Iceberg 1: PMPF retakes ship as pirates flee

In a siege that lasted nearly two weeks, forces of Somalia's semiautonomous Puntland region raided a hijacked ship Sunday and safely rescued 22 hostages who had been held captive for nearly three years, authorities said.

The Puntland government said their forces captured the Panama-flagged MV Iceberg 1, which was docked near the Gara'ad coastal village in Mudung region.

Hassan Abdi, a pirate commander, who was in touch with the ship's hijackers, said eight pirates on board the vessel were able to escape as Puntland soldiers closed in.

"None of us has been harmed," Abdi said. Puntland authorities said they had laid siege to the MV Iceberg 1 on Dec. 10.

[December 12

A  hostage rescue attempt failed of  MV Iceberg 1, being held hostage by Somali pirates for almost 3 years.  
Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) clashed with pirates  attempting to transport weapons and ammunition to the pirates on board the Iceberg 1 vessel, resulting in 3 pirates killed and 3 other pirates captured.

[March 29 2011]








Panama Flagged, Iceberg 1 is a Roll on Roll Off vessel with deadweight of 4500 tonnes. The vessel, with a crew of 24 and carrying a mixed cargo of general mechanical equipment, was bound for Jebel Ali in the UAE when hijacked. The crew consist of persons from Yemen, India, Ghana, Sudan, Pakistan and the Philipines.

Reports have been received by EU NAVFOR that the MV Iceberg 1 has been hijacked 10 nautical miles off the port of Aden, Yemen, outside the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC).
The last contact with the vessel was the master stating to his owner that pirates were onboard. The vessel appears to be heading towards the Somali coast. EU NAVFOR units are monitoring the situation.


Iceberg I (12-2007)
IMO: 7429102
according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence is associated with Azal Shipping & Trading of Dubai.
Azal Contracting & Oil Services Corp. is a private firm with many activities specialized in different field of services and investment . AZAL utilizes both its assets and resources efficiently and takes full and early advantages of technical advances and markets needs. Our philosophy is based on blending individuals to form strategic partnerships with multinational corporations.. The ISO 9002 accreditation is a clear signal to our valued clients that Azal Blue Bell Shipping provides a consistently reliable quality services.

Anti-Piracy: Australian African Global Investments

Saracen and Sterling Corporate Services train and equip the largest militia group in Somalia -- essentially a private army for the president of Puntland.   In the semi-autonomous Puntland region, they built a force of more than 1,000 men equipped with planes, helicopters and more than 80 vehicles. Funding of around $50 million came from Abu Dhabi. Somali tribal leaders, and the South Africans training the force, claim it is an anti-piracy coast guard.      

 Mr Lafras Luitingh registered the company - Australian African Global Investments - in 2006. It has branches in South Africa, Uganda and other African countries and is involved in logistics, transport and chartering planes and ships. The Australian company was registered by Taurus Financial Services [Gordon Hatch] in Sydney. "
 The men behind Saracen and Sterling are mostly former South African mercenaries and prominent among them is Mr Luitingh.














[January 20, 2011]Saracen International is training a anti-piracy army in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland — and being financed by an anonymous Middle Eastern country.

Several people with knowledge of Saracen’s operations confirmed that the country is the United Arab Emirates.
Saracen International is a private security company based in South Africa, with corporate offshoots in Uganda and other countries. The company was formed with the remnants of Executive Outcomes, a private mercenary firm composed largely of former South African special operations troops that operated throughout Africa in the 1990s.

The company makes little public about its operations and personnel, but it appears to be run by Lafras Luitingh, a former officer in South Africa’s Civil Cooperation Bureau, an apartheid-era internal security force notorious for killings of opponents of the government.According to a report by the African Union, an organization of African states, Erik Prince, the founder of international security giant Blackwater Worldwide, provided initial funding for a project by Saracen International to win contracts with Somalia’s embattled government. Mr. Prince moved to the United Arab Emirates late last year.
The Somalia coastline is 3,025 km. This includes the the total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea. Somalia’s coast is equivalent to the distance from the tip of Maine to Jacksonville, Fla.



