Weekly Pirate Activity Update - 25 November

OCEANUSLive Weekly Pirate Activity Update 

In a very quiet week for piracy in all regions, this week has seen good news prevail. Rosalia D'Amato is released and the Captain of Samho Jewelry is honoured by the IMO. A recording of VHF call of a pirate attack is posted. India announces anti-piracy measures but EU expresses shortage of warships. Call for armed guards shows no sign of slowing. Yemen court jail 10 pirates. Stop paying ransoms says adviser. Seafarer's charity fund and humanitarian programme making a difference. Ex-hostage from MV Blida speaks of his ordeal. French kidnap couple tell their story in court. How to catch a pirate – cooperation is key.

The US celebrated Thanksgiving this week, and many seafarers had reason to do likewise. A relatively inactive week for piracy across all regions culminated in the release of the Italian ship Rosalia D’Amato. On its way to Oman, there was a little confusion as they did not consider themselves free until they had departed Somali waters.

The recording of a VHF Radio call by MV North Contender in the Gulf of Aden to Djibouti Radio in April 2011, demonstrates the menace of piracy in a region patrolled by warships. The task not made any easier by the EU statement that 2012 will see less naval assets in the area of operations due to economic constraints. At a time when the UN Security Council reiterates the need for all member States and regional organisations that have the ability to fight piracy, to do so. In the meantime, India’s government announces anti-piracy measures to be adopted in protecting its merchant vessels. Amongst the measures is a directive to enhance the vigil by naval ships in the EEZ.

Yemen has sentenced 10 pirates to 10 years imprisonment, which is a softening from earlier sentencing where pirates had been sentenced to death. In the trial of six pirates in France over an attack on a yacht in September 2008, the couple tell of the attack and their capture for the first time.

The issue of armed guards on vessels shows no lack of support in many countries. One UK Company has declared the requirement for 150 more guards to be employed. BIMCO has stated that the association is to develop a standard contract for the use of armed guards with the focus on liability and responsibility in keeping with IMO guidelines. Greece enacts a bill to permit armed guards on their merchant vessels.

Taiwan has clarified that it is not to send a task force to the Somali waters.

Whilst marine insurers discuss the matter of cargo piracy insurance, a senior defence adviser instructs shipping firms to stop paying ransoms.

As stated last week (with typos), the Netherlands and Germany combine to create an investigation team which will try to discover where the millions of dollars of ransom money go to in an effort to track down the broader piracy network. OCEANUSLive raised the issue in a previous article on Hawala money.

The seafarer charities and humanitarian programme show how the fund will help seafarers and their families. Dr Peter Swift gives an interview to Lloyd’s List.

A crew member of the recently released MV Blida speaks of the ordeal as a hostage of Somali pirates and how a ransom drop was not the end of his trouble. He will not go back to sea.

The International Maritime Organisation presented the IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea to Captain Seog Hae-gyun of the Republic of Korea, Master of the chemical tanker Samho Jewelry for his heroic actions to keep his vessel and crew safe off the coast of Somalia.

How to catch a pirate – Cooperation is key.

Pirate Activity - East Africa                                                  

A SOMALI PIRATE ATTACK, recorded via VHF, on the Panama-flagged chemical tanker North Contender when underway in the Gulf of Aden at 1115 UTC on April 10, 2011. Contacting Djibouti Radio, the video/audio describes how one white (4 POB) and one blue skiff (5 POB) approached the tanker to within 500 metres. Warning shots were fired by the onboard security guards. The skiffs moved away and continued to follow the tanker for a further 15 minutes before finally moving away. In contacting a warship in the region, the crewmember relates how the advice to change course would stand them into danger. The video/audio is available here (via YouTube). The length of time taken to determine radio signal strength demonstrates the difficulty in communication in the region.

SUSPECTED PIRATES, EARLY on Tuesday, fired shots at Italy's Andrea Doria navy vessel off the Somali coast. The Andrea Doria was monitoring a motor boat suspected of pirate activities when the suspected pirates opened fire on the Italian ship around 8 nautical miles off the Somali coast, according to a Italian Defense Ministry statement. The Italians returned fire without damaging the suspected pirates’ boat, the statement said. Nobody was hurt in the incident. The Andrea Doria is part of a NATO mission to patrol the Somali coast in an effort to combat piracy - MENAFN.

