Al Nisr Al Saudi: ransomed, released, escorted

Al Nisr Al Saudi, 5 136-tonne tanker, ransomed and released, was seized and first moored off Garad, then transferred to Kulub in early March on its way from Japan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. It was freed on December 7 and now under escort.
earlier then then also



An official from the IGP&L (International Group of P&I Clubs) which is coordinating action between the pirates and the insurance company, arrived in Riyadh on March 8 to discuss matters with the Jeddah-based International Bunkering Company (IBCO) which owns the Saudi ship Al-Nisr Al-Saudi,”Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi ship Al-Nisr Al-Saudi on March 1 have said they will not harm the vessel's crew. The shipping company had established contact with the pirates through satellite communication
The Sri Lankans are Jacob Xavier, Venis Robinson Parceloan, Hewa Pathage Ranga Jayasinghe, Wijemuni Elmo, Ansalam Soyza, Selvarasa Rajavel, Balakrishnan Jayarajan, Robert Joseph, Kanagasabapathy Thusyananthan, Arumai Sekeram, Basil Rajah, Lakshmikanthan Gajenthiran , Arockiasamy Pillai, Britto Lawrence, Saverimuttu Atputharajah and Rajagopal Jeyakumar.
The ship’s captains is Georgios Skalimis, a Greek.

The decision to send its coastal tankers abroad was an attempt to solve a long-standing problem of coping with a seasonal slump in demand for the coastal tankers in summer. In Apr. 2006, the company started West Coast India/Pakistan and Middle East Trading as tramp service which was taken over from Tokyo office to pursue business efficiency.

Al-Nisr: Pirates given satellite phone talk-time

Negotiations can last 6-8 weeks for the release of the product tanker Al-Nisr Al-Saudi held by Somali pirates.
"The shipping company has credited funds for the satellite phone for talk-time" a spokesperson for the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Ministry said.
All contact has gone through SALAMA (Saudi IAIC Cooperative Insurance Co.) via its head office in Jeddah, An official from the IGP&L (International Group of P&I Clubs) which is coordinating action between the pirates and the insurance company, arrived in Riyadh on March 8. "The negotiation process is continuing for want of any other solution,” said Kamal Muhammed Al-Urri, IBC CEO. The ship was destined to operate as part of the International Bunkering Company operations in the Gulf of Jeddah where it would refuel other ships at sea.

SALAMA, the largest Takaful and Re- Takaful Group has tied up with BNP Paribas Investment Partners. The partnership offers BNP Paribas’s flagship Islamic Fund, the Global Equity Optimizer, with investor returns linked to Shariah compliant global equity markets, including Asia, Europe and the USA.

The fund uses an actively managed optimisation strategy which has consistently outperformed the global benchmark, the DowJones Islamic Market Titans 100 Index.

SALAMA is pleased to provide it’s customers with Shariah compliant insurance together with value added investment services that can cater to clients long term investment needs, which are compliant to Shari’ah principles.

SALAMA presents diverse Shariah compliant unit linked insurance products to its discerning clients and with BNP Paribas’s asset management services it is possible to offer the best of class Shari’ah compliant investment opportunities.

Noel D’Mello, the Head of Family Takaful, SALAMA, commented, “SALAMA has entered into several tactical tie ups with renowned Islamic Fund Investment companies and distributor alliances to spread Shariah compliant savings and insurance products within the UAE.”