Tag: piracy attack

Transport Minister Kong says there was a need for a sustainable solution Malaysia has called on the International Maritime Organisation to find a permanent solution to piracy off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said there was a need for a "sustainable solution to conclude this long-running menace to international shipping and trade."He also expressed Malaysia's concern that despite so many initiatives, piracy there remained unresolved.Kong said the country had two Malaysian naval vessels in the area and had even captured some of the pirates who were awaiting trial in Malaysia"We would recommend that this year's World Maritime Day's theme of Piracy - Orchestrating the Response be continued to demonstrate IMO's resolve and efforts to eliminate the scourge of piracy and for international shipping to continue to serve the world's community safely, securely and peacefully," he said at the 27th IMO Assembly here on Monday.Kong also informed the assembly that the cooperative mechanism to enhance safety of navigation and environmental protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore was now into its second phase of operation. He also announced that Malaysia had submitted its candidature for re-election to the IMO council.Source: ...

Local Residents Aid in Arrests in Dhanane and Qoryaley Villages Security forces from Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland arrested five well-known Somali pirates and seized two speed boats and other equipment used in hijackings during security operations in Dhanane and Qoryaley villages between Gar'ad and Rasiga-Iliga districts on Thursday night.Rooble Mohamed Farah, a Puntland security official involved in the operation, told the local media that they succeeded due to cooperation between local residents and security forces."We learned that they were from Harardhere district of Mudug region and based themselves there on Wednesday. The residents informed us of their movements," he said. "Our troops are in Dhanane and Qoryoley and will be there until we make sure the pirates are eliminated."Rooble stated that security forces are searching for other wanted pirates who escaped the area.Reports indicate that the bases where the pirates were captured are strategic coastal villages, from which they wanted to base and plan attacks against foreign warships. The villages had been pirate hubs before the local elders, religious leaders, Puntland authorities and the residents started campaign to eradicate them from the area.Source: Neptune Maritime Security

Pirates have kidnapped three people Gunmen stormed a ship supplying a Chevron Corp. offshore oil field, kidnapping three workers in an attack raising concerns over a possible unraveling amnesty deal in the crude-rich nation, authorities said Friday.The attack happened Thursday night near Chevrons massive Agbami oil field, operated by its Nigerian subsidiary about 70 nautical miles offshore from Bayelsa state in Nigerias oil-rich southern delta, officials said. Eight gunmen boarded the MV C-Endeavour, attacking the crew and taking the three sailors hostage, Chevron spokesman Kurt Glaubitz said.A private security official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as details about the kidnapping remained closely held, said those abducted were foreigners. Glaubitz declined to identify those kidnapped, citing the San Ramon, Calif.-based companys security rules.The safety of our employees and contractors is our first priority, Glaubitz said. Chevron Nigerian Ltd. is the assisting the service company to ensure the safe release of the kidnapped crew members.Glaubitz said the ship belonged to contractor Edison Chouest Offshore, based in Galliano, Louisiana. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.A Nigerian navy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Foreign firms have pumped oil out ...

Eventually, the regained control of their vessel Taiwanese fishers fought off a hijack by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, regaining control of their vessel. The Chin Yi Wen and its 28 crew were attacked and hijacked around 260 nautical miles south west of the Seychelles on 3 November.On 5 November, some of the crew overcame the hijackers, freed themselves and retook the boat. The Chin Yi Wen then met up with a British warship nearby, which provided assistance, and later continued its journey to the Seychelles. Three crewmembers are reported to have sustained minor injuries.Over in the increasingly dangerous waters off West Africa, pirates have now released the Greek-operated, Malta-flagged oil tanker Halifax and its 25 mainly Filipino crew, hijacked about 100 kilometres off Port Harcourt, Nigeria on 30 October. The tanker was taken to a position off Lagos/Benin where part of the cargo was siphoned off, and then taken back to Bonny, Nigeria. The crew were reported to be safe, although some personal belongings were stolen.According to figures from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) for 7 November, Somali pirates are currently holding captive about 11 vessels and 194 hostages. Hostages continue to include seven Indian seafarers from the ...

