Horn of Africa Piracy Activity Update - 1 Apr

With all the news of members of the UN Security Council meeting in New York re-authorising states and regional groups to intervene at sea, as needed, against piracy off Somalia. The Indian Navy and Coast Guard continue to deter piracy in the waters close to their west coast. Somalia and India have agreed there is a need to achieve a common strategy to tackle the scourge of piracy in the Indian Ocean (NTDTV.com). In the meantime, Puntland and the Seychelles have agreed to work collectively on combating piracy, including building prisons in Puntland. By far the oddest pirate demand to surface to date is the claim that a pirate chief will free the kidnapped Danish family and drop the $5 million ransom demand - on the proviso that the parents will let him marry their 13-year-old daughter! However, the dreadful matter of the hijack of merchant vessels continues with the MV Zirku capture this week.

The Northeast monsoon seems to have come to an end, and with sea states at a low across the region, it is reasonable to expect more attacks to occur in the coming weeks. PAG activity in the southern Somali Basin down to the Mozambique Channel and out towards the Seychelles is Likely.

The UN Security Council met in New York March 23, which resulted in "condemning and deploring all acts of piracy and armed robbery against vessels in the waters off the coast of Somalia, the Security Council today extended for 12 months its authorizations granted to States and regional organizations cooperating with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia in the fight against such acts." The document 'reaffirms, calls upon, requests, encourages, commends, recognizes, underlines, emphasises, welcomes, stresses and notes' many aspects, but the shipping community wants more action to be taken. The UN, in its other guises, looks to hold a Somali peace conference in Nairobi, Kenya in April, which Somaliland has refused to attend as it "does not take part in conferences which concern Somalia's political situation" (Somaliareport). This is despite the fact that the UN has funded the newly opened $1.5 million prison in Somaliand.

The U.S. Department of State, at Secretary Clinton's direction, stated "we are intensively reviewing our counter-piracy efforts to determine an even more energetic and comprehensive approach to respond to piracy in the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean region." It was further stated that they were "considering a broad range of options, from intensifying naval operations, to pursuing innovative approaches to prosecute and incarcerate pirates through innovative national and international approaches. Furthermore, we are looking at additional ways to more aggressively target those who organize, lead, and profit from piracy operations, including disrupting the financial networks that support them." (www.state.gov). Assistant Secretary, Andrew Shapiro, went on to say "combating piracy is not just the job of governments. It requires joint action from both the international community and the private sector."

The Indian Navy and Coast Guard captured 16 Somali pirates after a 3-hour battle in the Arabian Sea, during which the vessel caught fire and those onboard had jumped into the sea. 16 crew (12 Iranians and 4 Pakistanis) of the Iranian trawler, FV Morteza, hijacked in November 2010, were freed after the vessel had been used as a mothership in recent weeks. The trawler was attempting to attack the MV Maersk Kensington when the Indian forces had responded to a distress call. A later report claimed that the pirates had tried to hoodwink their assailants by putting the hostages on show with their hands up in an effort to fool them into thinking the pirates were surrendering. However, as they Indian forces stopped firing, and approached the trawler, the pirates began firing again. Only once they were forced to jump into the sea did they surrender. Additionally, it was claimed that 2 crewmembers had been killed by the pirates, and that they may have been Pakistanis. http://t.co/pVDJu71

The EU Op Atalanta mission saw the Spanish warship, Canarias, detain 11 pirates that were on a whaler-style boat and skiff that were caught chasing a Seychelles-registered fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean 260nm Northwest of the Seychelles (eunvafor.eu). In another recently released article, the Iranian Navy is reported to have repelled pirates attacking 2 Iranians merchant vessels. The Iranian warships, Tonb and Delvar, following the recent controversial transit of the Suez Canal, rescued the Valhlh, (en route to Bandar Abbas) near the Suez Canal after coming under attack by 3 skiffs, and the Nabi (en route to Sokhna, Egypt) when it came under attack by 4 skiffs (Fars News Agency).

