The Somali Pirates told the truth

The New York Times is now reporting the Somali Pirates were telling the truth about tanks which were destined for Southern Sudan onboard the MV/Faina which they hijacked.

This from my blog in Feb. 2009

Thursday, February 5, 2009
Pirates release M/V Faina

Finally, after 5 months, the ship carrying tanks and arms will be released.
Kenya says the cargo is theirs. I am sure there will be intense interest as to where this armament ends up.

And this from the New York Times, Dec. 8, 2010

KHARTOUM, Sudan — It was September 2008 and a band of Somali pirates made a startling discovery.

Kenyan security officers guarded T-72 tanks that were offloaded in Mombasa from the Faina. The ship was also found to be carrying 150 grenade launchers and 6 antiaircraft guns.

The Ukrainian freighter they had just commandeered in the Gulf of Aden was packed with weapons, including 32 Soviet-era battle tanks, and the entire arsenal was headed for the regional government in southern Sudan. The Ukrainian and Kenyan governments vigorously denied that, insisting that the tanks were intended for the Kenyan military.

But it turns out the pirates were telling the truth — and the Kenyans and Ukrainians were not, at least publicly. According to several secret State Department cables made public by WikiLeaks, the tanks not only were headed to southern Sudan, but they were the latest installment of several underground arms shipments. By the time the freighter was seized, 67 T-72 tanks had already been delivered to bolster southern Sudan’s armed forces against the government in Khartoum, an international pariah for its human rights abuses in Darfur.

Greek Tanker Hijacked

The VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) Maran Centaurus was hijacked about 600 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles.

This is a large tanker. It is operated by Maran Tankers Management (I do not know if it is also owned by them).

EU NAVFOR said in a statement released Nov.30, 2009

On 29 November a Greek Crude Oil Tanker named the M/V Maran Centaurus was hijacked in the Somali Bassin, 600 nautical miles North East of the Seychelles. Maran Centaurus has a deadweight of 300,294 tonnes and a crew of 28, among them 9 Greek, 16 Filipinos, 2 Ukrainian and 1 Romanian. The vessel was heading for New Orleans from Jiddah and has now altered course West towards Harardheere or Hobyo.

Jiddah is known to us as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Containership seized by pirates

This is probably the first containership seized by the Somali Pirates since the incident with the Maersk Alabama.

But, it's not a very big containership. 1500 TEUS.
Well, I guess that's not too small. Of course, these days most containerships are over 5000 TEUS.

From The BBC.

The MV Kota Wajar was headed to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was commandeered 300 nautical miles north of Seychelles.

Twenty one crew are on board the 24,637-tonne container ship, said an official from the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme.

At least five vessels are now in the hands of Somali pirates, officials say.

French captures Somali Pirates

From Bloomberg News

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The French navy captured five Somali pirates who attacked a naval tanker in the Indian Ocean, the French Defense Ministry said.

The Somme was heading toward a scheduled refueling with ships of the European Union Atalanta anti-piracy mission at 1 a.m. local time today, when two skiffs approached the vessel, Captain Christophe Prazuck, the ministry spokesman, told reporters.

Shots were fired at the French ship, which was about 250 nautical miles from the Somali coast, Prazuck said. The tanker then turned to engage the boats, prompting their crews to attempt to escape, he said. No one was hurt in the incident.

Pirates destroy ship

The actions of Somali Pirates have not been in the news lately, but seems they are getting a bit tired of companies not taking them seriously.

One crew member of the M/V Marathon was killed (reasons not given), and the ship M/V Indian Ocean Explorer was torched and destroyed, after the owner paid less than half of the demanded ransom.

click here for complete reports from The Maritime Executive Magazine.

More trouble in Somalia

This isn't really about international shipping, except for the effect the pirates from Somalia have on the shipping industry.

Somalia has been without a functioning government for almost 20 years. The current one, backed by the U.N. appears to be on it's way to be ousted, and, along with it, aide agencies.

From all Africa

The Somali interim government, which is the 15th attempt to restore national order since 1991, is struggling against an insurgency led by Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam hardliners, who control sections of Mogadishu and are attempting to overthrow the U.N.-backed government.

A senior member of Somalia's Islamist guerrilla movement Al Shabaab has ordered international aid agencies to leave the southwestern region of Gedo, Radio Garowe reports Monday.

Abdullahi Osman Jibril, a top militia commander in Gedo region, said Al Shabaab informed the aid agencies' local and international offices to leave "within a short period of time."