BRITISH HOSTAGE JUDITH TEBBUTT is being used as a pawn by Somali pirates so troops will not attack them, according to the Daily Mirror.

She was snatched from a beach resort in neighbouring Kenya two months ago in a raid which saw her husband David shot dead.

Now the ruthless bandits are moving Judith round the Somali warzone as a human shield.

The pirates are [allegedly] allied with Islamic extremists Al-Shabaab, who are fighting off constant attacks from the Kenyan army.

Major Emmanuel Chirchir, Kenya’s military spokesman, said: “They might make crazy threats but they won’t hurt her. She is a ­ valuable asset for them. They want a lot of money for her.”

The pirates are thought to be holding Judith, 56, at gunpoint in Kismayo, southern Somalia.

Daughter Carol said: “We haven’t heard anything about a ransom demand.” Kenya has declared war on Al-Shabaab, who they blame for a wave of kidnappings and ship seizures. The militants are fighting to oust the Somali government.

LOCAL SECURITY FORCES arrested eight al-Shabaab fighters and four pirates in Bosaso, a port city in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland, during security operations over the last two weeks – Somalia Report.

Police arrested eight al-Shabaab members who were trained in assassination, according to Abas Abdi, the commander of the central police station in Bosaso, who spoke to Somalia Report.

Meanwhile Bosaso police arrested five Somali pirates last Sunday evening during the raid on a house at Raf Iyo Raho village in southeast of Bosaso, but one pirate escaped.

The homeowner and two women were also arrested at the scene, but the owner was released on Friday when it was confirmed that he didn't have any pirate connection.

Puntland officials have warned locals not to rent their homes to pirates or terrorists.

Two of the pirates are said to be members of a pirate group who areholding a Greek-owned vessel (likely MV Olib G) in Garad area, while the two other are from the pirate group that operates in northern Somalia.

Reliable sources confirm that pirates were planning to buy two vehicles and then travel to Garad in a few days.

The November 3 to 18 security sweep was the largest security operation by Bosaso police and conducted 24 hours a day.

For two of the days during the operation vehicles were prohibited from entering Bosaso as officials received information that terror suspects were planning attacks in the city, the official told Somalia Report.

Police vowed to continue their search for pirates and al-Shabaab fighters.

Release by Pirates                                                                

AND SO IT ENDS after more than seven months in captivity, Rosalia D'Amato, is reported to have been released by Somali pirates. We do not know the conditions of seafarers on board. The news is not official confirmation but sources close to the shipowner, it seems that now everything has been resolved says Libero Reporter - OCEANUSLive.

Rosalia D'Amato (Photo: Somalia Report)

The Rosalia D'Amato is free. Now, finally, hopefully we can learn more about tuberculosis cases on board the ship, says the shipowner, Perseverance Navigation SpA, when rumours of the ships' release was heard a few hours ago. It is at this moment, en route to the Oman. The Rosalia D'Amato had been boarded by Somali pirates last April 21, in the Indian Ocean. The ship was headed to the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini, Iran, from Brazil, with a cargo of soya.

The Rosalia D'Amato has a crew of 21 comprising of 6 Italians (listed as: Horace Lanza, the commander from Messina, Anthony Jerome, chief engineer from  Mazara del Vallo (Trapani), Gennaro Odoaldo, third mate, Vincent Ambrosino, assistant engineer officer, both from Procida (Naples) , Giuseppe Maresca, second mate from  VicoEquense (Naples), Pasquale Massa chief mate from Meta di Sorrento, but resident in Belgium) and 15 Filipinos. During captivity, 5 of the crew were reported to be suffering from high blood pressure and the shipowner struggled to get medication to them.

No word has been received concerning the payment of any ransom, although pirates have made confusing claims that either US$600,000 or US$6 million was paid. The original demand was for US$7 million.

Pirate Activity    - SE Asia                                                    

AS WITH OTHER regions where piracy is active, Southeast Asia saw less attacks than in previous weeks. See ‘Piracy Incidents’ below. Two late reported attacks submitted by ReCAAP show the dangers to seafarers.

November 4 at 1933 LT in position 01:14.6N - 104:06.82E, approximately 3nm North of Pulau Batam, Singapore-flagged barge carrier, Kimitrans 3010, boarded by unknown number of robbers from a small boat. They escaped with unknown amount of scrap iron. No crew were injured. The Master informed Singapore Vessel Traffic Management. A Republic of Singapore Navy patrol boat investigated the incident location but no small boats were seen in the vicinity of the barge. However, the patrol remained with the barge for some time.

