Pirates hijack Singapore-bound oil tanker

Pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms hijacked an oil tanker bound for Singapore from Sudan yesterday, the European Union's anti-piracy task force said.

"At approximately 0900 (GMT) on 28 March, the Crude Oil Tanker the MV ZIRKU was pirated approximately 250 nautical miles southeast of Salalah in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden," EU Navfor said on its website.

It was not immediately clear whether the tanker, which the website said was Kuwaiti-owned, was fully laden with crude. Sudan is an oil-exporting country.

In Kuwait, officials denied the tanker was Kuwaiti-owned.

US Navy thwarts pirates

The US Navy thwarted a pirate attack on a Philippines-flagged ship in the Arabian Sea last week.

On March 24 the MV Falcon Trader II merchant ship reported it was being attacked by pirates about 300 miles off northeast Masirah, Oman, according to Wing Commander Paddy Kennedy of the European Union Naval Force. 

In a second report from the Falcon Trader II, the crew said there were pirates aboard and that all 20 crewmembers were safely locked in the ship’s citadel or safe room.

Piracy affecting Grindrod

JSE-listed shipping and logistics business Grindrod says piracy has affected the group’s earnings in the year to December. CE Alan Olivier says piracy off the Horn of Africa has had a negative impact on the South African firm's bottom line.

Business Report newspaper says today the miscreants have affected particularly in the group’s Capesize bulk carrier business that mostly carries contractual cargo from Brazil into the Persian Gulf region. Olivier said Grindrod had to divert its ships around the high-risk zone in the Indian Ocean as far as possible, which obviously added significant cost. “Effectively we are losing a voyage a year so when we would be doing six voyages a year (a ship) we are now doing five voyages a year and receiving the same revenue,” he told he business daily.

WSJ: Pirate attacks leave round-the-world sailors with tough choices…

Days before the Quest set off on its doomed trek across the Indian Ocean, Bill Rouse, a Texan attempting to sail around the world, made Quest owner Scott Adam an offer.

Pirate attacks had become so intense, that he and a group of yacht owners decided to transport their vessels across the Indian Ocean by cargo ship. Rouse and the others would fly to Turkey to reclaim their yachts. The cost was steep, $35,000 a piece. There was space for the Quest.

Adam declined. The Quest was planning to sail as part of a convoy for safety. Plus, circumnavigating the globe under his own steam “was a life-long quest,” Rouse said Adam told him.

Somali rebels agree ransom deal with pirate leaders

Somali militants freed pirate gang leaders detained last week after agreeing on a cut for future ransoms as well as a deal to have hijacked ships anchor at the port town of Haradhere, says pirates sources.

The Al Shabaab rebels, who profess loyalty to al Qaeda, said they had settled a multi-million dollar deal to receive a 20 percent cut in all future ransoms paid to the pirates, and opened a marine office at Haradhere to liaise with the pirates.

The rebel group controls major sea ports in southern Somalia, including the port of Kismayo, and seized Haradhere after merging with rival insurgents Hizbul Islam late last year, Reuters reports.

Russian tanker repelled pirate attack in Indian Ocean

Crew of Russian tanker NS Century belonging to JSC Novoship (member of company groupingSovkomflot) repelled attack of armed people in the Indian Ocean, reported RIA Novosti referring to the shipowner's press service. 

The incident happened on Feb 16 forty nautical miles off India. The tanker's crew noticed three boats heading towards the ship, and then the all-ship alarm was given. 

"When armed guards who were on board made a series of cautionary shots, the boats turned back and sailed away. Although it was not confirmed there were pirates in boats, the company's directors thanked the shipmaster and crew of NS Century for vigilance and expertise", reported the press service. 

Somali piracy becoming "criminal enterprise"

Somali piracy has evolved into a transnational, organised criminal network that risks becoming ingrained in the country's economic and social structures, says the head of the US counter-piracy unit.

Attacks on vessels off the coast of Somalia have been growing rapidly since 2007 as young Somalis in small skiffs with their AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades take to the waters to seek their fortunes.

Donna L. Hopkins, coordinator of Counter Piracy and Maritime Security for the US government, said it had become apparent that other nationalities were hoping to reap the benefits of what has become an increasingly lucrative activity, Reuters reports.

International Maritime Organisation warns of not taking piracy threat seriously

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) warns that an “unacceptably high proportion of ships transiting the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean” are not taking the threat of piracy seriously by heeding warnings or taking measures to protect their ships. 

In a circular letter to IMO members, the United Nations, intergovernmental, non-governmental and other organizations, the IMO said that naval forces off the coast of Somalia have observed many ships in area that are not registered with the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa; are not reporting to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Dubai; show no piracy deterrents and are not acting on warnings of pirate activity. At least 25% of commercial ships passing through the Gulf of Aden ignore safety precautions, AllBusiness reported in January. 

Feature: pirates are ‘masters of the ocean’ – and what to do about it

As the world faces the prospect of the worst ever year for piracy, the United Nations has admitted that pirates are becoming masters of the ocean and that 90% of suspected pirates that are captured are released again.

Jack Lang, the United Nations Special Advisor on Somali Piracy and former French Culture minister said that “there is this race between the pirates and the international community, and progressively that race is being won by the pirates.”

“Piracy still increases,” Lang told the UN Security Council last month. “Nine out of ten pirates captured by naval forces are freed, despite efforts by many states to have a single jurisdiction,” Lang says, and adds that, "this impunity encourages piracy". Indeed, naval forces have released between 500 and 700 pirates over the last three years – some pirates have even been arrested several times, the Economist reports. 

IMO spells out action needed to tackle piracy

Failure to implement fully the IMO guidance, including the industry-developed best management practices, significantly increases the risk of successful pirate attacks, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said in a robust message to its Member States, following the launch on 3 February 2011 of IMO’s anti-piracy action plan, in support of the 2011 World Maritime Day theme: “Piracy: orchestrating the response”.

Momsen and Bunker Hill Disrupt Pirate Attack

ARABIAN SEA (NNS) -- USS Momsen (DDG 92) and USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) disrupted a pirate attack on Panamanian flagged merchant vessel Duqm, Feb. 2 in the Gulf of Oman.

While transiting in international waters, the merchant vessel reported that pirates were attempting to board the vessel. Momsen and Bunker Hill, which were in the vicinity, immediately responded to the Duqm's distress signal and caused two pirates skiffs alongside the vessel with ladders against its hull to flee the area.

Momsen and Bunker Hill tracked the skiffs movement and located the mothership that facilitated the attempted boarding of Duqm, towing the two empty skiffs. Consistent with the U.N. Security Council Resolutions on piracy and U.S. rules of engagement, Momsen destroyed the two skiffs to prevent their use for future attacks.

Momsen and Bunker Hill are deployed supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th fleet area of operations.