"Security forces in Gedo [region] have orders to take necessary steps against all aid agencies who refuse to leave the region," said Mr. Jibril, who accused aid groups of "espionage."

No reports have emerged from U.N. and other international aid agencies operating in Gedo, where lack of rainfall this year has contributed to a growing humanitarian crisis.

click here for complete article

No wonder they have turned to piracy.

Will the Somali Pirates stop their hijackings?

The BBC is reporting one of the main leaders of pirates has "seen the light" and will give up pirating.

Mr Abdullah, a well-known pirate chief in Puntland, says his group is not holding any ships at present and the authorities have agreed to give them amnesty for previous hijackings.

"I see myself as someone who has been saved from bad deeds," he told the BBC's Somali Service.

"I understand the wrong things that I was involved in and I'm aware now these acts are wrong in Islamic teachings.

click here for complete article

I guess the pressure mentioned in the NY Times on May 10 worked

“Man, these Islamic guys want to cut my hands off,” he (the pirate) grumbled over a plate of camel meat and spaghetti. The sheiks seemed to have rattled him more than the armada of foreign warships patrolling offshore. “Maybe it’s time for a change.”

How many U.S. flag ships sail in the Indian Ocean?

The U.S. Coast Guard doesn't know how many U.S. Flag vessels are sailing in waters which are vulerable to pirate attacks.

They think it's probably from 1- 7 ships? And they can't figure it out?
How hard is that!!! What idiots.

If I had about 4 hours to kill I could figure it out.

From the JOC

Christensen said the Coast Guard still doesn’t know just how many U.S.-flag vessels are plying the Indian Ocean, although getting an accurate tally is top priority before Adm. Brian Salerno, assistant commandant for safety, security and stewardship, will testify Wednesday before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“We’re probably looking at 13 or 14 companies that operate ships in that area,” Christensen said. Some ships are transiting the region, while others are in liner service along the coast of East Africa. “The data varies. It could be one ship, it could be seven ships. We’re trying to get a better handle on that right now.”

EU sends suspected pirates to Kenya for prosecution

Thirteen suspected pirates were turned over to Kenya for prosecution.

click here for press release from EU Navfor

Guards to be required on U.S. Flag vessels

I have been saying for some time the least that should be done to protect against pirates is to have guards, or watchmen.

This is what I said on May 5th, 2009

The international shipping community is content to pay ransoms for ships which are captured, because this is cheaper than arming their ships, and probably even cheaper than even doing the basic things against pirates, such as 24 hour watchmen.

Today the U.S. Coast Guard says U.S. Flag vessel going around the Horn of Africa, which is Somalia, must have guards onboard

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard will require U.S.-flagged ships sailing around the Horn of Africa to post guards and ship owners to submit anti-piracy security plans for approval, a Coast Guard official said on Tuesday.

But, the guards don't have to be armed.

Well, I guess this is something, although one would think the shipping companies would have been doing this on their own.

Furthermore, this only applies to U.S. Flag vessels, of which there are few.

Will the Islamists end the Somalian Piracy?

The New York Times has an interesting article regarding the Somalia Pirates. This is the first of a series.

Here are some excerpts.

For the first time in this pirate-infested region of northern Somalia, some of the very communities that had been flourishing with pirate dollars — supplying these well-known criminals with sanctuary, support, brides, respect and even government help — are now trying to push them out.

Grass-roots, antipirate militias are forming. Sheiks and government leaders are embarking on a campaign to excommunicate the pirates, telling them to get out of town and preaching at mosques for women not to marry these un-Islamic, thieving “burcad badeed,” which in Somali translates as sea bandit. There is even a new sign at a parking lot in Garoowe, the sun-blasted capital of the semiautonomous region of Puntland, that may be the only one of its kind in the world. The thick red letters say: No pirates allowed.

“Man, these Islamic guys want to cut my hands off,” he (the pirate) grumbled over a plate of camel meat and spaghetti. The sheiks seemed to have rattled him more than the armada of foreign warships patrolling offshore. “Maybe it’s time for a change.”

click here for complete article

Somali Pirates moving to Seychelles

Seychelles are some small islands (just a speck on the map) east of Somalia.

Seychelles asks for naval protection from marauding Somali pirates

Mumbai: Officials on the tourist paradise set of islands called the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean asked for protection after reports the bandits had moved away from the Gulf of Aden since western governments dispatched patrol vessels to challenge them, the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.

The pirates can reach the closest Seychelle island in just over a day from Mogadishu – it is just 670 nautical miles.

Somali Pirates release ship for free

They hijacked a ship which was on charter to party in Somalia. Apparently, when the pirates found this out, they said "oh, never mind".

