Tag: maritime piracy

SaveOurSeafarers video - 90 sec version Innocent seafarers on commercial cargo ships are being held to ransom for millions of dollars by armed gangs of Somali pirates. The cost of Somalian piracy is both human and economic.It affects seafarers and their families and YOU. Piracy costs the global economy $7-12bn a year because it is beginning to strangle key supply routes. You can make a difference.

Denmark's navy says The crew of a hijacked cargo ship were treated like slaves by Somali pirates, Denmark's navy has said.A spokesman for the Danish navy, which carried out the dramatic rescue, said yesterday it was not clear that the pirates had any idea how to navigate the Iranian vessel which they had been using as a mother ship."They were therefore using the crew as sort of slaves," said Kenneth Nielson, pointing out that the pirates had not demanded ransom for the Iranian and Pakistani crew members and had not tried to enrich themselves "on the hostage-taking itself."Sixteen of the crew were rescued on Sunday night in an operation by the Danish warship Absalon, part of a NATO-led counter-piracy mission. However two other hostages, one Iranian and one Pakistani, were killed in the rescue bid.The navy has now launched an investigation into the operation, and acknowledged that the two casualties could have by killed by the Danes."We cannot rule out that we were the ones who caused the deaths," Navy captain Steen Engelbrecht Pedersen told the Ritzau news agency on Tuesday.A Danish military prosecutor had opened an investigation to "shed light on what happened," he added.The Danish warship had been ...

Second attack in this week after Nigerian pirates robbed another cargo ship and kidnapped crew Pirates have attacked a ship off the coast of Nigeria for the second time in as many days, but the attackers were thwarted in the latest incident by a quick-acting crew, an international maritime watchdog said Thursday.The pirates opened fire Wednesday on a Nigerian-owned oil tanker about 80 nautical miles off Port Harcourt, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.Choong said the ship managed to escape after crew members enforced anti-piracy measures and increased vessel speed.The attack came a day after Nigerian pirates robbed a cargo ship anchored at Port Harcourt and kidnapped at least two crew members."The trend is worrying. It shows that pirate attacks off Nigeria are continuing and getting more violent," he said.This brought to eight attacks this year off the coast of Nigeria alone, and there are believed to be many other cases that have gone unreported, Choong said.Over the last year, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea - which follows Africa's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon - has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts.In August, London-based Lloyd's ...

To hunt down pirates ashore As the world descended on London to discuss the mess that is Somalia, it was announced that the Puntland Police will be reactivated to hunt down pirates ashore.Speaking to the media at the event, Puntland's interior minister Abdullahi Ahmed Jama proudly boasted that the "Puntland Maritime Police Force" will be resuming operations imminently and their brief will be to target pirate gangs on land.The initiative is to be funded by the UAE government and the personnel will be trained by a private security firm.The PMFF was initially established back in 2010, but was suspended after the UN grew concerned about their operations and the legality of their actions. Action has been taken to avoid such problems this time round, and theUS law firm and lobbyists Steptoe and Johnson have been appointed to smooth the legal waters as the security efforts resume.It is understood that the force currently stands at around 300 officers and more will be added in time, with UAE-registered private security firm named Sterling Corporate Services having been retained to train the troops.The original incarnation of PMFF was to be trained by Saracen International, a company which had links to Erik Prince the ...

Effective compliance with BMP and military intervention are also needed Recent press reports might give the impression that the level of piracy off Somalia is decreasing, but the capability of the pirates is actually higher than it has ever been.However, ICS believes that effective compliance with Best Management Practices by shipping, and sustained military intervention with a more aggressive stance, has reduced the pirates' rate of success. However, the current situation remains totally unacceptable, with about 200 seafarers still being held hostage in the most appalling conditions, and thousands more still having to transit the danger area in constant fear of their lives.ICS is working to ensure that the problem of piracy retains sufficient political and public attention so that the crisis might be properly and decisively addressed during the year ahead. The ICS Board has identified three immediate objectives. First is the need to persuade governments to task the military to take the attack direct to the pirates, while at the same time continuing to defend merchant ships in the best way possible.Second, every apprehended pirate should be arrested, taken to a court of law and, if found guilty, imprisoned. Third, governments must break the financial chain through legal ...

