Pirates hijacks super tanker.

[Yog]

This has been on the news wire for a while, but it's getting impossible to ignore: Tanker stolen by pirates (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/18/kenya.tanker.pirates/index.html)


NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- A hijacked supertanker carrying up to $100 million worth of crude oil -- the largest vessel seized to date in an escalating regional piracy crisis -- was believed to have anchored off Somalia Tuesday, its operator said.

The Sirius Star's crew of 25, including British, Croatian, Polish, Filipino and Saudi nationals, are reported to be safe, according to Dubai-based Vela International Marine.

"Our first and foremost priority is ensuring the safety of the crew," said Vela President Salah Kaaki. "We are in communication with their families and are working toward their safe and speedy return."

The Saudi-owned vessel was seized on Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya in what Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called "an outrageous act."

The incident is the latest in a series of major acts of piracy around the Gulf of Aden that have cost the international shipping industry millions of dollars and threatened a key global trade route.

The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said it was not expecting to send ships to intercept the tanker. NATO also said it would not divert any of three ships currently in the Gulf of Aden, The Associated Press reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, speaking during a visit to Athens, condemned the hijacking, saying: "piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everybody, and everybody must address it together," according to AP.

U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet Cmdr. Jane Campbell said the tanker -- flagged in Liberia and owned by the Saudi Aramco company -- weighed more than 300,000 metric tons and was more than three times the size of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

A multinational naval force including vessels from the U.S., the UK and Russia has been patrolling the Indian Ocean waters seas near the Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, following a sharp increase in pirate attacks in the region.

The burgeoning piracy crisis has flourished in lawless Somalia where almost two decades without a central government has left a country wracked by conflict, chaos and poverty.

"It was attacked more than 450 nautical offshore of Mombasa. This means that the pirates are now operating in an area of over 1.1 million square miles. This is a measure of the determination of the pirates and ... a measure of how lucrative piracy could become," Campbell said.

Campbell said the Navy does not expect to dispatch a vessel to aide the super tanker because it does not have dangerous weapons aboard like the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship loaded with arms that was seized by pirates on September 25.

Oil industry insiders say a tanker of the Sirius Star's size can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil, and the ship's operator says it is fully laden.

South Korean officials said on Sunday that armed gunmen hijacked a Japanese freighter and its 23-member crew off the coast of Somalia. The hijacking came as the Korean government was considering sending a warship to join those of other countries to combat piracy in the area.

A Russian patrol ship also thwarted an attack on a Saudi vessel.

Eleven vessels are currently being held by pirates hoping to secure ransoms for their release, according to AP. They include the MV Faina, which was hijacked along with 20 crew and a cargo of weapons and T-72 tanks.

Ninety percent of ships in the area are using a guarded corridor and there had been no hijackings inside the zone since it was set up on August 22, Danish Commodore Per Bigum Christensen told AP last week.

Around 20,000 oil tankers, freighters and merchant vessels pass along the crucial shipping route each year.

Meanwhile, a Norwegian shipping firm has ordered its vessels to avoid the waters off the Horn of Africa and criticized governments for failing to curb the wave of piracy.
The decision by the maritime company Odfjell SE means its 90-plus ships will take the additional time and expense to sail around the southern tip of Africa instead of going through the Suez Canal, a shortcut for mariners for nearly a century and a half.

Yarr mateys! Sing along! (http://www.privateerdragons.com/caseys_shiphold.html)

[Daiquiri]

Lets see ninjas top that! GO PIRATES! (well, not really - piracy = badness)

[Yog]

On a more serious note, that area is just insane.

250 crewmembers on 14 different ships are currently captive in those waters, according to International Maritime Bureau. There have been 88 attacks on ships in outside Somalia so far this year, 36 were captured and 14 ships still are.

Remind me not to go sailing there.

[Morgan Evanar]

Somalia is awful.

I feel really bad for those crews :(

[Lilaena De'Ville]

My goodness, where are they keeping them all?! O_o I'm imagining the bad guy base from Waterworld... :D

[Park Kraken]

The Saudis have announced their intentions to join the effort against piracy in the Red Sea region, where more than 80 pirate attacks have occured this year alone.

The hijacked ships are usually sailed into Somalian territorial waters, where the hijacking crew debarks onto the mainland and is replaced by a small disposable occupation force until the terms of ransom for a hijacked freighter are met.

I've been keeping up with the pirate situation on a warship discussion forum I frequent, and in other recent pirate news, a battle between a Royal Navy Frigate and a dhow loaded with pirates trying to hijack a Dutch freighter left three pirates dead and one critically injured.

In the article above, I imagine they're talking about the Russian Frigate Neut. when they say a Russian patrol boat intercepted a pirate attack on another Saudi flagged vessel.