In response to requests for an interview with Prince, his spokesman e-mailed a brief statement that the Blackwater founder is interested in "helping Somalia overcome the scourge of piracy" and has advised antipiracy efforts. Spokesman Mark Corallo said Prince has "no financial role" in the project and declined to answer any questions about Prince's involvement.

Jubba XX: tanker bound for Somalia hijacked

1979 Kishigami-buiilt tanker with its 16 crew and 3,500 tonnes of oil worth Dh17 million.[17,000,000.00 Emirati Dirham =4,628,243.38 USD]

The MV Jubba XX was hijacked on July 16 in the Indian Ocean en route from Umm al Qaiwain to Berbera in Somaliland, the autonomous northern region of Somalia.

On board were the captain, from Sri Lanka, with five crewmen from India, four from Somalia, three from Bangladesh and one each from Kenya, Myanmar and Sudan.

The 4,800-tonne vessel’s owners, Jubba General Trading of Sharjah, and its managers, Emirates Shipping Company in Umm al Qaiwain, have not been able to make contact with the ship since it was hijacked.

“We called all day and got no response,” Omar Alkheir, the general manager of Emirates Shipping, said yesterday.

The tanker left Umm al Qaiwain three weeks ago and was travelling on its regular route.


IMO Number: 7916260Flag: United Arab EmiratesBuilder:Country: JapanCompany: KishigamiYear: 1979Type: Bunkering Tanker/Products TankerSequence: MHMFHull Form: H13Tonnage:Gross Tonnage: 2,821 tonsDeadweight: 4,832 tonnesDimensions: 95.26×15.02 (mb)×6.47m (312.53×49.28×21.23ft)Speed: 13.1ktMachinery:Screw Type: Single ScrewEngine Type: Motor vesselCompany: HanshinEx Names: ex-Shinsui Maru No 3

JUBBA XX UAE A6E2784 2011-07-06 11:07
AL SEINEYA XX UAE A6E2784 2011-01-03 11:13
AL SEINEYA XX UAE A6OP 2010-01-20 02:58
FAL XX UAE A6OP 2009-12-29 00:55

Golden Seas: Paragon Bulker tugged off Alaska

The 738-foot PANAMAX bulker Golden Seas makes 3.5 mph through 20-foot seas 50 miles north of Adak Island Dec. 3, 2010. Coast Guard aircrews were launched from Air Station Kodiak in response to a report that the Golden Seas had lost propulsion and was drifting but the crew of the vessel reported to a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircrew that they had regained propulsion and were waiting on a tug to escort them to Dutch Harbor when the airecrew arrived and made contact with the vessel captain. The Golden Seas is carrying a cargo of Canola seed from Vancouver, Canada to the United Arab Emirates. The vessel also has more than 450,000 gallons of crude oil, 11,700 gallons of diesel and 10,000 gallons of lube oil on board. Destination: JEBEL ALI,U.A.E Arrival: Dec 28, 2010 08:00 UTC

Paragon Shipping Inc. is an international shipping company specializing in the transportation of drybulk cargoes and containers. Our vessels are able to trade worldwide in a multitude of trade routes carrying a wide range of cargoes covering a number of industries. Our fleet carrying capacity totals 747,994 deadweight tons. After the delivery of the Newbuildings, our drybulk fleet carrying capacity will increase to approximately 1.2 million deadweight tons. sec


Ship Name: GOLDEN SEAS
IMO: 9305104
MMSI: 636013656
Callsign: A8OM3
Flag: Liberia

Beam: 32
Length: 225
Draught: 7.5


Built - Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai/China in 2006
Call Sign - A8OM3
IMO - 9305104
Type - BULK CARRIER
Flag - LIBERIA
Port of Register - MONROVIA
-
Ex Names - IOLCOS DESTINY
uscg
more

Layla-S: after discharging Cambodian-flag cargo

Vessel named Al Hafoof in 2000, Georgian flag, renamed Leila in 2001, unknown flag


Pirates discharged cargo after hijacking Syrian-owned Layla-S.

Somali gunmen hijacked a Cambodian cargo ship, the MV Layla-S, off Berbera after it unloaded at the port in the breakaway northern enclave of Somaliland, "It is said that the vessel has a link with Syrian and UAE businessmen. We are informed that she was taken by gunmen after discharging her cargo.