November 4 at 0230 LT in position 01:18.65N - 104:13.43E, approximately 2.5nm South of Tg Ayam, Malaysia, Singapore-flagged product tanker, Wealthy, was boarded by 7 masked robbers with long knives from a boat. Five went to the galley, another two proceeded to C/Os cabin. One robber remained on boat. Crew cabins were ransacked, and the crew tied up with cable-ties. The Master and 1 AB sustained minor cuts during the struggle. The robbers escaped with crew personal belongings and valuables. The crew managed to free themselves after the robbers left the ship. The Master reported the incident to the Malaysian Police.

Pirates in Court                                                                  

A YEMINI CRIMINAL court on Saturday sentenced 10 Somalis to 10 years in prison after convicting them of piracy in Yemen’s territorial waters, the state-run Saba news agency reported - Coastweek.

The court based in Mukalla, the provincial capital city of the southeast province of Hadramout, said that the convicts were arrested while they were targeting Yemeni and foreign ships in the Yemeni territorial waters in the Gulf of Aden as their boat was equipped with rifles

Saba did not provide details on the date of their arrest.

FRENCH COUPLE FROMTahiti Bernadette and Jean-Yves Delanne, of the yacht Carre d'As IV, have told for the first time the details of their attack and capture by Somali pirates in September 2008. Six Somali pirates are on trial for the attack, reported by Sail-World at the time – Sail-World.

They have told how a well-armed pirate flotilla burst out of thick yellow fog in the Gulf of Aden and closed in on their yacht, which was sailing alone...

'There was a sort of ochre-coloured fog in the Gulf of Aden, the sea was calm,' 63-year-old Bernadette told the French court, recounting how the couple arrived in the notoriously dangerous waters on September 2, 2008.

Bernadette and Jean-Yves were experienced sailors, sailing their Amel Super Maramu, a 16m (53ft) ketch towards the gulf, a choke-point on the route to the Suez Canal.

They told of how first a small skiff with a 40 horsepower outboard and only three pirates on board surged out of the gloom and stormed towards them.

Jean-Yves manoeuvred to try to lose their pursuers, but the launch rammed them. 'I was very scared. I screamed. I thought my husband would be gunned down,' declared Bernadette.

One of the boarding party fell in the ocean, but a slight man, 'barely 40 kilos' jumped aboard the Carre d'As and fired at least one shot.

Almost immediately a second launch arrived, along with the pirate's so-called 'mother ship', which the couple said resembled a whaler, each carrying pirates armed with 'rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers'.

Ten gunmen boarded the yacht. One understood navigation and took the helm, plonking a compass down and declaring a 120 degree bearing, in other words: 'Reverse course. We were no longer going to Yemen, but Somalia.'

The pirates seemed delighted with their luxury prize, the couple said, telling of how they used the shower and the toilet, used the sat-phone to call their families and took pictures of each other with the couple's camera.

They demanded that the captives cook for them, but did not harm them.

'My husband said: 'We are 60 years old, married for 40 years. You should respect my wife and respect me.' They never shoved us,' said Bernadette. Jean-Yves said their captors were kind, apart from 'one or two'.

The yacht dropped anchor off a Somali village and a local leader - who has not been captured - came aboard with his translator Yacub, who is now one of the six confused and homesick men on trial a hemisphere away.

The gang initially demanded a four-million-dollar ransom, but the very next day offered a 'two-million-dollar discount', before falling to arguing among themselves for several days, splitting along clan lines.

Some of the pirates eventually decided to move on, setting sail again and taking the couple with them, hugging the coast en route for Eyl, a notorious pirate den on the Somali coast.

There, a 30-man French assault team from the Hubert Commando, an elite frogman commando unit, stormed the yacht, shooting one pirate dead, arresting six [now on trial in Paris] and freeing the couple. During the raid, Bernadette hid in a cupboard and Jean-Yves in the toilet.

'We did the right thing,' she said. 'At least one of the pirates wouldn't have given us up easily.'

Private Security                                                             

SEAHOLD GEOSHIPS LTD’s subsidiary company Brooking Shipping Limited (BSL), has been awarded a contract for an escort vessel which is anticipated to generate £1.9million each year – Marine Link.

