Hobyo: pirates may be in double envelopment

Pirates recently captured a boat loaded with weapons from Yemen that were intended for the militia, and had stopped paying bribes to the Islamists. who are said to be in Harardhere as the pirates move to Hobyo. The remote pirate stronghold of Hobyo in the Galmudug region of central Somalia fell to Islamist militants before in December 2008. Meanwhile, Dutch sailors are blockading that coast, Captain Ben Bekkering, “The arrival of the HNLMS Johan de Witt, which unlike the other navy ships has landing craft, means we can use different tactics. Instead of waiting in the ocean for pirates to try their luck, we go to near the ports of Haradheere and Hobyo where they come from to prevent them from sailing out. If they try anyway, we capture them.” The captain says the navy ship will stay in position off the Somali coast to “keep the pressure on”. The pirates who were captured have been released on the beaches.
>>>What if... the militia/Islamists were convinced/paid to advance now? By Saudis?, or from Dubai?

Victoria (F82) intercepts and destroys pirate skiff

Spanish defense ministry said the Santa Maria class frigate Victoria (F82) intercepted a whaling ship and some smaller boats. It said a search of the captured vessels revealed weapons and other items that could be used to attack ships.

The Spanish frigate destroyed the whaling ship - believed to be operating as a "mothership" for the pirates - and took the eight suspects on a smaller vessel towards Somalia. The Santa Maria class of frigates are the Spanish Navy's designation for six locally-built warships based on the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates of the United States Navy.

Arctic Sea: Great Lakes Feeder Lines addition

Barbados-flag Arctic Sea IMO 8912792 is destined to be a feeder vessel between Canadian ports, a trade reserved for Canadian-flag vessels and subject to a 25% tax surcharge as a foreign-built(Turkey) vessel in that trade. "Our vessels are modern, state-of-the-art, fit-for-purpose, short sea shipping feeder vessels. Unlike the international fleet, our vessels are operating under the Canadian flag and are capable of transporting cargo between Canadian ports as well as U.S. ports and other destinations.

GLFL’s first ship, the Dutch Runner,is a modern, geared, Germanbuilt, ice-class feeder vessel with a “stated excellent container carrying capability,”

Arctic Sea: Container Capacity, Total container capacity: 270 teus, Under deck: 114 teus (Hold can accommodate high cube containers), On deck: 156 teus

Great Lakes Feeder Lines was successfully formed in continuation to its founders forming Canada Feeder Lines, a now Dutch based European shipping company with no further ties to Canada, Great Lakes Feeder Lines, its founders, or to trading vessels in Canada or the United States."




Built: 1991 by Cedef Gemi & A.S., Tuzla,
Istanbul, Turkey
Owners: Great Lakes Feeder Lines ULC
IMO no.: 8912792
Flag: Barbados
Port of reg.: Bridgetown
Class: gl, ice class 1a, ums
GRT/NT: 3988





Present position off Kos, Greek Islands. It is good we are not of a suspicious nature.

Arctic Sea: new owner takes Barbados flag

The phantom ship Arctic Sea disappeared on 2010-04-07 when the AIS was turned off 43.5 miles South bearing 192° from El Varadero, Provincia de Granada, Andalusia, Spain.
It showed up on 20010-04-23 registered in Barbados Maritime Ship Registry (BMSR).
It is 20010-04-24 in the Greek islands.

Ah, but there are two now in BMSR:

Arctic Sea IMO 8912792 call sign 8PWS length 98 beam 17
Arctic Sea IMO 8912775 call sign 8ws 98 17

VOC DAISY: Samartzis Geared Bulker hijacked

VOC Daisy IMO: 9154555
Geared Bulk Carrier - They have cranes, derricks or conveyors that allow them to load or discharge cargo in ports without shore-based equipment.
Ex: Golden Daisy (2000)
DWT: 47,183
LOA: 185.73
Built: 1998. Oshima Shipbuilding Co Ltd
Flag: Panama

On the morning of 21 April 2010, the Panamanian Flagged (Liberian owned) M/V VOC DAISY, a bulk carrier of 47,183 dead weight tonnes, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, 190 nautical miles East South East of Salalah, Oman.

At the time of the attack, the John Samartzis MV VOC DAISY, owned by Middleburg Properties Ltd, Liberia, beneficial and operated by J.P. Samartzis Maritime Enterprises Co SA (stated hereafter as JPS) incorporated as a private limited company in Panama., was heading west from Ruwais, U.A.E, making for the eastern rendezvous point of the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), for onward transit through the Suez Canal. She was 280 miles from the IRTC when she was hijacked.

MV VOC DAISY was registered with Maritime Security Centre Horn Of Africa (MSCHOA) and was able to raise the alarm before the four armed pirates, carrying three AK47s and one RPG, stormed on board and cut their lines of communication.

