Topic: The Threat of Modern Piracy

[Eye In The Sky]

I think i heard correctly on the news that we sent a Halifax class to aid the region with it's piracy problem.

Hmcs Quebec...  HMCS VILLE DE QUÉBEC

 

Their website is here.

[geo]

George... that's what the Sea King detachment is there for

[Jim Seggie]

Are there not crocodile infested waters near there......? Having those bad thoughts again...

[geo]

Crocs... "up the Nile" - not in open sea

[NFLD Sapper]

Sharks...... maybe

[Ex-Dragoon]

George... that's what the Sea King detachment is there for

Still only 2 units to cover a large area. Like the Army, the Navy and the Air Force cannot be everywhere at once.

Crocs... "up the Nile" - not in open sea

never hear of the saltwater crocodile? 10 friggin meters in can grow up to.

[geo]

Salt water - yes, deep water - no

As an ambush predator, it usually waits for its prey to get close to the water's edge before striking without warning and using its great strength to drag the animal back into the water. Most prey animals are killed by the great jaw pressure of the crocodile, although some animals may be incidentally drowned. It is an immensely powerful animal, having the strength to drag a fully grown water buffalo into a river, or crush a full-grown bovid's skull between its jaws.

[E.R. Campbell]

Although piracy off the Horn of Africa is a problem the real, BIG problem, the one our self interest suggests we should try to help address, is in the Straits of Malacca.

[Jim Seggie]

OH I suppose sharks will do, but do they have frickin lasers attached to their heads?

[geo]

Aisian pirates have been a curse to Signapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Phillipines and pert much all the other island countries in that part of the world.... I would've thought that, given the sophisticated navies that most of these countries have, they - with a little bit of help from their big neighbors (Australia/NZ, China, Japan & Taiwan) their piracy problem shoulda been dealt with.

[Eye In The Sky]

Salt water - yes, deep water - no

As an ambush predator, it usually waits for its prey to get close to the water's edge before striking without warning and using its great strength to drag the animal back into the water.

{ Hijack Alert }

This sentence immediately made me think of some of the ladies that used to hang out at the Camelot...

*shudders*

[Jim Seggie]

Ha ha..the Camelot! Yes that's a very good analogy!

Now will SOMEBODY get me sharks with frikkin laser beams?

[S.M.A.]

HA! Who says that merchant seamen can't defend themselves?

3 ships thwart attacks by pirates off Somalia
Mon Sep 8, 4:20 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked three vessels off Somalia's coast but failed to hijack them because of quick action by crew members, a maritime official said Monday.

A Chinese cargo ship, a Singaporean liquefied gas carrier and a Thai bulk carrier managed to thwart the pirates in the Gulf of Aden by increasing speed and taking evasive maneuvers, said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau.

Somalia, which has had no functioning government since 1991, is the world's top piracy hotspot. The latest incidents bring to 44 the number of attacks off its coast this year. Most occurred in the Gulf of Aden, Choong said.

"Early detection allowed all three ships to report to IMB and take quick action to escape," said Choong, who heads the IMB's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. He said the situation was still grave despite increased patrols by warships from a multinational coalition in the area.

The Chinese-owned ship, sailing under the flag of the Caribbean island state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, was passing through the gulf Friday when crew noticed a blue tug identified by the IMB as a suspected pirate vessel, Choong said.

The crew raised the alarm after a speed boat from the tug headed toward the ship, he said. Four pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons started firing, but the ship escaped after it increased speed and the crew threw objects at the pirates during the chase, he said.

On Saturday, six pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades attempted to ambush a Singaporean tanker in the gulf, Choong said. The tanker increased speed and changed course, leaving the attacking boat rolling heavily and four pirates fell into the sea, he said.

The pirates later resumed chase and the ship captain contacted the IMB, which sought help from the coalition naval force, he said. The pirates gave up their chase before a coalition warship could reach the scene, he said.

The next day, pirates in two speed boats chased a Thai bulk carrier but it also managed to evade the pirates and headed toward Yemen's coast, Choong said.

Nobody on board the ships was injured in the incidents.

The attacks came after pirates hijacked an Egyptian cargo ship and a French sailboat last Wednesday. Ten vessels have been seized in the region since July 20.