The UAE-flagged, Kuwaiti-owned, MV Zirku, with a crew of 29 (1 Croat, 1 Iraqi, 1 Filipino, 1 Indian, 3 Jordanians, 3 Egyptians, 2 Ukranians and 17 Pakistanis), was bound for Singapore when it was reported coming under attack by 2 pirate skiffs in position 1536N 05704E, approximately 190nm Southeast of Salalah, Oman. The pirates chased the tanker firing RPG and small arms. The Master ordered an increase in speed, carried out evasive manoeuvres, fired flares and fire hoses were activated. Despite these measures, the pirates were able to come alongside the vessel, board her and pirated the ship (IMB Report). The vessel was registered with MSC(HOA) and was reporting to UKMTO.

In our ongoing support of the SOS - Save Our Seafarers - campaign, aimed at encouraging millions of people around the world to put pressure on their national Governments to crack down on piracy, see www.saveourseafarers.com/, it was interesting to hear of plans to gain the support of a high profile Hollywood actor to front the campaign. It is believed that Tom Hanks, set to play the part of Capt Philips in a film based on the dramatic 2009 incident of Maersk Alabama, is to be approached.

The piracy events in the Horn of Africa region over the last week are;

Hijack:

• MV Zirku (see above).

3 Unsuccessful pirate attacks:

• 26 March at 0745 UTC: in position: 1108S - 04258E, around 24nm NW of Grand Comoros Island. 3 to 4 speed boats with 4-6 pirates in each boat chased a container ship underway. Master raised alarm, increased speed and took evasive manoeuvres. The pirates approached the vessel from various directions and closed to 0.8nm. Due to the effective evasive manoeuvres the pirates aborted the attempt after 1hr 40mins (IMB);
• 27 March at 1245 UTC: in position: 1555.3N – 05551.7E around 122 nm SE off Salalah, Oman. Mothership seen launching a skiff which approached a tanker, NS ASIA, at high speed. Alarm sounded, crew mustered in citadel, SSAS unit activated, speed increased and coalition forces contacted. Onboard security team fired warning shots when the skiff was about 3cables from vessel. Pirates aborted the attack.
• 29 March at 0612 UTC: in position 1330.12N 04730.23E, Gulf of Aden. 4 pirates in white skiff chased product tanker, MV Rudeef, underway. Master heard shots being fired and onboard security guards returned fire. Pirates managed to close to within 50 meters of the vessel before aborting the attack. The vessel evaded hijack.
• 1 April at 0528 UTC: in position 1917N 06545E, approximately 645nm East Northeast of Salalah, Oman. 2 pirate skiffs with 3 suspect pirates in each, fired small arms on a merchant vessel in the Arabian Sea. No report of a hijack being carried, it is believed the vessel evaded the attempted hijack, however, further details are awaited. The position is close to a reported sighting of FV Jih Chun Tsai 68 on March 24.

Suspect Pirate Activity Reports:

• Pirate Action Groups reported operating in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean with the FV Jih Chun Tsai 68, at large conducting mothership operations. A time-delayed reported (via NATO Shipping Centre) stated that a regional dhow, Al Yashin, had been pirated in the Arabian Sea on March 27.

In light of the U.S. Department of State mentioning the use of 'safe haven' on vessels and the Indian National Shipowners' Association (INSA) assertion of the use of safe 'houses' onboard, it is worth reiterating the advice on the use of citadels by merchant vessels, which has been updated in wording agreed by EUNAVFOR, NATO, CMF, UKMTO and the industry signatories to BMP3. The information succinctly states the 'use of a citadel does not guarantee a military response. More can be read in an OCEANUSLive editorial here.

Vessels are reminded that the coalition forces' warships may not be in the vicinity of a pirate attack, subsequently, it is emphasised that seafarers can greatly reduce their chances of being pirated if they follow precautions as recommended in the Best Management Practices, increasing speed and carrying out evasive manoeuvres is a proven deterrent to piracy attacks.

Vessels are advised to exercise extreme caution when navigating in the vicinity of any reported positions of attacks and maintain maximum CPA with any ship acting suspiciously. Additionally, registration of vessel movement with MSC(HOA) prior to transiting the region is recommended.