Tromp: Dutch frigate shoots pirates

Yesterday morning a fishing boat fired on two RHIB from HMS Tromp which were approaching it. Marines on the RHIB's (Rigid-hulled inflatable boat) and militiamen in the Tromp returned the fire. During a second approach, 10 Somalis left in a fast skiff with the purpose of avoiding arrest. Marines opened fired, wounding some and the escape attempt stopped. The Somalis are apprehended.

. After it appeared that the remaining Somalis on board the hijacked fishing boat called a dhow, wanted to give themselves up, a boarding team from the Tromp boarded the suspect vessel. They found the 16-member crew, two Somalis and 6 Somali pirates. The six suspects, together with the other 10 held. On board the hijacked dhow found evidence of piracy.

While searching the liberated dhow Hr.Ms.Tromp approached a hijacked merchant ship. After a number of shots across the bow of the ship, it stopped and was then turned toward the berth where she came from.. All 16 Somalis have been transferred to the Tromp and held there until further notice. The wounded Somalis get medical care on board. The dhow's crew returned in the wake of Tromp and under its protection along coastal highway hazards and has obtained assistance. [rough Google translation]

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Convoy Escort Program: Bespoke non-royal navy

Insurers are weary of making massive payout and are taking the naval solution into their own hands - with the support of shipowners, freight operators, governments and navies. Leading figures in the London insurance industry have been working for two years on the Convoy Escort Program, which aims to provide protection for tankers and reduce the cost of insuring shipping operations.
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Magellan Star: DS Boxship rescued by U.S. Marines

around 5 a.m. on Thursday, two 12-man Marine teams in inflatable boats motored up to the hijacked ship, a 436-foot-long German-owned cargo vessel called the Magellan Star. A band of Somali pirates had seized the ship and its crew of 11 in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, on Wednesday morning. It was carrying steel chains.

The marines clambered up portable ladders — much as pirates have been doing — and swiftly took over the ship.

9242572 MAGELLAN STAR V2OE7 Container Ship 7968 2002 Antigua & Barbuda exname 1: GRACECHURCH STAR-07
exname 2: JUDITH BORCHARD-09 735 TEU

The Quadrant Bereederungsges. mbH & Co.KG was founded 1997 in Hamburg. In 2000, the Quadrant Bereederungsges. mbH & Co. KG is part of the DS Shipping GmbH & Co KG.

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At present, the Quadrant Bereederungsges. mbH & Co. KG eleven o'clock container ships of sizes 500-1000 TEU in Vollmanagement. The ships are kept in perfect technical condition, to meet all demands of all the charterer. This requires that the ships comply with international requirements and the class as well as national regulations.

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Moscow University: pirates adrift in inflatable boat?

a Defense Ministry source told RIA Novosti.after the pirates had been disarmed and their navigation equipment removed, they were "put into an inflatable boat" and pushed off into the sea. On the morning of 5 May, the Liberia flagged (Russian operated) Oil Tanker MOSCOW UNIVERSITY, was hijacked approximately 350 nautical miles east of Socatra.




The Russian state news agency said at the time a boat of that style was found on board the Arctic Sea.

Rising Sun: rescuers McFaul and Al Sharquiyah

Near Salalah, Oman, two visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) teams deployed in rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB), after pirates agreed to a compliant boarding the dhow, took control of the Faize Osamani with 10 suspected pirates and rescued eight crew members . The suspected pirates were transferred to the destroyer Carney until they can be transferred to a state willing to accept the pirates for prosecution.

Marshall-Islands flag tanker Rising Sun, IMO .8607816, broadcast that pirates were firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. USS McFaul (DDG-74), joined by Omani warship Al Sharquiyah (B 11), responded. The tanker has arrived and its destination, Kandla Gulf of Kutch.

Arctic Sea: Bound for Bejaia

The vessel comes to 0 knots just off Tallinn, Estonia, in the dark, then heads West again.

0 knots at 21:18 March 25
Destination: BEJAIA [NEW]
ETA: 2010-03-06 06:00
Info Received: 2010-03-26 02:07

It's a good thing we are not of a suspicious nature!

Arctic Sea: Approaching hijacking site again

Finnish investigators are due back from Russia where they went to interview the alleged hijackers of the Arctic Sea, a vessel thought to have been caught illegally transporting AA missiles to Iran on that voyage. Meanwhile, the vessel is again approaching the scene of that incident. Finnish investigators have been cooperating in the probe along with Malta and Sweden.

Arctic Sea: Union pleads for those onboard

The Solchart site carries a plea said to be from a trade union
Four crew members – Master, Chief Engineer, Second Engineer and Bosun remain on board. Trade Union and relatives do not have connection with the remaining seafarers, and we are very concerned about the future of our brothers. Last week in the programme “Man and right” family saw Master Zaretskiy. He looked ill and exhausted.

Arctic Sea: evidence removed by Russians

Maltese statement: With reference to claims in the press that the ship was due to be handed over to the Maltese Authorities, Malta as the flag State of the ship, has always maintained that it has no right to assume the ownership of the ship since it is not the rightful owner of the ship and therefore the ship should be handed over to the shipowner as the rightful owner of the ship.

Russian statement via Indian press:On Sep. 17 evidence from the Arctic Sea ship was transshipped onto Russian frigate Ladny , as mystery still surrounded the identity of its cargo one month after it was recovered from alleged pirates.

Russian investigators said evidence that showed the vessel was prey to piracy, including arms and masks, was now on its way to Russia for use in a trial against the suspected hijackers.

"The evidence will be delivered to a Russian port, where the warship Ladny and its escorting vessels will dock," the investigative committee said in a statement posted on its website.

"It includes ammunition used by the suspected pirates to capture the ship and the speedboat from which they boarded it.

The boat was camouflaged on board the Arctic Sea under a wood frame and canvass," it said.

Arctic Sea: piracy story was a cover

A senior figure close to Israeli intelligence told the BBC that the piracy story was a cover and that Israel told Moscow it was giving officials time to stop the shipment before making the matter public.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, added that he had no information about any visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly to Moscow.

Arctic Sea: Task Force to access crew?

"The investigation is going on and it will take some time before we have concluded," says Jan-Olof Nyholm, detective superintendent at Finland’s Centralkriminalpolisen, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation, and a spokesman for the four-nation, [Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Malta], Helsinki-based police task force investigating the case. When asked if the task force has had access to the crew and hijackers as yet, he stated emphatically, "I think we'll make some progress here."