The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year. The surge in pirate attacks has prompted the U.S. Naval Central Command to establish a security corridor in the gulf patrolled by the international coalition of warships.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080908/ap_on_...somalia_pirates

[Blackadder1916]

But there is still plenty of prey for the pirates to take down.

South Korean ship hijacked off Somali coast

Associated Press 10 September 2008 6 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Pirates hijacked a South Korean bulk carrier with 21 crew off Somalia's coast Wednesday but were thwarted in a separate attempt to seize a Greek ship, a maritime official said.

The South Korean vessel is the 11th to be hijacked since July 20 off Somalia, which is the world's top piracy hotspot. The surge in attacks has prompted the U.S. Naval Central Command to establish a security corridor patrolled by an international coalition of warships.

Noel Choong of the piracy watchdog International Maritime Bureau said the bureau was informed that the South Korean ship with 21 members aboard was seized in the Gulf of Aden, but he could not provide details.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the ship had eight South Koreans and "numerous" other foreign crew members. Yonhap, which did not cite its source, said the sailors were all safe.

In the other incident Wednesday, pirates in speed boats chased a Greek bulk carrier and fired at it with machine guns, Choong said. The crew called the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, which alerted the multinational force.

The force sent a warship and a helicopter that scared away the pirates, Choong said.

The latest incidents bring the number of attacks off Somalia's coast to 50 this year, most of which occurred in the Gulf of Aden, Choong added.

The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year. But it has become notorious for an increasing number of attacks, apparently by Somali pirates.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. Pirates there are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues and typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

[Blackadder1916]

Shipping insurance cost soars with piracy surge off Somalia

Miles Costello The Times September 11, 2008

A dramatic increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia and a ten-fold increase in insurance premiums has sent the cost of sending ships through one of the world's busiest transport routes, soaring, shipping experts said yesterday.

The warning came as pirates hijacked the latest cargo ship off the Horn of Africa yesterday. The South Korean vessel and its nine crew joined 10 other ships being held for ransom by pirates in Somali waters as the country suffers a crippling humanitarian crisis and its worst bout of insecurity since the early 1990s.

Insurance companies have increased premiums for sending a cargo shipment through the Gulf of Aden to about $9,000 from $900 a year ago.  Meanwhile, the pirates, who use speed boats and are armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles, have become increasingly sophisticated in their attacks.  Ships are typically held for at least three months before a ransom, which averages $1million, can secure their release.

Robert Davies, head of specialist risks at Hiscox, the London-based insurer, said that embattled ship owners are facing a big increase in ransom demands, as well as the cost of settling tense negotiations that last an averge 100 days. The average kidnap settlement is now $1 million. Previously, the pirates would have happily settled for payments “in the low hundreds of thousands”, Mr Davies said.

“It's not just a growing frequency, there is also a growing cost of piracy, kidnap and ransoms,” he said. “The size of the ransom, depending on the vessel and its cargo, is growing. The time these things are lasting is also increasing. Before, they were quick in and out events. Now, the bad guys are a bit more sophisticated.”

Pleasure craft are also being targeted by the Somali pirates. A Kenyan-based shipping agency reported yesterday said that the bandits were demanding $1.4million for the release of a French couple seized last week as they sailed their yacht between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

Jean-Yves Delanne and his wife Bernadette were dropped ashore on the Somali coast before being taken to a pirate hideout in the Xaabo mountains, according to the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme. It said that the group were also demanding the release of six pirates seized by French commandos in April as part of the ransom deal. The organisation claimed the couple's luxury yacht, the 24 metre (79 foot) twin-masted Carre D'as IV, was probably being used as a decoy vessel to capture other ships.

“It might very well be used as a decoy to approach other unsuspecting yachts or simulate and signal an engine failure or other emergency at sea, whereby it then would attack any ship coming closer in order to provide assistance,” it said.

“If you think about Somalia - it's not really a country anymore. It is being controlled by a bunch of warlords. It has become a haven for lawlessness. If you are a shipowner and want to get your cargo east to west, you pretty much have to go through the Gulf of Aden,” Mr Davies said.