26 pirates arrested Indian Naval ship, INS Sukanya, thwarted a piracy attack in the Gulf of Aden and captured three boats of the pirates.A statement from the Defence PRO says the incident happened yesterday when INS Sukanya was escorting a group of merchant vessels. Five pirate boats tried to attack these vessels but were challenged by the Indian Naval ship. After a brief skirmish, two of them managed to flee the area but three boats were captured by INS Sukanya, the statement said.The three boats had a total of 26 Somali crew onboard. During the operation, six AK-47 rifles, 12 magazines and about 300 rounds of ammunition were found and confiscated.The operation holds significance as over a hundred billion dollars of India's external trade passes each year through this busy sea lane. This is the fifth successful anti-piracy operation conducted by INS Sukanya, in the course of her ongoing patrol mission in the Gulf of Aden, which commenced in September.Source: NDTV

The number of hijackings is down - Pirates have only seized 24 ships so far in 2011 Attacks on shipping by increasingly sophisticated Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean reached record levels in the first nine months of the year, the International Maritime Bureau says.Indian shipowners, who have been increasingly hit as pirates have extended their raids up to 1,500 nautical miles east of the gulf, deep into the India Ocean, say the piracy scourge is costing the global shipping industry more than $9 billion a year.U.S. risk management company Aon reports there has been a 267 percent year-on-year increase in attacks in the Arabian Sea.The attacks are carried out mainly by Somali pirates.IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan says there were 352 attacks on shipping worldwide in the January-September period, up from 289 in the first nine months of 2010."But what's significant," he said, "is that the number of hijackings is down."Pirates have only seized 24 ships so far in 2011, compared to 35 in the equivalent period last year. This has been attributed to more vigorous action by naval forces -- and more ships carrying armed guards, a practice once considered too provocative to be ...

Iran's 16th fleet of warships started its naval mission on October An attempt by pirates to hijack an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was foiled after an Iranian fleet of warships present in the region rushed to the scene.Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Moussavi announced that the Iranian oil tanker came under attack by 15 Somali pirate speedboats off the eastern coasts of Hanish al-Kubra Island in the Red Sea, but Iran's Jamaran destroyer thwarted the attack with timely action.Moussavi said that this was the second conflict between Jamaran and the pirates in the region and the destroyer's first clash in the Red Sea.The commander noted that the Iranian fleet of warships escorted the oil tanker to secure waters.Iran's 16th fleet of warships, comprising IRI Bandar Abbas Warship and the home-made Jamaran Destroyer, started its naval mission on October 9.The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.According to UN Security Council resolutions, different countries can send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the ...

A new While the world is struggling to contain the epidemic of Somali pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean, a new "copycat" phenomenon is emerging on the other side of the continent, in West Africa, where piracy is expanding rapidly.The new piracy hotspot is the Gulf of Guinea, off the coasts of Nigeria and Benin. The latest case is the MT Halifax, a Malta-flagged oil tanker with about 25 crew members, which was seized this week by pirates off the coast of southern Nigeria, near the city of Port Harcourt in the oil-rich Niger Delta.In a separate attack, a Nigerian vessel with links to the oil industry was reportedly seized in the same region on Wednesday, although few details are known. Another vessel was captured by pirates off the coast of Nigeria last month, with a crew of 20 Eastern Europeans aboard. It was released about five days later.In neighbouring Benin, the trend is even more dramatic. Last year no pirate attacks were recorded off the coast of Benin - yet at least 20 such attacks have occurred off Benin this year so far.A leading group of global insurers announced in August that the waters off Nigeria and Benin will ...

Somali hijack attempts are being thwarted by strengthened anti-piracy measures Piracy on the world's seas has risen to record levels, with Somali pirates behind 56 percent of the 352 attacks reported this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)'s latest global piracy report. However, more Somali hijack attempts are being thwarted by strengthened anti-piracy measures.In another important milestone of its expansion program, the Panama Canal Authority (APC) has announced the completion of phase three of the dry excavation project in the construction of the Pacific Access Channel.Damen Shipyards Singapore has announced the sudden death of its managing director, Pieter Kalis. Pieter was struck by a fatal pulmonary embolism on a flight from Singapore to the Netherlands on Saturday.

Supply boat seized in separate Thursday attack Pirates have hijacked an oil products tanker off the coast of Nigeria after contact was lost with the vessel and crew over the weekend, the vessel's manager said on Thursday.An official with Greek-based Ancora Investment Trust Inc said the Halifax tanker was still being held. "They are holding the vessel and crew," the official told Reuters.An oil security source told Reuters separately that pirates had hijacked a small oil supply boat, called MV Igbere, off the coast of Nigeria on Thursday.The incidents were the latest in a lengthening string of attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea that experts say threatens an emerging trade hub -- and an increasingly important source of oil, metals and agricultural products like cocoa to world markets.Pirates in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, which stretches from Guinea to Angola, tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia, analysts say."What they are aiming at is the cargo," said the official from Ancora Investment Trust, which manages the tanker.The official said the Halifax had been 60 miles off Nigeria's Port Harcourt before it was ...