It is also reported that, the owner of that ship has already abandoned the crew and hence, the crew members might have been held in captivity since the past few days. The crew members are said to be a mix of Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Somalian and possibly Syrian nationals. The vessel is believed to be owned and managed by Al Hufoof, an agency based in either Syria or the United Arab Emirates.

SOMALILAND: Stranded ship Skipper pleads for urgent help as crew health deteriorates
Page last updated January 24, 2010
http://somalilandpress.com/11038/somaliland-stranded-ship-skipper-pleads...

BERBERA (Somalilandpress) — A crew of fifteen seafarers are stranded onboad a cargo ship, the MV Layla, in the Somaliland port of Berbera for the past five months and the sailors are said to be facing serious risk as their health deteriorates.

The captain of the ship, Mr. Sarath, who is from Sri Lanka, spoke to Mohamed Saed of Berberanews by phone on Saturday, and said that their ship has been stranded in the port for the past five months without charge.

Mr Sarath said he does not know exactly why they were kept in the port but local analysts believe a local firm, Omar International [Company], may have filed a maritime action asking Sahil regional authority and Berbera Port authority to obtain the ship for damages.

Omar International has lost a lot of assets including motor vehicles onboard a cargo ship, MV Mariam Star when it caught fire in it’s upper deck in early September of 2009 and the two cargo vessels both belong to Al-Hufoof Shipping & Forwarding. The local authority and Omar International accuse the crew and skipper of MV Mariam of not cooperating with the port authority to put out the flame by switching the ship’s engine off. They argue a lot could have been done if the crew did not switch the engine of the ship off.

Despite issuing a press release of it’s own, suggesting the dispute was between the local authority and the ship, Omar International is believed to have authorized the local authority to obtain the ship for compensation it wants from Al-Hufoof Shipping & Forwarding.

Omar International company is locally owned influential company while Al Hufoof Shipping & Forwarding is Dubai based firm. When the skipper of MV Layla contacted Al Hufoof Shipping & Forwarding, they told him: “you were carrying goods for Somalis, the people who detained you and your ship are Somalis, we have nothing to do with it”.

“We arrived in Berbera on the 17th of August 2009, after unloading the cargo, as we were preparing to depart we were told by the Sahil regional authority that we were being barred from leaving, but they did not tell us the reason nor charges against us, because we believe we have executed and handed in all the appropriate documents”, he said.


Al-Hufoof
Al Hufoof Shpg LLC
Al hufoof Shipping & forwarding LLC

Activity : Ship Owner/Manager/Operator
Address : PO Box 2911
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
State : Dubai
Town : Dubai
Country : United Arab Emirates
Phone : +971 4 268 8899
Fax : +971 4 269 9939



The ICC's International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has claimed another victory after locating a stolen cargo vessel, missing since September.

The IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre found the MV AL HUFOOF 1 moored in the harbour of Ho Chi Minh City. It had been missing since leaving the port of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates five months ago.

Acting on information passed on by the Piracy Reporting Centre, Ho Chi Minh port authorities boarded the MV HONG HEING last month and have since confirmed it is the missing AL HUFOOF 1.

"The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre sent out an alert to maritime contacts in the region and as a result of further investigations conducted by the IMB, were able to track the stolen vessel," said IMB Director, Captain Pottengal Mukundan. "This has been another good example of cooperation between the shipping industry and Maritime Authorities."

On 2nd September, 2000, the Georgian registered MV AL HUFOOF 1 sailed from Sharjah for Massawa in Eritrea, with a cargo of 3,241 metric tons of wheat flour and sugar.

Soon after her departure, the ship's owners lost all contact with their vessel. Its last known position was in the Gulf of Aden on the 11th September.

Investigations by the ICC-International Maritime Bureau tracked the vessel to Vietnam. It had been renamed HONG HEING and was sailing under a Honduran flag. But Honduran authorities confirmed to the IMB that no such vessel could be traced in their registry.

This information was passed to the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordinating Centre, who in turn, relayed it to the Ho Chi Minh port.

The cargo of wheat flour and sugar had been illegally discharged into a warehouse in Ho Chi Minh City. Investigations have confirmed that the crew which brought the vessel into Ho Chi Minh City were the same crew who were on board the vessel upon departure in Sharjah.