Express Opportune (Photo: MarineLink)

This is the first contract BSL has been awarded since being acquired by the shipping and marine contractor, GEOSHIPS. BSL, the marine division of GEOSHIPS, has been appointed the escort vessel contract by Mercator International Limited, for the technical and crew management of the new build 36m vessel, Express Opportune. It is a fast support intervention vessel capable of 25 knots and specifically prepared for the Anti-Piracy role.

BSL took delivery of the vessel in Singapore and the contract is initially for six months with automatic extensions. The work will primarily be in support of commercial ships transiting the Arabian Gulf and East Africa areas. Escort vessels act as a visible threat deterrent and enforce an exclusion zone around a commercial vessel.

BIMCO IS DEVELOPING a standard contract for the employment of armed guards aboard ship. The new contract will be drafted by a team of shipowners, lawyers and underwriters, and with the assistance of the International Group of P&I Clubs – Marine Log.

It will require private security firms offering armed guards to follow the IMO Guidelines for owners on the used privately contracted armed security personnel on board ships (MSC Circular 1405). Of major importance is ensuring that security contractors have in place proper and sufficient public and employers' liability insurance – which is a concern recently raised by the International Group of P&I Clubs. While much of the new BIMCO contract will deal with operational aspects of employing armed security guards, issues of liability and responsibility will be of prime importance.

BIMCO says that new private maritime security firms are springing up almost daily to meet shipowners' growing demands for their services for vessels operating in piracy risk areas. It says that it is very important that this new sector be regulated and that harmonized terms are developed and agreed.

BIMCO has given the project the highest priority so that the standard contract can be published as soon as possible – most likely within the next two months.

INCREASING NUMBERS OF former armed forces personnel are finding work protecting merchant ships from pirates, says a Devon firm, says BBC News.

Securewest employs 150 guards in areas like the east African coast where pirates prey on ships.

And it says there is rising demand for the recruits by shipowners.

The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents merchant ship owners, said piracy had "spiralled out of control" since the start of 2011.

Clare Williamson-Cary, CEO of Kingsbridge-based Securewest, said ship owners were becoming more confident about having security guards on their ships.

"There has been a great deal of nervousness among owners about armed guards," she said.

"But many crews are now reticent about getting on ships unless there is security."

The International Chamber of Shipping said: "Arming ships is a necessary alternative to avoiding the Indian Ocean completely."

Ms Williamson-Cary said: "We are not looking for a fight, our job is entirely defensive, to make sure pirates don't attack our client's ship."

GREEK CARGO VESSELS serving international routes will be staffed with up to six private armed guards to fend off possible attacks by pirates under a new draft bill announced on Friday – Neptune Maritime Security.

Greek-owned cargo vessels have in recent years been attacked by pirates, demanding huge ransoms.

The bill comes after lobbying by Greek shipowners, who have warned of havoc on vital international maritime trade lines if piracy is not curtailed.

This modification will enable Greek-owned ships flying flags of convenience - around 500 vessels according to the union of Greek captains - to also be eligible.

THE Times Colonist goes on to report Greek authorities had initially resisted ship-owner calls to beef up security, a move opposed by crews fearing the presence of armed guards will ultimately only result in pirates switching to heavier weaponry to secure their prize.

"This measure threatens to set off an arms race with the pirates," said George Tsouris, the head secretary of the Greek captains' union, who has himself fallen victim to pirates on his voyages.

"It could also disrupt the chain of command on board," he told AFP.

But the failure of international efforts to address the problem has led to a change of policy with Greece now following the example of Britain, the first European Union state to arm its merchant vessels.

Many Greek-owned vessels have been seized by pirates in recent years, resulting in long period of captivity for crews and heavy insurance and ransom costs for shipowners

A QUESTION RAISED in the House of Lords in reference to armed guards on UK-flagged vessels:

In answer, Earl Attlee stated: The Prime Minister confirmed last month that the Government now recognise the engagement of private armed guards as an option to protect human life onboard UK-registered ships in exceptional circumstances.

The Department for Transport is working with other government departments to finalise national guidance to ship owners and an interim process by which private security companies can lawfully possess prohibited firearms on board UK ships in these exceptional circumstances. It is expected that the guidance will be published later this month and a Written Ministerial Statement will be placed before the House at this time – Parliament UK.

Held Hostage                                                                 

MOHAMED AIT RAMDANE’S ordeal did not end when a ransom fell from the sky and the pirates left the ship. After 31 years as a sailor, the chief engineer of the MV Blida has vowed never to go to sea again - AFP.