In the first half of this year, 94 crew and passengers were taken hostage while trying to cross the Gulf of Aden, according to figures compiled by maritime experts at the International Maritime Bureau, part of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC-IMB).

A further 63 people have been taken hostage in Somalia over the same period, according to the ICC-IMB.

And the evidence shows that Somalia is by far the most dangerous location for commercial travel this year - considerably ahead of the Philippines and Indonesia.

[George Wallace]

This is going to become 'violent' in the near future.  Either, Nations are going to use military force and put an end to it, or 'Private Enterprise' will contract out solutions on their own.

[rtangri]

Well if something doesnt work out with the pirates in regards to the navy being sent in to help, blackwater will probably get the contract, on the contrary



haha, i cant believe pirates still exist

[CDN Aviator]

haha, i cant believe pirates still exist

Why not ?

Piracy is simply theivery / crime on the water. As long as there will be trade, there will be piracy. The reasons for it have not changed since the "pirates" that most people think of.

[George Wallace]

haha, i cant believe pirates still exist

There have always been pirates.  There are pirates in the South China Sea.  There were pirates operating of the coasts of Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War.  There have been pirates hijacking yachts off of Australia and New Zealand for years.  They are out there, but don't make much Press, except in the "Yachting Circles".

[GAP]

This is going to become 'violent' in the near future.  Either, Nations are going to use military force and put an end to it, or 'Private Enterprise' will contract out solutions on their own.

Did not Indonesia deal with this in the last couple of years when the pirates in the Malaka Strait got out of hand?  What did they do?

[CDN Aviator]

Did not Indonesia deal with this in the last couple of years when the pirates in the Malaka Strait got out of hand?  What did they do?

It is still quite out of hand.

[S.M.A.]

Here is a repost of a commentary by a merchant sailor who has sailed that particular dangerous stretch infested with Somali pirates.

Most of the piracy happens in the northern part of Somalia and the Gulf Aden area, the gateway to Suez Canal and Europe.



Gulf of Aden is in the mouth of the Red Sea and the only route for a vessel sailing to Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, and Europe from Indian Ocean and Asia. The alternative route is via Cape of Good Hope the southern tip of African continent which is not recommendable unless the Suez Canal is close as it happened during the Israeli Arab War in 1967.



The problems of Piracy in the Gulf of Aden can be solved with the cooperation from the government of Yemen and the IMO. I proposed that the ships sailing Red Sea, Suez Canal, and Mediterranean to hugged the coast of Yemen (perhaps about 12 to 15 miles south of Yemen coast. Also the International Maritime Organization to adopt and establish a Traffic Separation for east bound and west bound vessel in the Gulf of Aden.





Naval  vessels from the United Nations to patrol the proposed IMO Traffic SeparationScheme which will be located on the edge of 12 miles international boundary of Yemen.


Ships assigned to Combined Task Force One Five Zero (CTF-150) assemble in a formation for a photo exercise. The multinational Combined Task Force One Five Zero (CTF-150) was established to monitor, inspect, board, and stop suspect shipping to pursue the war on terrorism and includes operations currently taking place in the North Arabia Sea to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Countries contributing to CTF-150 currently include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.


The Coalition Naval vessels deployed in Somalia water is virtually helpless in combating piracy in the Somalia coast. They were more or less 20 ships but the Somali coast is more than 3,000 miled in lenght.  I reckoned the best thing they should do is to blockade the known Pirate bases off the Somalia coast especially in Northern Somalia bordering the Gulf of Aden and in the island of Socotra, and also the known Pirate bases about 39 to 40 miles north of Mogadishu and the pirates area about 20 to 30 miles south of Mogadishu port. The coalition naval warships must have small fast craft to chase the pirates speed boats.



It is a well known fact that the pirates operating in small fast speed boats have a mother ship which also has modern equipment like AIS, Automatic Identification of System, from there AIS they could know the names of the merchant vessels, their last port and next port and their cargo.


Pirate's mother ship.



Also they have VHF Radio that can monitor the movements of ships entering or leaving a Somalia port since vessel have to contact the Port Control before entering a port. However these equipments may have helped the Pirates in capturing vessels.

