Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Association (SAP) said the pirates hijacked the Stolt Strength managed by Victoria Ship based in Manila along the Gulf of Aden late on Monday, making the second Stolt ship to be hijacked in less than two months.
"The chemical tanker Stolt Strength has been seized by pirates, making it the second Stolt ship to be held by Somali gunmen," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.
Mwangura said the vessel is on long term charter to Stolt shipping company. "We are trying to establish where the ship was sailing to and from which country," said Mwangura.
The latest hijacking comes nearly two months after the pirate hijacked MT Stolt Valor with 18 Indians aboard in September.
The vessel's Japanese owners have appointed a professional negotiator to engage into a dialogue with the hijackers.
The vessel which is carrying a cargo of 23,818 tonnes of oil products, had been hijacked from the designated safety corridor despite the master having taken the precaution of keeping the vessel close to the northern limit of the corridor, the farthest from the Somalian coast.
The global maritime body has recorded more than 80 piracy incidents of piracy or attempted piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast this year.
Rampant insecurity inside Somalia remains a major obstacle to the delivery of humanitarian supplies.
Source: Xinhua, Nov 11, 2008