The crew of the hijacked MV Arrilah-l recount their harrowing experience on the ship

One crew member was injured and another was reported missing Armed pirates robbed a cargo ship at anchor in a Nigerian port and kidnapped at least two crew members in the latest of several attacks off Africa's west coast, an international maritime watchdog said Wednesday.The International Maritime Bureau echoed a warning this week by the United Nations that pirate attacks off West Africa's Gulf of Guinea are becoming more rampant and violent.In the latest attack Tuesday, eight Nigerian pirates armed with machine guns fired at a Curacao-flagged vessel anchored at Port Harcourt before boarding the ship, said Noel Choong, who heads the bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.The pirates robbed the crew before fleeing in a small speedboat with the ship's captain and chief engineer, he said. One crew member was injured and another was reported missing, Choong said. He added that it was unclear whether the missing crew member also had been kidnapped.The Dutch-owned vessel laden with refrigerated cargo has 14 crew members from Russia, Ukraine and the Philippines, he said. He did not say which country or countries the kidnapped crew members are from. Nigerian authorities are investigating, he added.Over the last year, piracy in the Gulf ...

LNG to use armed guards onboard? Experts at Informa's LNG Shipping Conference in London last week said that owners of liquefied natural gas carriers are increasingly turning to the use of armed guards on their ships to prevent the potentially disastrous consequences of a hijacking by pirates.The panel explained that capture and holding of an LNG carrier by pirates, which has not so far occurred, would have worse consequences than for other types of vessels.Ransoms would be higher given that LNG ships are the most expensive of any ships at around $200m, said Ince & Co partner Stephen Askins."The size and profile of these ships mean dollars for the pirates. I'd be surprised if the ransom was less than $13m if an LNG carrier was taken," he said. More worryingly, however, are the safety issues surrounding an LNG carrier with a large cargo of methane falling into the hands of untrained pirates.V.Ships divisional manager Michael Bradshaw said LNG carriers need to be kept functioning and crew needs to be kept working to ensure safety of the cargo."The pirates can't just switch off the lights and ransack the place as they have done in other incidents," he said.If not managed properly ...

An operation that freed 16 other hostages Two hostages of suspected Somali pirates died after a rescue effort by the Danish navy, an operation that freed 16 other hostages, the Danish military said Tuesday.A Danish warship, the Absalon, tasked with patrolling waters near the Somali coast to ward off piracy, fired warning shots against what the navy described as a pirate "mother ship" that failed to stop, the military said.Military personnel then boarded the vessel and found 17 suspected pirates and 18 hostages, two of whom were critically wounded.Despite medical treatment, navy doctors were unable save their lives, the military said. An investigation into the deaths is under way.The hostages had been the original crew of what became the mother ship.Source: CNN

Almost two years in captivity Almost two years in captivity, the family of two South Africans kidnapped by Somali pirates are seeking mosque help to win their release.Vera Hecht, a sister of Bruno Pelizzari who is held by Somali pirates, told OnIslam.net that she will be visiting all Somali-run mosques in South Africa to seek the help of Muslim worshippers to rescue her family.Pellizari was kidnapped by pirates along with Debbie Calitz in October 2010 while on the yacht Choizil which was sailing from Tanzania to Richard's Bay in South Africa.The captors initially demanded a 4-million-dollar ransom to free the two kidnapped Christians.Having failed to get the money, the kidnappers sold the two hostages to another Somali group, which is now demanding a higher ransom."I started a trust fund called the SOS Bru and Deb Trust and we have been raising cash for their release," Hecht told OnIslam.net over the phone."But the amount is still very little compared to what the kidnappers are demanding."Hecht also created a website documenting her appeal so that the pirates could track her efforts.Somali pirates have been preying on ships transiting in the busy sea lanes of the Gulf of Aden, which connects Europe to ...