Or, probably more like, when the head of the clan (or whomever was in charge of this particular pirating) found out, the ship was released. I don't think the guys who do the actual hijacking are in charge of the negotiating.

Somali pirates have released the hijacked general cargo ship Almezaan – for free – African sources reported today. Fairplay was unable to confirm the reports with the ship’s owner, Biyat International.

Almezaan had been en route to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, when it was seized 100km off Somalia on 2 May. It was carrying used cars, flour and sugar. The vessel was reportedly released for free and without conditions when the pirates learned that it was on charter to traders in Mogadishu who demanded its release.

Who should pay to fight the pirates?

The problem with the piracy near Somalia is foremost because there is no government in Somalia to fight the pirates, let alone fight them and try the ones which are captured.

The international shipping community is content to pay ransoms for ships which are captured, because this is cheaper than arming their ships, and probably even cheaper than even doing the basic things against pirates, such as 24 hour watchmen.

Now that the issue is heating up, it's all coming to a head, to make the users pay for protection.

There has been experience fighting pirates in the Straits of Malacca.

Most controversially, however, Mr Sasakawa advocated copying the user-pays framework he has advocated to fund maritime safety in the Malacca Strait to help fund anti-piracy operations.

“While it is critical for the international community to cooperate in dealing with piracy, I think the time has come to expect the private sector to also make various contributions,” he said.

And, can the navies really cover the big oceans?

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also told the media after the conference that he did not support putting arms on commercial ships and that it was up to merchant ships to pay for their own protection.

“I am not a proponent of putting arms on anything,” Adm Mullen said, adding commercial shippers could hire private security, but did not want to “because it costs them too much money”.

He pointed out that less than 1% of the ships transiting the Gulf of Aden fall victim to attack, and combating piracy was therefore not his top priority.

He said one analysis had shown it would take 1,000 ships to effectively fight piracy, more than the entire US Navy fleet. “I’ve got a big globe. I don’t have 1,000 ships that I can devote to that,” he said. -

Pirates, caught with explosives, are released

Again, we have an instance of pirates being captured, only to be released.

The 19 pirate suspects were released because they had not attacked Portuguese property or citizens.

And these pirates had explosives

The Portuguese helicopter chased the pirates back to their "mother ship", or command vessel, and briefly detained about 19 pirates, a Nato spokesman said.

Explosives and grenade launchers were discovered on the mother ship when Portuguese special forces boarded "with no exchange of fire", Lt Cmdr Alexandre Santos Fernandes said.

"It was almost a kilogramme of high explosives. If used correctly it can open a hole in the hull of a ship and sink her," Lt Cmdr Fernandes said.

"It is the first time we have spotted high explosives on board a pirate ship, normally they just stick to AK-47s and RPGs (grenades)."

click here for complete article from the BBC

Maersk will not arm ships

I find this rather surprising, considering the Maersk Alambama espisode.

DANISH shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk is opposed to weapons on board its ships that could be used to fend off piracy attacks.

Russian Navy captures 29 suspected pirates

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian warship captured a suspected pirate vessel with 29 people on board off the coast of Somalia, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday, citing defense ministry sources.

Pirates captured - where will they go?

The pirates which attacked the Melody have been captured.


<blockquote>When the Melody made a distress call, the Seychelles Coast Guard says it sent out an aircraft that spent five hours photographing the pirates' skiff and marking its position, before passing it on to a Spanish frigate that was in the area. The Spanish Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the Spanish navy tracked the skiff and apprehended the suspects. They were then turned over to the Seychelles Coast Guard.

Question will be, where will they go? Stay in the Seychelles for prosecution?

We shall have to watch.

MSC Cruise Line on armed guards

MSC Cruise Lines had their ship Melody attacked by pirates.

They did a great job fending off the pirates, at the end getting out the locked up hand guns and firing into the air.

The guards they had onboard was apparently normal procedure and not necessarily due to the risk of piracy.

MSC has not decided to avoid the area totally.

Mr Vago said MSC would pull its vessels out of east African waters immediately. From now on, he said, the company will access South Africa via the Mediterranean and west Africa, calling in Morocco, Senegal and Namibia on its way to Cape Town and Durban.

Smart move. Having a cruise ship hijacked would not be good.

I liked this comment.

We are selling holidays, not adventures.

Friday fun - cartoon South Park goes to Somalia

For anyone not familiar with South Park, although it is cartoon format, it is not for children.

South Park kids go to Somalia

Have some fun - watch it.