Tag: Port of Salalah

Freed sailors from MV Fairchem Bogey MV Fairchem Bogey, a 26,350 deadweight tonnage (DWT) Indian chemical tanker that was freed by Somali pirates on January 12, for an estimated ransom of $8 million after five months of captivity, docked at Salalah Port on Tuesday night. According to sources in Salalah, the freed sailors would be flown to Muscat today. "The freed sailors will board a flight from Salalah at 5:30am and reach Muscat at around 7am. From Muscat, they will be flown to Mumbai on a 10:45am flight," sources added.The chemical tanker was hijacked within the limits of Salalah Port on August 20 last year. The vessel, manned by a crew of 21 Indians, was waiting for berthing instructions near Salalah Port when it was hijacked by the pirates. It vessel was on its way to China from Saudi Arabia. It had anchored near Salalah Port to load methanol after discharging at Al Jubail in Saudi Arabia. "We are delighted to see our entire crew safe and soon to be re-united with their families," Peter Cremers, CEO of Anglo-Eastern Group, which owns the vessel, told Times of Oman."Once the agreement to release the vessel had been reached, the vessel was ...

Ship at the Omani Port of Salalah was the latest hijacking victim The scourge of modern day piracy has prompted shivers down the spine of many a hard-working ship owner. With one of the world's key shipping arteries at the top of the Gulf of Aden, avoidance of the area is unrealistic.Ship operators, and consequently their crews, have had to take their chances against these heavily-armed and desperate bandits.Ports have kept a weather eye on the situation, sympathising with the operational headaches and empathising with the emotional heartache. But the threat has been kept at arm's length; a distant concern whose only impact on port operations might be a delayed call due to an extended wait for a naval convoy through the infected area.However, this evasion came to an abrupt end in August with the news that a ship at anchor at the Omani Port of Salalah was the latest hijacking victim. The Anglo-Eastern Ship Management chemical tanker was in a designated anchorage within the Salalah port limit waiting for berthing instructions. It was captured and its 21-strong crew were taken hostage, with the ship leaving Salalah bound for the Somali coast.This disturbing escalation means ports now need to pay ...

A journey to Africa could cost more than US$80,000 in insurance and security costs Piracy is threatening the UAE's coastal economy as attacks are being staged following a brazen and successful ship hijacking outside Salalah Port in Oman.The Fairchem Bogey, managed by Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, based in Mumbai, was seized on Saturday as it was awaiting berthing instructions. All 21 Indian sailors on board were taken hostage.Tim Stear, the global head of maritime security for control risks based in Dubai, said attacks off the coast of Oman could endanger the gulf maritime industry, which includes cruise ships, superyachts and marine transportation."A year ago there was a view that you could sail into the Arabian Gulf without having to encounter problems if you were coming from the Maldives, for example," he said. "But it has all brought it home now that this is not an 'off the coast of Somalia' problem. This is also an Arabian Sea problem."The attack on a ship so close to the Omani coast and in the Sultanate's coastal waters is one of the most audacious raids on a maritime vessel and a sign that hijackers are becoming more daring, even as intergovernmental task forces have deployed ...

Talks reassured crew returned safely Five days after the chemical tanker M T Fairchem Bogey was hijacked from Salalah port in Oman, the pirates on Wednesday contacted the managers of Mumbai-based Anglo-Eastern Ship Management."This morning a contact was established between the Somali negotiators and the response team formed by the company to resolve the issue," said Ferdi Stolzeberg of MTI (Network Asia-Hong Kong).According to Stolzenberg, talks between the negotiators of the Somali pirates and the company officials hovered on the return and safety of the crew members that include 21 Indians. Soon after the hijack, the ship was tracked down to Somali waters, but maritime officials and company executives were unable to fathom out the probable final destination of the vessel.Till Tuesday, when the hijacked vessel finally dropped anchor at Garacad, the vessel after leaving Salalah, moved towards the northern coast of Somalia with an intention anchor in that region. However, it is presumed that rough weather at Bandar Beyla made anchoring difficult and thus the ship went towards Garacad port point from where more pirates boarded the vessel. According to maritime intelligence, there are three separate Somali groups running piracy on high seas.They have earmarked the turf along the ...

