Olib G: small chemtanker in ballast

The chemtanker OLIB G, Malta-flag, Frio Maritime S.A. Greece, in the East part of the Gulf of Aden reported that a skiff was approaching, 08 Sep USS PRINCETON warship of Task Force 151 launched its helicopter. The helicopter was able to identify two pirates on board.

The MV OLIB G was sailing West in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor through the Gulf of Aden with a cargo of ballast. IMO 8026608, Chemical/Oil Tanker deadweight 6,375 tons, bt. 1988, gt. 4060, ex Berna Sultan, 2007 ex Yeliz K, 2006 ex Olib, 2000.

Large companies reason that the chances of attack on any particular ship are relatively low — 0.5 percent in the Gulf of Aden — so they play the odds. Smaller shippers simply cannot afford “hardening” their vessels against attack. Three-man protection details from private companies can cost as much as $21,000 per ship.

So security falls to international task forces, such as the Combined Task Force 151, NATO’s Ocean Shield and the European Union’s Atalanta. But these flotillas cannot provide adequate security over two million square miles of ocean. To augment them would be prohibitively expensive; the budget for Atalanta alone was $450 million in 2009. read