Samho Dream: $170 million worth of crude

$170 million worth of crude oil was aboard Samho Dream, which can carry more than 2 million barrels of crude oil.
U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp said it was the owner of the crude oil cargo aboard the Samho Dream, which was hijacked off the east African coast.

Valero Energy Corporation is an independent petroleum refining and marketing company that owns and operates refineries in the United States, Canada, and Aruba. The Company produces conventional gasolines, distillates, jet fuel, asphalt, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined products as well as diesel fuel, low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, and oxygenates.

SAMHO DREAM: VLCC hijacked, Haradheere next

Samho Dream IMO Number 9235737 Flag: Marshall Islands, SAMHO SHIPPING CO.,LTD, 319,360 DWT ,VLCC Build.Dec.2002.
Supertanker was hijacked off Somalia on a voyage from from Iraq to Louisiana. The ship was now heading for Haradheere, the port and pirates' base at which many ships are held during ransom negotiations. MUTUAL UNDERWRITING, U.K.



ex- NEPTUNE, Liberia-flag
SELLERS DYNACOM. TANKERS MANAGEMENT. GREECE $136.50m
WORLD PROGRESS since 2004 Feb 04 sold ORIENTAL SHIPPING LIMITED

Shen Neng 1: COSCO bulker off Great Keppel I.

China-flag Bulker Shen Neng 1, IMO 70181 70181 dwt, built in 1993, with 72,000 tons of coal and had 1,000 tons of bunker fuel aboard ran aground and was leaking oil off Great Keppel Island in eastern Australia, nearly halfway up the coast, between Brisbane and Cairns, near the Great Barrier Reef. China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, COSCO -owned.

Intertuna 2: escapes pirates off Djibouti

On 5 March, Floréal class frégate de surveillance Nivôse (F 732) intercepted a PAG and boarded two skiffs and a mother ship. The mother ship (whaler) was destroyed and she took on board two skiffs and detained 11 suspected pirates in an area clearly linked to the unsuccessful attack on the Spanish FV Intertuna 2. With the evidence gathered and presented to the Seychelles authorities, it was approved for the 11 detainees to be flown from Djibouti to the Seychelles for prosecution. gallery

Arctic Sea: Russia repeats S-300 delivery plan

Moscow has said it plans to fulfill a contract to supply the S-300 to Iran. The Arctic Sea, bound for Bejaia, Algeria, has again disappeared from AIS systems coming out of the English Channel. This freighter was suspected last year of transporting arms destined for Iran. The S-300, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. The missiles have a range of 150 km (90 miles) or more and travel at over two km per second. Russia has delivered 15 S-300 batteries to China, Interfax news agency quoted Igor Ashurbeili, director general of Almaz Antei which makes the missiles. China, once the largest customer for Russian arms, has bought about 27 S-300 batteries from Russia beginning in the 1990s, the “bare minimum” for its arsenal The new contracts to deliver the S-300 to China were signed in the mid-2000s and each battery usually costs about $120-$150 million. That indicates the value of the Chinese contract was about $1.80-$2.25 billion. Russia has a more advanced air defense system, known as the S-400 "Triumph," and Ashurbeili said the country's armed forces were expected to receive the third battery of these "any day from now."

A senior Russian general said last year that Moscow was now developing a fifth-generation, surface-to-air missile, the S-500, which would be able to implement the tasks of both air and space defense.

Officials have said that the new system would be capable of engaging ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 km (3 miles) per second. here

Evita: increased speed, fired flares at pirates

UAE-owned MV Evita IMO 7533202, Sierra Leone-flagged, was able to evade pirate attack by adopting industry recommended 'best management practices'; increasing its speed and firing flares to warn them off. The product tanker came under attack 500 km north-west of the Seychelles by three suspected pirate skiffs.

UAE's new Baynunah Corvettes are a derivative of CMN's BR70 70m corvette design, The vessels are slated to be the largest steel-hulled vessels using water jets for propulsion. Delivery to the UAE Navy is scheduled for 2010.

US Navy sinks pirates, rescues them unharmed

Indian Ocean (NAVEUR-NAVAF-C6F) — USS Nicholas (FFG 47) captured suspected pirates on Thursday after exchanging fire, sinking a skiff, and confiscating a suspected mother ship.
While operating west of the Seychelles in international waters, Nicholas reported taking fire at 12:27 a.m. local time from a suspected pirate skiff and returned fire before commencing pursuit of the vessel until the disabled skiff stopped.

At 1:59 a.m. personnel from Nicholas boarded the disabled skiff and detained three personnel. The boarding team found ammunition and multiple cans of fuel on board.

After taking the suspected pirates on board, Nicholas sank the disabled skiff at 2:59 a.m.

An additional two suspected pirates were captured on the confiscated mother ship.

The suspected pirates will remain in U.S. custody on board Nicholas until a determination is made regarding their disposition.

Piracy is an international maritime issue that consistently affects the safety and security of the sea. The U.S. Navy works to uphold maritime law in order to prevent an environment conducive to piracy.

Nicholas, an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate homeported in Norfolk, Va.,

earlier
USS Nicholas (FFG-47), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, captured five pirates by shooting at them, sinking their skiff and capturing their mother ship off the coast of Kenya and Somalia.

The pirates are now being held captive aboard the U.S. warship.

Pirates also attacked a Taiwanese fishing boat early Thursday, according to Taiwanese media.

The long-line fishing skiff was sailing about 400 miles southeast of Somalia's Cape Guardafui when it was attacked by pirates who disguised their boat as a Taiwanese vessel.