Released on November 3 with his 25 fellow crew members, the 55-year-old Algerian is a bruised man, grappling with the same trauma experienced by hundreds of other often anonymous victims of Somali piracy.

Held hostage for 10 months, the crew of 17 Algerians, six Ukrainians, two Filipinos, one Jordanian and one Indonesian endured death threats and were deprived of food and clean drinking water while they watched their Somali captors get drunk.

"At the beginning, we were afraid we would be killed. After that, they killed us every day psychologically," said Ramdane, who talked falteringly about his ordeal from his family home in Hadjout, 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of Algiers.

"The Somali pirates were on board a Tunisian ship, Hannibal, equipped with three motor boats," he explained.

Between 20 and 30 heavily armed pirates then ascended the Blida, cutting the radio and radar as they arrived.

Like Ramdane, fellow sailor Smail Kahli, 61, feared for his life. After 42 years at sea, Kahli was on his last voyage before retirement.

"I thought of my granddaughter Maram -- now 20 months old -- when the pirates took us hostage," confided Kahli.

Call to Arms & Actions                                                   

THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL has made renewed calls on states and regional organisations that have the ability to fight piracy, to do so, reports IFW-Net.

They should deploy naval ships, arms and military aircraft to seize “vessels and any other equipment used to carry out acts of maritime piracy, or for which there is reasonable ground to suspect that they will be put to such use”.

Meanwhile the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has also renewed calls for more co-ordination to fight piracy and greater pressure at the highest political levels for the release of hostages.

At the 27th session of the IMO’s governing body this week, Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said the escalation of piracy off the coast of Somalia was a “matter of grave concern”.

An IMO action plan aims to increase political pressure to secure the release of all hostages being held by pirates, to review and improve the IMO guidelines to administrations and seafarers and promote compliance with industry best management practices and the recommended preventive, evasive and defensive measures ships should follow.

It also aims to promote greater levels of support from, and coordination with, navies and states.

Mitropoulos said that, while the percentage of attacks that proved successful for the pirates had dropped to less than 20% this year, many seafarers were “going about their daily business in ships wrapped in razor wire in a state of constant wariness as they ran the gauntlet of pirate gangs”.

To underline the seriousness of the situation, he added that - at the close of business last week - there were 15 ships held in Somalia, with 311 seafarers captured.

SHIPPING FIRMS MUST stop giving in to pirates and handing over ransoms if they want to stamp out hijackings along the Somali coastline, claims a top defence adviser.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a senior strategic and military adviser, told 7DAYS during a visit to Dubai that he blamed vessel owners for the increasing acts of piracy in Somalia, as many insist on sailors using the Gulf of Aden because it is a cheaper and quicker route.

“In a bid to minimise costs and maximise profits, a number of ships are taking the risk by using routes that are prone to piracy. Safer routes such as the Cape of Good Hope are considered costly and time consuming,” said Parry, a former British naval officer. Parry said ship owners have a responsibility to protect their crew, vessels and cargo and must look at ways to prevent hijackings - paying a ransom should be a last resort, he said.

“Ransom payments are the key factor in the escalation of acts of piracy along the Somali coast,” added Parry.

“By refusing to pay ransoms to the hijackers, it will become unattractive for Somalis who have come to see piracy as a fruitful industry.” He said the US government was already discouraging boat bosses from paying ransoms and insisted others should follow suit.

The UAE-owned ship MV Iceberg 1, which was hijacked 19 months ago, is a troubling example of where paying up can become even more problematic. The hijackers had initially demanded $4 million for the release of the vessel and its sailors. A number of organisations clubbed together to pay the ransom, but the ship and its crew are still being held and the latest reports suggest that the hijackers are now demanding $8 million.

Parry, who was the first chairman of the UK Government’s Marine Management Organisation, explained that one of the major difficulties with tackling piracy is that the crooks are being supported by a large network that involved money handlers and weapons suppliers, making it difficult to penetrate the gangs.

He added that confusion in the interpretation of international laws on how to deal with hijackings in Somalia has delayed a global response to the problem. “No one is in charge and this makes it difficult to penetrate the networks under which the pirates operate. Even where some individuals are suspected, it is hard to obtain any evidence that links them to the pirates,” Parry said.

He suggested that the international community should help the current Somali government increase its jurisdiction over the entire territory and put pressure on the country to give its people more job opportunities to lure them away from criminal activities.