Frigia: Turkish sailors against the Sea Bandits

Sea bandits were found in two fast skiff type boats meant to be used in the sea banditry activities and have been destroyed. .With respect, the public is notified with photos . Turkish translated by Google and edited for sense.

Maersk Nashville: Lagos searches for toxic waste

Liberian-flag container ship Maersk Nashville IMO: 9304760
Nigerian Navy and other officials, acting on a tip, examined a container with number UESU463595-0 suspected to be laden with toxic wastes, upon arrival of the MV Maersk Nashville. The container said to be containing toxic wastes was opened and items found in it included used tires, fridges, pressing iron and other second hand items. The container listed contents as used items comprising a motor vehicle and miscellaneous personal effects, including electronic items (television sets and a car audio system).
Pirates freed a captain and crew member of a Ghanaian vessel in Nigerian waters on March 31, three days after they seized it off the coast of Cameroon. The hostages are being held in Abana on near a long-disputed peninsula, the oil rich Bakassi Peninsula ceded to Cameroon by Nigeria two years ago.

Attackers hijacked the boat carrying goods from Ghana to Cameroon and Nigeria on Sunday and demanded a $1.5 million ransom for the release of the two hostages.

"MV Seagull was coming from Cameroon when it was attacked very close to Bakassi peninsula in the Cameroonian waters," he said.

"They (the pirates) didn't find anything valuable to steal, so they took the captain and the engineer off the ship.Our men found the vessel abandoned at a place in Abana and we towed it to Calabar," said Nigerian Navy spokesman Commodore David Nabaida. "Now the men and the vessel are in Calabar."

Frigia: Turkey G class TCG Gelibolu on patrol

Former USS Reid (FFG-30), Oliver Hazard Perry class guided-missile frigate recommissioned by Turkey G class TCG Gelibolu (F 493). They can accommodate S-70B Seahawk helicopters. Commandos aboard Turkey's TCG Gelibolu stopped a pirate vessel on April 18 as it sailed off the Seychelles on a route being used by a Turkish freighter heading to Mombassa, Kenya.

The commandos captured the pirates, destroyed their two skiffs and confiscated other pirate material. Malta flagged Turkish owned (Garanti Finansal Kiralama) cargo ship MV Frigia was hijacked near the Seychelles on March 23.

Piracy has been a moneymaker for the insurers

Shipowners are forking over some $400 million a year to cover themselves against a roughly 1% chance that their vessel will be attacked (200 attacks out of 20,000 annual voyages through the region). That comes to an average $20,000 in extra insurance costs per voyage. For big tankers, the cost is closer to $100,000 per voyage: $75,000 for war risk insurance and $20,000 for a $5 million kidnapping and ransom policy. Though some insurance syndicates have suffered losses paying out ransom claims, overall, piracy has been a moneymaker for the insurers.
The total cost of piracy worldwide is somewhere north of $1 billion a year. That sounds like a lot, but it's no threat to the $7 trillion a year international maritime trade.

U.S. lien: pirate ransom money reached?

“The wording could definitely be construed to make payments of ransoms illegal,” Bruce Paulsen, a partner at Seward & Kissel in New York, who negotiated a ransom payment with Somali pirates for a U.S. owned ship hijacked in 2008, said about the new executive order. “The wording is just vague enough to give the Treasury some flexibility in how they apply it.*
Holman Fenwick Willan, which was established in 1883 by a prominent shipping family, is the leader in the field. Partner James Gosling is an acknowledged piracy expert. As at April 2009 he had advised shipowners in almost 30 ransom negotiations off the Horn of Africa. Partner Toby Stephens is another piracy expert.

* Ince & Co has acted for war risk underwriters and shipowners in piracy kidnaps and ransoms in the Horn of Africa, the Niger Delta and the Straits of Malacca. Partner Stephen Askins, a former officer in the Royal Marines, is the firm's leading piracy expert.

* Stephenson Harwood has also been involved in hijack situations. Partner Duncan MacDonald, a specialist in negotiations and contractual disputes, appears to be this firm's main piracy expert.

Kenya's Mr. Kadima, 50, who took on his first piracy case in March, said he had yet to see a shilling from any of his piracy cases, though he conceded that the publicity was good for business.

here here here here

Taipan: pirates on way to Hamburg for trial

Ten pirates arrested on board a German merchant ship last week boarded a KDC-10 transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force this morning accompanied by the Royal Military Police on their way to Eindhoven Airport. The pirates in custody are awaiting their extradition to Germany on European arrest warrants from Germany. [translated by Google, edited]
The military plane carrying the suspects landed in Eindhoven, in the south of The Netherlands, on the evening of April 14 after the flight from Djibouti, said Robin Middel, spokesman for the Dutch defense ministry.