Merchant vessels in pirate infested area should switched off their AIS in order not to let the pirate's mother ship to have all advance informations they needed. Merchant vessels entering Somali ports like Mogadishu, Berbera, etc should be exempted from calling by VHF Radio the concerned Port Authorities.

Messages even within 1 hour before arrival port and even in the anchorage area should be sent by email to the Shipping Agent or relayed to the Shipping Agent by the Charterers or by the ship Owners. instead of sending via VHF Radio.

There is a also a chance that someone in the Port Authorities were the one giving information to the Pirates. There was an incident where the Pirate was tellling the Captain of a vessel they hijacked that the vessel's ETA in entering the port of Mogadishu was not accurate since they the Pirate have waited outside the port for more than 2 hours from the "ETA" given by that vessel they have hijacked.

Who else provided that ETA informations to the Pirates if not the Port Authorities themselves? or the Shipping Agent of the vessel ?

There were piracy in the East coast of Somalia and in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu but for prudent reasons I better not make any comments since it may affect or jeopardize the security of the ship I just disembarked, and the security of seafarers manning the ships that brought foods to Somalia people from the ports of India, United Arab Emirates, and from other countries.

Those seafarers were mostly from the Philippines, India, and some from East European countries. Perhaps they were brave and noble enough to sail to Mogadishu and provide food relief to the starving mass of humanity in Somalia.

[S.M.A.]

More pictures and comments from that merchant sailor's commentary:

Continuation :

Below were some photos of Mogadishu port the capital of wartorn Somalia.


















We have guns onboard to scare the Pirates, we shoot them while still away since
once they were near they can retaliate with RPG and bazooka.

Actually the Vessel we are on is partly owned by a Somali millionaires and perhaps related to the Warlord of Mogadishu. However the other place in Somalia
were controlled by other warlords which perhaps were also connected with the Pirates. So our ship is also a target of Pirates operating in other ports of Somalia.

[Bass ackwards]

There is a very interesting book on the subject of modern piracy, it's called Dangerous Waters; Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas by John S Burnett.
It was written post 9/11 and details many of the incidents and some of the current attempts to thwart piracy (the author himself was hijacked aboard his sailboat by pirates).
Well worth a look (in my humble, landlubber's opinion).
Here's a link to the author's site:
http://www.modernpiracy.com/home.htm

[Blackadder1916]

Pirates launch rocket attacks off Somali coast

By Henry Samuel in Paris from Telegraph.co.uk Last Updated: 10:29PM BST 14 Sep 2008

French fishermen are calling for round-the-clock naval protection in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean after a boat narrowly escaped a rocket attack by Somali pirates, in the latest of a rash of incidents in the area.

The pirates are becoming increasingly emboldened, they say, and now prey on boats in an area the size of France off the Somali coast. On Saturday a Japanese-operated oil tanker came under fire, while a Spanish trawler was targeted last week.

The captain of the Breton fishing boat, Le Drennec, said the pirates opened fire with rockets when they realised that they were being outrun. One hit the deck while the other landed without exploding.

The latest attack occurred near the Seychelles, some 800 kilometres off the Somali coast.

Around fifty French and Spanish boats in the area have ceased operations and are currently moored in Mahé in the Seychelles.

"We are fishermen not warriors, we come here to earn a living, not to serve as targets," said Ronan Bargain, the captain of the Spanish boat that came under attack.

Yvon Riva, president of frozen tuna group Orthongel, called on France to provide air and sea surveillance.

"What used to be local pirates is turning into an organised industry, very probably using mother boats," from which small, heavily armed vessels chase passing fishermen, he said.

French fishing and agriculture minister Michel Barnier has called for an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis.

Somali pirates are currently holding several ships in the area.

Two French sailors were kidnapped earlier this month. It is believed that they are being held off the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland.

The pirates are demanding a ransom – reportedly £1.1 million – and that French authorities release six colleagues detained in France. The men were arrested after a high-profile attack on a luxury yacht in April, which ended with French commandos raiding the ship, capturing the pirates and freeing the 30 hostages unharmed.

In recent months, a multinational task force based in Djibouti has been patrolling parts of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, but fishermen say this is not sufficient.