CONTRARY TO MEDIA REPORTS, the [Taiwan] Navy has no immediate plans to send a patrol fleet to the Indian Ocean to protect Taiwanese fishing boats in the pirate-infested area, a defense ministry official said Monday, reports Taiwan News. However, although it is not on the cards at the moment, the ministry is capable of carrying out such an operation and is well prepared, Deputy Defense Minister Chao Shih-chang said. Chao was responding to recent reports that Taiwan planned to deploy a fleet to the Indian Ocean sometime this month to protect Taiwanese fishing vessels from attacks by Somali pirates.

The action was being taken based on a directive from the National Security Council (NSC), the reports said. However, Chao said in a legislative session that the information was false. The military carries out NSC directives in line with government policies and in collaboration with relevant agencies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on issues such as dispatching flotillas to protect deep-sea fishing vessels and crewmembers, he said.

The issue of whether to send a Navy fleet to the Indian Ocean surfaced after incidents of Taiwanese fishing boats being hijacked by Somali pirates in the region were reported. In one such incident earlier this month, a Taiwan-registered fishing boat the Chin Yi Wen was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The crew later managed to overpower the pirates and regain control of the 260-ton vessel with 28 crewmembers on board. The boat escaped to safety with the assistance of British anti-piracy vessels.

THE INDIAN MINISTER of Shipping, Shri G.K. Vasan, informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question that the Indian Government states the Press Information Bureau of India, has taken following steps to prevent piracy attempts at sea:

1. Notices by Director General of Shipping detailing elaborate anti-piracy measures (Best Management Practices) including safe house/citadel.

2. Sailing vessels banned from plying in waters south or west of the line joining Salalah and Male. 

3. Naval escort provided by Indian Naval Ships in Gulf of Aden.

4. Enhanced vigil by Indian Navy in Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

5.  Guidelines for deployment of armed guards on Indian merchant ships issued on 29/8/2011.

6. Active participation by the Government agencies in International Maritime Organisation meetings, meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) established in pursuance of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1851 and other international fora.

THE INTERNATIONAL UNION of Marine Insurance recent conference debated the issues surrounding piracy, in particular, with the delivery of a cargo-specific solution and any alternatives.

The major point of discussion following the conference has been how the cargo market ?addresses the risk of piracy – Neptune Maritime Security.

Nevertheless, insurers are concerned about potential liabilities arising from the use of armed guards. Shipping bodies are keen to set up a standardised contract to prevent less experienced or less professional armed guards from being employed and doing more harm than good.

Dieter Berg, senior executive manager for marine at Munich Re, explains the discussion among cargo insurers could indicate that ?premiums no longer make adequate allowance for piracy, which could explain why premiums largely fail to reflect the trend in losses.

Berg expresses a common anxiety among insurers when he says the use of armed guards onboard vessels will increase the risk of escalating violence, with the potential of major harm to crews, the environment, hull and cargo. In his view the problem of piracy cannot simply be passed onto shipowners or insurers.

“The community of states has yet to crack down on piracy with the necessary resolve. Sustainable concepts for pacifying the affected regions are still very patchy. Military measures to improve the situation in the short term may be a step in the right direction but, unfortunately, they are not effective enough.”

“Legal systems must be adapted to interlock more effectively. Only international regulations allowing the systematic criminal prosecution and conviction of criminals can act as a deterrent.” (Read more at above link).

THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS Marechaussee (Constabulary) is participating in a new German-Dutch investigation team set up to combat piracy in Somali waters. The team will focus primarily on identifying the organisers, financiers and negotiators involved in hijacking merchant shipping - DefenceWeb.

The Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office made the announcement of the team’s establishment on November 17.

The Dutch ministry of defence said the investigation team will try to discover where the millions of dollars of ransom money go to in an effort to track down the broader piracy network.

The Joint Investigation Team is an initiative of the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office and the German Public Prosecutor’s Office in Osnabrück, Germany. In addition, the National Criminal Investigation Service, the State Investigation Bureau of Lower Saxony, the Federal Investigation Bureau in Berlin, Eurojust and Europol are also taking part.

OCEANUSLive contributor, David de Bernardin, commented on the trail of pirate ransoms through hawala channels back in August of this year. It covered the difficulty in recovering such monies without the harmony of the differing legal systems. The Dutch-German initiative, hopefully, goes some way to resolve this matter.

