Sirius Star Released, $US3m Paid to Pirates

The professional negotiators, acting on behalf of the ship owners, get about $100,000 for their services and the lawyers receive a fee of about $300,000 for ensuring that the shipping companies are not putting themselves in any dubious positions.
Regarding what goes on behind closed doors, be it the negotiations and the legal and insurance matters as a result of these hijackings, it would be fair to say that most of it happens in London.

Sirius Star: enter the CIA?

The pirates who captured the Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star have broken off negotiations with the ship's owners, apparently insisting they want to talk with a wealthy Virginia woman with close ties to the US military and intelligence communities.

Ballarin has been in regular touch with the pirates by satellite phone -- the last contact was Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time -- and had just returned from Somalia Nov. 18.
One might wonder just why Ballarin is doing this and what she has to gain. Is she CIA or a cutaway since she does have former intelligence and military officials on the board of one of her companies, Black Star, and is known to have excellent contacts among the intelligence community?

Sirius Star closer to Eyl

The Somali pirates holding the Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star and its crew have moved the ship further north.

The move puts them only 20 miles (32km) from the MV Faina, a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship carrying tanks.

While this puts them closer to US Navy ships shadowing the Faina, the area also has a greater concentration of other pirates.

Somali clan elder Abdisalan Khalif Ahmed said the ship moved Sunday to about 28 miles (45 kilometers) from its earlier location, putting it about 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast of the coastal village of Harardhere.

Piracy off Somalia to get worse

C-SPAN watch

Panelists talked about recent attacks on international commerce in the Gulf of Aden and increased threats to trade by piracy. Among the topics they addressed were a growing threat posed by Somali pirates, the impact on political stability and maritime security of the seizure of ships and cargo, and potential responses by the international community to the problem.

Private Guards onboard?

For $30,000, Nick Davis will arrange a team of three private guards to travel on a boat and scare away potential pirates. He has teams now on seven ships in the Gulf of Aden.

Liberian-flag Sirius Star seized by pirates

The U.S. Navy says pirates who seized a Saudi-owned oil supertanker are taking the ship to a Somali port where hijacked vessels are often held.

Navy spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen of the U.S. 5th Fleet says the pirates holding the MV Sirius Star are "nearing an anchorage point" of the town of Eyl. The port has become a haven for pirates and a number of other ships are still being held there. Sirius Star has been freed, some say. The VLCC is three times the size of a U.S. aircraft carrier. The vessel had been headed for the United States via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The Saudi Aramco VLCC MV Sirius Star is one of six very large tankers owned by Vela International Marine and built in South Korea, and registered in Liberia. Vela International Marine Limited is one of the largest crude oil tanker companies in the world and is a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). Vela currently owns and operates a modern fleet of 19 Very Large Crude Oil Carriers (VLCCs) and five product tankers of various sizes and also serves as charterer for all of Saudi Aramco"s CIF and ex-ship crude oil and product deliveries worldwide.


Vela’s owned and chartered VLCCs conduct trade primarily between the Middle East, Europe and the United States Gulf Coast. Vela"s owned and chartered product tankers operate exclusively in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coastal trade. Vela is committed to continue building and operating the most modern, high-quality tankers in the world.