Samho Dream: 30 million ransom demand

Captain Kim, Myung-Sung, the Commanding Officer of the Republic of Korea Navy destroyer CHUNGMUGONG YI SUN-SHIN



A South Korean foreign affairs source on April 14 said CHUNGMUGONG YISUNSHIN DDH-975 KDX-2 class destroyer dispatched to trail the Samho Dream, a supertanker that was hijacked by Somalian pirates on April 4 had been given orders to break off pursuit and return to base. According to another source, the pirates demanded $10 million to $30 million in ransom for the men aboard the tanker from operator Samho Shipping. The 319,000 deadweight tonnage Samho Dream, which was built in 2002, is carrying crude oil that could be worth as much as $170 million at current oil prices. It holds the equivalent of more than one day's worth of Iraqi exports.

Taipan: ffg Nicholas: pirates to Germany, U.S.A.

Ten suspects are currently being held by Dutch marines, who freed Liberian-flag Taipan IMO 810591 a container ship plying the Israel-South Africa route, chartered by Zim, hijacked some 900 kilometers off the Somali coast on April 4 in the Gulf of Aden. Germany was warned by Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop that the suspects would have to be let go if they could not be passed on to German authorities.

On April 12, a court in Hamburg issued arrest warrants for the alleged pirates. Bernd Mauruschat, a spokesman for Hamburg's public prosecutor's office, the group would face trial there because that was the home port of the ship that was attacked.If you're only putting fishermen on trial, you will have 10 or 20 more replacing them the next day," Ulrich Delius. "We have to fight against those who are financing and arming pirates and organizing the attacks."


The U.S. Department of Justice has enough evidence on five pirates to prosecute them, according to military officials. The expectation is they will be tried in federal court. The five are being held aboard the USS Nicholas -- the guided-missile frigate they are accused of attacking - The suspects are expected to be moved to the U.S. base in Djibouti and then flown to Norfolk, Virginia, according to the officials.

Nada: panama-flag containership uses speed

Boxship NADA IMO: 9005429, Panama-flag avoided boarding by pirates. It increased speed and conducted other best management practices with appropriate counter manoeuvres. The attack was on the morning of 9 April in position 1338N, 05608E.

Ship Type: Cargo
Year Built: 1993
Length x Breadth: 201 m X 32 m
DeadWeight: 35100 t
Speed recorded (Max / Average): 11.8 / 11.2 knots
Flag: Panama [PA]
Call Sign: HP7329
IMO: 9005429, MMSI: 372415000



Built at 3. Maj Brodogradiliste D.D., Rijeka, Croatia
Yard No.: 665
Completed: 30.12.1993
First name: Antoine de Padoue (1993)
Subsequent names:
- 00.1994 - MSC Zrin
- 00.1994 - Zrin
- 06.1996 - Alemania Express
- 00.1997 - Columbus Bahia
- 06.1998 - Zrin
- 09.1998 - CSAV Peru
- 10.2001 - MSC Zrin
- 11.2007 - Zrin
Port of registry: Valletta, Malta
Call sign: 9HSV6

Gt/Nt/Dwt: 29.912 / 12.454 / 35.100
L/B/D (m): 201,41 / 32,24 / 11,81
Speed: 18,5 knots
Number of 20 ft. containers: 2.275

Owner & manager: Jadroplov International, Split, Croatia
Registered owner: VIS Marine Ltd., Malta
Operator: Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hamburg, Germany (2008)

Mimosa: short cut off Flinders Passage

Bulker Mimosa, Panama-flag, Kitaura Kaiun K.K.,, allegedly entered the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park via an unidentified shipping route off Flinders Passage, east of Cape Bowling Green, on April 4 and was due to load at the nearby Abbot Point Coal Terminal. The vessel has protection and indemnity cover from the Standard Club

The main elements of P&I cover are:

* Loss of life and injury to crew, stevedores, passengers and other third parties
* Physical damage caused to docks, fixed or floating objects
* Collision damage caused to other ships
* Pollution
* Cargo loss or damage
The principal club within the Standard group is the Standard Bermuda P&I Club. Standard Bermuda's subsidiaries include:

* Standard Europe, which insures those members who benefit from being insured in a EU-incorporated insurer;
* Standard Asia, incorporated in Singapore, which insures Asia-Pacific members
Group Name:
Kitaura Kaiun Co., Ltd.
Ship Name:
MIMOSA
Tons:
29961
Syndicate:
B
IMO:
9333266
Bunker Blue Card:
2010/990

Ashland (LSD 48) captures trigger-happy pirates

330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti, a visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team pulls suspected pirates from the sea for transport back to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48). Ashland while operating, was fired upon from a skiff manned by suspected pirates. Ashland returned fire and disabled the skiff.