Cooperation is Key                                                         

WITH PIRACY IN INTERNATIONAL waters an increasingly major concern for the commercial shipping industry, anti-piracy measures have become an essential facet of global naval operations. Piracy represents both a physical threat to those onboard and a significant global commercial threat - as much as $12 billion a year, according to a 2010 report by American non-profit, One Earth Future Foundation, writes Rowan Watt-Pringle in Naval Technology.

International law states that piracy is a crime that can be committed only on or over international waters and other places beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any nation. Effectively, anti-piracy measures require concerted coordination between various nations.

"Navies can gain increased situational awareness through active surveillance by the vessels in the area, which can report suspicious vessels either to navies or to IMB's 24-hour Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in Malaysia," said Cyrus Mody, ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) manager, London.

A US 5th Fleet spokesperson supported this view, saying technologies and capabilities used by counter-piracy units focus on the ability to achieve a coherent picture across the counter-piracy area of operations, thus enabling the efficient use of allocated resources to effectively disrupt and deter suspected pirates.

According to the IMB, while the number of piracy incidents grew by 5% last year to 430 attacks worldwide, it could drop this year, with 397 attacks reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) as of November 14.

Glen Forbes - co-founder of OCEANUSLive.org - reinforces Mody's assertion, and said: "Best Management Practice (now at version 4, or BMP4) has been the foundation for the overall improvement in security measures on ships; combined with greater ship protection measures, planning and, crucially, the use of private security teams; this has made ship 'hardening' more reliable." Read more here.

Task Force                                                                          

THE EUROPEAN UNION is short of warships for its counter-piracy mission off Somalia and is unlikely the fill the gap until March given economic constraints, the top EU military officer said on Tuesday, writes David Brunnstrom for Reuters.

Swedish General Hakan Syren, chairman of the EU Military Committee, said the shortage would be a "problem", without going into further details.

An EU military official later played down the challenge, saying the shortfall would coincide with a period when pirate attacks normally declined and the bloc would be able to sustain the mission.

Pirates operating from the Somali coast have raked in millions of dollars in ransoms from hijacking ships and a total of 243 hostages and 10 vessels are currently being held, according to figures from EU NAVFOR, the EU's anti-piracy task force.

A report earlier this year estimated maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7 billion and $12 billion through higher shipping costs and ransom payments.

Syren said the EU operation, codenamed ‘Atalanta’, had a normal minimum force requirement of four to six warships, depending on the time of the year, and this would not be met in the period from December until March.

"The ... commander has a minimum level of both maritime patrol aircraft and ships; and during quite a limited time ... the number of ships is below the red line," he told a news conference after a meeting of defence chiefs of the 27 EU states.

"It's a problem. I am telling you the facts and it is really a problem ... and we have faced this before," he said.

Syren blamed the economic crisis, as well as fatigue from NATO's Libya operation, in which European NATO members maintained a seven-month sea mission to enforce a U.N. arms embargo up until the end of October.

Seafarers' Plight                                                                

DR. PETER SWIFT, CHAIRMAN of the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme speaks to Craig Eason (Lloyd’s List interview series) at ICOPAS 2011 about the human element of piracy and the impact that being held hostage can have on seafarers. The video is available here (YouTube).

THE SEAFARERS’ TRUST, the charity arm of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), has just released details of its latest £6.5 million donations bringing the total given in grants so far in 2011 to £9 million, reports Handy Shipping Guide.

Seafarers' Charities (Photo: HSG)

The cross-industry Maritime Piracy HumanitarianResponse Programme (MPHRP) involving representatives from across the container shipping and bulk freight community which was officially launched in London in September, and today published its first guides to helping piracy victims, receives £750,000 over three years as part of its £3.3 million programme to address the problems facing seafarers and the families of freight and other ocean going vessels affected by piracy.The launch of the MPHRP was covered in full in our article at the time including films showing the dire straits which many of the victims and their families found themselves in and the money from the Trust will be more than welcome.

The £6.5 million will go to five different projects dealing with the welfare of seafarers. The largest grant, of £5 million, goes to Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI) for a five year programme to develop the progress it has already achieved in advancing the legal rights of seafarers, including its work on criminalisation, abandonment and piracy. The other recipients include Seafarerhelp, the 24 hour multilingual helpline for seafarers; a project to increase the capacity of the Philippines seafarers’ health services to deal with blood cancers, in conjunction with a large teaching hospital in Genoa, and the German Seamen’s Mission seafarers hostel in Bremerhaven, which gets funding to improve its accommodation for seafarers.