[Charley]

If I was a dealmaker with Blackwater, I would really try and find a way to market muscle onto the shipping lanes. Big package security would seem to be ideally suited for this sort of thing, as it doesn't take all that much to take on some mujehedeen with RPG-7's, AK's, and a fast skiff.

[Park Kraken]

If I was a dealmaker with Blackwater, I would really try and find a way to market muscle onto the shipping lanes. Big package security would seem to be ideally suited for this sort of thing, as it doesn't take all that much to take on some mujehedeen with RPG-7's, AK's, and a fast skiff.

Problem is that according to international law, you aren't allowed to arm a commercial freighter or have mercenaries aboard. About the best thing you could do is have "Passengers" on board who have their "self-defense" "weapons" that they bring along with them.

What these ships need to do is have a few "accidents" set up along their ship to repel pirate boarders. A leaky propane tank set next to a boarding ladder, etc.

Of course, it's getting so out of hand at this point that I would not be suprised to see sometime soon a shipping company or independent hauler just lift their middle finger at international law and smuggle aboard a Spets squad or a couple of Dragon ATRs aboard.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Lets see ninjas top that! GO PIRATES! (well, not really - piracy = badness)

Well, I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think this.

I was just reading in the paper yesterday how piracy is apparently escalating to new highs. Seems crazy to think this kind of thing is going on.

[Daiquiri]

I dont understand why there isnt some type of....is 'embargo' the word Im looking for? Stop sending ships anywhere close to there - find different routes. Carry bazookas or something.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

I dont understand why there isnt some type of....is 'embargo' the word Im looking for? Stop sending ships anywhere close to there - find different routes. Carry bazookas or something.

The problem is two-fold:

1. This is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Diverting from it just isn't an option.

2. The pirate attacks are occurring over a pretty wide area. This latest one wasn't even near Somali water. It was much further south, I believe.

[Daiquiri]

I dont understand why there isnt some type of....is 'embargo' the word Im looking for? Stop sending ships anywhere close to there - find different routes. Carry bazookas or something.

The problem is two-fold:

1. This is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Diverting from it just isn't an option.

2. The pirate attacks are occurring over a pretty wide area. This latest one wasn't even near Somali water. It was much further south, I believe.


Ship taken by pirates and crew detained = worth finding new routes. How many thousands and hundred of thousands dollars are lost by having your ship taken and held?

[The Message]

Apparently the pirates grabbed another couple ships this week as well. Making the last two weeks an all time high for pirating, apparently. Historically it seems pirating is most successful only when a region they use as a home base is supportive or uncontrollable and it looks like most of these pirates are using Somalia as their home base. Guess that means there won't be a short cure for these attacks.

As for new routes seems companies are reluctant because changing routes will add time and money to the equation which means they will have to charge more for the goods that are being shipped to the customer. Which might mean the customer might not be willing to purchase from that supplier because it will get too expensive. Which could lead to even greater loss of profits then paying a ransom.

Until things get out of hand were they find the amount they pay in ransoms will cost them more then using longer routes. The companies will probably continue taking chances with their ships and crews.

[Morgan Evanar]

I dont understand why there isnt some type of....is 'embargo' the word Im looking for? Stop sending ships anywhere close to there - find different routes. Carry bazookas or something.

The problem is two-fold:

1. This is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Diverting from it just isn't an option.

2. The pirate attacks are occurring over a pretty wide area. This latest one wasn't even near Somali water. It was much further south, I believe.


Ship taken by pirates and crew detained = worth finding new routes. How many thousands and hundred of thousands dollars are lost by having your ship taken and held?I'm going to be horribly rude but this shows how little you know about logistics. This is like saying you can't use the Panama Canal any more. It simply isn't an option. If you start sending your entire shipping operation around the southern tip of Africa you'll lose all of that money in fuel costs alone, and your customers will stop using you because the freight takes an extra two weeks to arrive.

Now, despite not being able to crew ships with mercenaries or similar equipment, I don't know anything about escort vessels.

[Yog]

Indian Navy sinks pirate ship (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/19/asia/20pirate.php)


NEW DELHI: Days after pirates seized a Saudi-owned supertanker carrying more than $100 million worth of crude oil, the Indian Navy said on Wednesday that one of its warships fought a four-to-five-hour battle at sea with would-be hijackers in the Gulf of Aden, sinking one suspect vessel in flames and forcing the pirates to abandon a second as they fled at high speed.

The drama on the night-time waters of the Indian Ocean late Tuesday underscored the growing international concern at the audacity with which armed pirates, mostly based in Somalia, range across vast areas of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, attacking at will.

In a statement on Wednesday, Commander Nirad Kumar Sinha, a spokesman for the Indian Navy, said the INS Tabar, encountered a flotilla of three pirate vessels some 320 miles south west of the Omani coast in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday evening. One ship was apparently a "mother ship" used by pirates to extend their range, with two speedboats in tow. The suspect vessel matched the description of a pirate vessel issued by international anti-piracy authorities, Sinha said.

