Tuesday, December 29, 2009
By MARK McDONALD
HONG KONG — A Greek-owned cargo ship and a British-flagged chemical tanker have been seized by Somali pirates as the marauders scored a record number of attacks and hijackings in 2009. The Piracy Reporting Center of the International Maritime Bureau said Tuesday that pirates operating across the Gulf of Aden and along the coast of Somalia have attacked 214 vessels so far this year, resulting in 47 hijackings. Twelve of those ships, with a total of 263 crew members, are currently being held for ransom by the pirates.
In 2008, according to the maritime bureau, 111 ships were attacked, a figure that itself represented a 200 percent increase from 2007.
The St James Park, a slow-moving chemical tanker bound from Spain to Thailand, issued a distress signal Monday night that it was being attacked in the Gulf of Aden. The owners confirmed Tuesday that the ship had been seized.
The other hijacking, a Greek-owned bulk carrier under the Panamanian flag, came off the coast of Somalia.
Two hijackings were acknowledged by the European Union Naval Force Somalia, but a press officer at the mission headquarters in Britain declined Tuesday to give any immediate details about the status of either vessel or its crews.
The presence of warships from the European Union, the United States, China, Japan, Russia, India and other nations has reduced the number of attacks on merchant and leisure ships in the Gulf of Aden. As many as 30 ships are patrolling the gulf at any given time, naval officials said, and patrol missions were not being reduced over the holidays.
“The success rate in taking ships has dropped dramatically in the gulf because of the large naval presence now,” said Noel Choong, an official with the reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
But the pirates have moved their focus to the southern and eastern coasts of Somalia where patrols are virtually nonexistent. Using sophisticated electronics, heavy weapons, large oceangoing boats and speedier attack craft, the pirates are now able to operate far from land for weeks at a time.
“Most ships are now being taken off the coast of Somalia and the success rate is high,” said Mr. Choong. “The pirates have a free hand there. We’re very concerned. It’s our main worry. We’ve asked for protection there, but the coalition is busy in the gulf.”
Pirates seized a Yemeni fishing boat in the Gulf of Aden on Dec. 18, after a lull in the gulf since a large merchant vessel was taken the first week of July.
Mr. Choong said ship owners were taking more anti-piracy precautions, but he had not heard reports of armed guards being used aboard vessels.
“We are not encouraging armed guards,” he said. “The pirates have not been firing at the crews. They fire at the bridge to intimidate the captains into stopping their ships.
“We’ve seen photographs of crew members taking pictures of pirates while they’re attacking. From a distance the pirates might not be able to tell if they have a camera and not a gun.”
Source: New York Times, December 29, 2009