

Hijacked MV York
IMAGE – EUNAVFOR

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A Singapore-flagged tanker is hijacked off the coast of Kenya after maritime bodies warn of increasing Somali pirate attacks.

The Singapore-flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker MV York has been hijacked by pirates off the east African coast, the European Union naval anti-piracy force EUNAVFOR confirmed on October 24 2010.
The 5,076-ton York, which is operated by a Greek company, was attacked by two skiffs and seized 50 miles (80 km) from the Kenyan port of Mombasa on October 23 2010. It has a crew of 17, including a German master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos.
The Turkish warship Gaziantep, operating in the region as part of the Combined Maritime Forces, sent up its helicopter, which observed pirates with weapons on board the vessel, EUNAVFOR said. It added that “in a separate but seemingly linked incident,” the fishing vessel Golden Wave, hijacked earlier on October 9 2010, was seen in the vicinity of the York.

 

After this latest hijacking, Somali pirates currently hold 19 vessels with 428 hostages, according to EUNAVFOR records.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme told Reuters news agency that the pirates had seized the York less than 12 hours after the tanker had discharged her LPG cargo and sailed empty from Mombasa.
Reuters cited a pirate who identified himself as Hassan as saying in a telephone interview that the tanker was heading for the pirate base of Garad, on the coast of central Somalia.
"The crew is well. I can't say any more at the moment," Theagenis Sarris, a spokesman for the Interunity Management Corporation (IMC), told the German news agency DPA on October 24 2010.

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IMB Warns Somali Pirates Intensifying Attacks

On October 18 2010 the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) warned that
Somali pirates had intensified attacks away from their own coast and were responsible for 44 per cent of the 289 piracy incidents on the world’s seas in the first nine months of 2010.
Somali pirates had carried out 35 of the 39 ship hijackings worldwide from January to September 2010, using ocean-going fishing vessels to reach as far as the southern Red Sea, where they hijacked a chemical tanker in July 2010, the first such hijacking recorded in the area, the IMB said.
The pirates were heavily armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, it added.
The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre’s worldwide figures show that in the past nine months pirates boarded 128 ships and fired at 52. A total of 70 vessels reported thwarting attacks. Pirates used guns in 137 incidents and knives in 66, killing one crew member, injuring 27 and taking 773 hostages.
Globally, the number of vessels hijacked was higher than the 34 recorded in the same period last year, despite a slight fall in the number of piracy incidents, down from 306 in the first nine months of 2009.
Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the IMB Director, said the presence of naval forces from around the world in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin was vital in protecting merchant shipping against piracy. In the Gulf of Aden attacks were greatly reduced, with only 44 reported in 2010 compared with 100 for the same period of 2009.
But Mukundan added that there were limits to what the foreign naval forces could achieve.
“Increased intelligence gathering coupled with strategic placement of naval assets has resulted in the targeting of suspected Pirate Action Groups before they become operational. However, this is a vast area and the navies cannot realistically cover it...,” Mukundan said.
The monsoon weather that had been deterring piracy further out to sea ended in mid-September, opening the way for renewed attacks, the IMB warned.
Other international anti-piracy watchdogs, such as the U. S. Transport Department, have warned that piracy in in the Gulf of Aden and northwestern Indian Ocean is likely to increase until early December.
Earlier in October 2010, EUNAVFOR officials told BBC News that pirates would probably become “more active and intense” with the onset of the piracy season, as their success rate was declining.


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