He said the '"whole operation lasted four to five hours" and was "the first such incident in which the Indian Navy sank the pirate's mother ship."

When the Indian vessel tried to halt the ship, he said, "the vessel's threatening response was that she would blow up the naval warship if it" came closer.

"Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers. The vessel continued its threatening calls and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar. On being fired upon, INS Tabar retaliated in self defense and opened fire on the mother vessel," Sinha said.

"As a result of the firing by INS Tabar, fire broke out on the vessel and explosions were heard, possibly due to exploding ammunition that was stored on the vessel. Almost simultaneously, two speedboats were observed breaking off to escape. The ship chased the first boat which was later found abandoned. The other boat made good its escape into darkness," he said.

The Indian account suggested that pirates had attacked the Tabar, deployed to repulse pirates — equaling the brazenness of the hijacking on Sunday of the Sirius Star, a 1,080-foot, or 330-meter, supertanker with 25 crew on board.

At least eight ships have been hijacked in a vast expanse of ocean off the east African coastline in the past two weeks.

On the same day the Indian Navy engaged the pirates, a cargo ship registered in Hong Kong and loaded with 36,000 tons of wheat was seized in the Gulf of Aden, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. The vessel, with 25 crew aboard, was headed for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

That hijacking was followed by a report Wednesday, still to be confirmed by Greek authorities, that a Greek bulk carrier had also been seized in the Gulf of Aden. A regional maritime group based in Mombasa, Kenya, told Reuters 23 to 25 crew were aboard that ship. The Associated Press also reported that a Thai fishing boat with 16 crew members had been seized off the coast of Somalia on Tuesday.

International anti-piracy patrols, deployed since August, have had occasional success.

Last week, a British frigate, the Cumberland, launched speed-boats to intercept a hijacked dhow, exchanging fire with pirates before British naval personnel boarded it, the British Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. Eight alleged hijackers were captured and handed over to Kenyan authorities on Tuesday. Two people believed to be Somali nationals were killed in the operation, the ministry said.

On Wednesday, the fate of the supertanker Sirius Star, now anchored off the coast of Somalia, remained unclear. The ship's owner said Tuesday it was working to free the 25-member crew. By Wednesday, there had been no reports that the hijackers had made known ransom demands.

The supertanker, about the same length as an American Nimitz class aircraft carrier, is the largest ship known to have been seized by pirates, and it was fully loaded with two million barrels of oil.

...

This year, at least 92 ships have been attacked in and around the Gulf of Aden, more than triple the number in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau At least 14 of those ships, carrying more than 250 crew members, are still in the control of hijackers.

An estimated $25 million to $30 million has been paid in ransom to Somali pirates this year, according to a report released Tuesday by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general. But the cost is likely to spread to consumers as shipping companies face higher insurance bills inspired by the wave of piracy.

"Despite the best efforts of the international military task force the logistical challenge of policing an area which, as this latest attack has demonstrated, is now more than a million square miles of ocean, is enormous," said Brendan Flood, a marine underwriter for a specialist insurer Hiscox in London, in a posting on the Lloyds' insurance website. "With the general situation having deteriorated so quickly, insurance premiums for the hull, cargo and crew for vessels taking this increasingly dangerous route will be under pressure and will need to be reassessed."
So they sunk one of these pirate 'motherships' towing swift boats after a 5 hour naval battle. Unfortunately, it sounds like it is only the tip of the iceberg. It would seem pirates nowadays use rocket propelled grenade launchers.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Well that settles it. I can't support piracy if there is no swashbuckling involved. :|

In all seriousness, I hope they get a handle on the area. The world economy doesn't really need to have to worry about pirates getting to the goods first.

Makes me think of the old timey Sector Rangers though in our RP, 'cause their job was to protect freighters from pirates out in the shipping lanes!

[Morgan Evanar]

This is something straight out of Black Lagoon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lagoon).

[Nya Halcyon]

Makes me think of the old timey Sector Rangers though in our RP, 'cause their job was to protect freighters from pirates out in the shipping lanes!

Uhmm.... you mean the group? Or did you use Sector Rangers in some unconnected RP? Cos the group was just a cover-up for Black Sun, ya remember? :D

[Lilaena De'Ville]

no, the group. I'm quite familiar with it as I RPed the Sector Rangers cover organizationfor a few years. :)

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Does anybody remember the Ukranian freighter the pirates took that had a cargo of main battle tanks? What became of that one?

[Cat X]

Does anybody remember the Ukranian freighter the pirates took that had a cargo of main battle tanks? What became of that one?

There has been a few "hints" the pirates should release the ship with a few well pointed negotitations of lead but it's still basically circled by NATO forces last I heard. Or did the Russians storm it? I cant remeber now.

Either way the pirates havent gotten anything except some are dead.