And Finally...                                                                     

CAPTAIN SEOG HAE-GYUN of the Republic of Korea, Master of the chemical tanker Samho Jewelry, has been presented with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea 2011, for his decisive, brave and courageous actions to protect his ship and crew during a vicious pirate attack in the Indian Ocean, which left him with serious and long-lasting injuries.

Captain Seog Hae-gyun poses with his medal (Photo: IMO)

Captain Seog, accompanied by his wife, was handed the award by IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, during a ceremony held on 21 November 2011 at IMO Headquarters in London.

When the Samho Jewelry was boarded by pirates, in January 2011, the crew took cover in the designated citadel but the pirates broke in, detaining them on the bridge. Over two days, Captain Seog steered the ship on a zig-zag course, so that the pirates would not realize that the vessel was actually heading away from, instead of towards, Somali waters. He contaminated the fuel so the engines would not work normally, pretended the steering gear was malfunctioning and slowed the ship’s speed from 14 knots to six, to keep her out of Somali waters for as long as possible, thus maximizing the potential for units of the Republic of Korea Navy to attempt a rescue. However, the pirates became suspicious that some of Captain Seog’s actions were intended to outwit them and they brutally assaulted him, causing serious fractures to his legs and shoulders.

While all this was happening, the pirates ordered him to communicate information about the incident to his shipping company in English, via satellite. Captain Seog surreptitiously inserted information in Korean about the true situation – information that proved vital for the Navy of his country to plan, and execute, a rescue operation. Read more at OCEANUSLive.

Piracy Incidents                                                                     

Hijack:

• None.

Unsuccessful Attacks (All Regions):

•  Arabian Sea - November 19 (via NSC) at 1420 UTC in position 22:04N - 059:51E, N Arabian Sea, a Vessel was approached by a skiff with 3 POB. The skiff travelled at a speed of 21kts. The vessel’s crew secured in citadel and BMP4 measures implemented. The skiff aborted the approach. Vessel was reported as being safe.

•  Bay of Bengal - November 20 at 2315 LT: Posn: 22:12N – 091:45E, Chittagong Anchorage ‘B’, Bangladesh. Duty officer onboard an anchored Singapore-registered bulk carrier, Maritime Fidelity, noticed robbers on the forecastle deck. He alerted the deck watchkeepers who rushed to the forecastle. Seeing alert crew the robbers escaped with stolen ship stores. Master made several attempts to contact the port authority but received no response.

• Gulf of Aden - November 20 (via NSC/IMB) at 1345 UTC in position 12:27N - 043:47E, Bab Al Mandeb Strait, two skiffs, one white-hulled and one yellow-hulled, each with 8 POB, attacked a bulk carrier, Pioneer Pacific. At approx 600 metres distance, the ship launched 2 warning hand flares. Personnel in the skiffs fired at the ship, which then fired warning shots. Skiffs abandoned the approach.

• Somali Basin - November 21 (via NSC) at 0536 UTC in position 04:04S - 043:02E, approximately 200nm East of Mombasa, Kenya, a Panama-flagged container ship, MSC Jeanne, was attacked by 2 Skiffs with 3 POB in each. Weapons were fired on the vessel. The Master raised the alarm, took preventative measures and fired flares towards the skiffs, resulting in the pirates aborting the attempted hijack and moving away. Later in the day, it was reported that the whaler-based PAG had been disrupted by naval forces.

AT LEAST 16 ships (9 commercial vessels, 7 fishing vessels) and an estimated 304 hostages are in the control of Somali pirates, as well as an unknown number of small dhows.

In an disturbing shift from piracy to kidnapping, just over 10% (41) of these hostages, including crew members from the MT Asphalt Venture, MV Orna, SY Choizil, MV Leopard and tourist Judith Tebbutt are being held on land or on board other vessels. See the Somalia Report Weekly Piracy Report for details of ships held.

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. BMP version 4 is available at the link above; a high resolution version can be downloaded here.

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. 

Horn of Africa Pirate Activity

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Any suspicious activity should be reported to UKMTO in Dubai in the first instance (Email UKMTO or Telephone+971 50 552 3215) and on entering the UKMTO Voluntary Reporting Area (VRA) bound by Suez, 78E and 10S

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