Owners of seized vessel say pirates yet to establish any contact Owners of the chemical tanker that was hijacked in Oman are still clueless about the whereabouts and condition of the vessel and its crew more than a day after Somali pirates seized the MT Fairchem Bogey off the port of Salalah. According to officials of the Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, the pirates have yet to establish contact as of last night."We expect the pirates to make the first contact to us till they reach the Somalia coast where they will be anchored on their arrival from Salalah port," a ship managing firm official said.There are 21 crew members on board MT Fairchem Bogey. All are Indians. The ship was carrying over 20,000 tonnes of methanol on Saturday and was scheduled to set sail from the Salalah port on Sunday.In touchThe ship's managers have been in touch with various maritime authorities, while awaiting further contact from the vessel. An official of India's Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) said the tanker was heading towards the Somalian coast."We do not know the current location of the ship. We have also not got fresh feedback from the company managing the ship," the DGS official ...

A day after an Indian tanker was hijacked near the port Saudi chemical oil tanker escaped a hijack attempt by pirates near the Salalah coast on Sunday, a day after an Indian tanker and its 21-member crew, were hijacked from near the port."Pirates in a skiff chased and fired upon a chemical tanker under way. Master raised alarm, increased speed and took evasive manoeuvres," a statement issued by International Maritime Bureau's anti-crime arm said. "The pirates made several attempts to board the tanker and finally aborted the attack due to the evasive manoeuvres made by the tanker. A mother vessel was also sighted in the vicinity," the statement added. The attack happened 55 nautical miles off the Salalah coast at around 7pm."The crew is safe and healthy," the vessel owners said.Meanwhile, a report from Mumbai said that the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has rescued six crew members on board Omani vessel Sakar-7, about 160 nautical miles off Porbandar coast in the Arabian Sea.The incident took place on Saturday, when the vessel that was drifting for the last 11 days due to technical snag in the engine, entered into Indian territory and was spotted by Coast Guard aircraft on routine patrol ...

It was hijacked while anchored in Salalah port Somali pirates hijacked a chemical-oil tanker with 21 Indian sailors on board on Saturday from near an Omani port, although the exact location was unconfirmed.India's Directorate General of Shipping said the Fairchem Bogey, managed by Mumbai-based Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, was hijacked while anchored in Salalah port. A Salalah-based shipping source said the vessel was being loaded with methanol when it was seized.The port's operator, APM Terminals, however, said pirates boarded the vessel while it was two miles off the coast of Oman, awaiting a berth, and comandeered it towards Somalia.Andrew Mwangura, shipping editor of The Somalia Report, who is based in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa told Reuters the position of the hijacking showed the ship was inside Oman's territorial waters."It was captured six nautical miles south of Salalah so it is definitely inside Oman," he said, adding that a country's territorial waters usually stretch out 12 miles into the sea."If it is Somali pirates, it means they have a mother ship they are operating with. The high season for piracy has just started."The end of the southwest monsoon winds in August marks the end of very turbulent high seas In ...

764,000 tonnes of cargo in May - the largest volume of cargo handled since port began operations The Port of Salalah general cargo terminal (GCT) handled a record 764,000 tonnes of cargo in May this year. This is the largest volume of cargo handled in any month since the port began operations in 1998.The GCT has seen double digit growth every year for over a decade and the record volume of May is 31 per cent higher than the same month of the previous year.The general cargo terminalprimarily handles local cargo and has seen little effect from the recession over the past few years with volumes continuing to grow.The largest growing exports from the terminal are limestone and gypsum which now account for 58 per cent of exports.This growth in business is due to an increasing demand for minerals from the subcontinent and Oman has some of the highest grade minerals as a natural resource. Cargo handled at the container terminal during May was 267,000 TEU (twenty-foot container equivalent units)Peter Ford, chief executive of Port of Salalah, said The year-on-year growth of bulk cargo serves to demonstrate the strength of the national economy and its resilience to the recession as ...