Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

[dawg]

source: http://www.maltashipphotos.com/showprod ... %20Tankers

Coordinated through a secure Internet chat room and meetings in Bahrain

Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/somaliaNe ... SL20110209
You can just imagine the smilies... :74:

I'm not being facetious (just black humour)... this is very serious... they are now targeting large ships on main routes, and I might be on one.

Armed pirates seized the Irene SL, a U.S.-bound oil tanker, off Oman on Wednesday, carrying around $200 million worth of crude, in one of the biggest raids in the area to date, escalating the threat to vital shipping lanes

Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/somaliaNe ... M820110209


Source EUNAVFOR (as on the image), via the BBC, via... (2010)


source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7997610.stm (2009)

At approximately 1000Z on 9 February, the Very Large Crude Carrier MV IRENE SL was pirated approximately 350 nautical miles South East of Muscat in the North Arabian Sea.

The MV IRENE SL has a dead weight of 319,247 tonnes and is Greek flagged and owned. The vessel was on its way to Suez from Fujairah when it was attacked. At present there is no further information on the attack. She has a crew of 25 (7 Greek, 1 Georgian and 17 Filipinos). There is presently no communication with the vessel and no information regarding the condition of the crew.

The MV IRENE SL was not registered with MSC(HOA), but was reporting to UKMTO. EUNAVFOR are continuing to monitor the situation.

EUNAVFOR Somalia ? Operation ATALANTA?s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Program (WFP) and vessels of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). EUNAVFOR also protects vulnerable vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, deters and disrupts piracy. EUNAVFOR finally monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

http://www.eunavfor.eu/2011/02/mv-irene ... abian-sea/

[Beef1992]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

There has also been another today , seems like the tankers are the easy targets due to there low freeboard

The Savina Caylun is hijacked. Photo: EU Navfor

Italian tanker hijacked in the Indian Ocean

The Italian-owned tanker Savina Caylyn, 104.255 DWT, has been hijacked some 670 nautical miles East of the Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean, EU Navfor reports. The ship was boarded by a group of five pirates using small arms and rocket propelled grenades. The Savina Caylyn was on a voyage from Bashayer, Sudan, to Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, when the attack to place.
The ship has a crew of 22 (five Italian and 17 Indians).

Source: http://www.shipgaz.com/news/top20/top1_news.php
("dawg": Please at least try and put a source of anything you quote on... )

[chris]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

working on a passenger ship doesn't look so bad now does it

[Rowdy]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

someone is gonna have to come up with/implement a solution to this soon, it's ridiculous.

[RNR]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

working on a passenger ship doesn't look so bad now does it

Wouldn't be so sure Chris:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... sures.html

Does anyone think anything substantial will be done this year to curb this? It seriously is getting way out of control now.

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

RNR,
I suspect very little will be done, as usual.
Things really spiked in summer 2008 and then calmed down again but attacks are again on the rise.
Since going into Somalia and sorting out the political/economical situation will never happen, then really the only policy I can think is one of extreme force - kill the pirates wherever they're found without mercy and adopt a scorched earth policy on their shore bases, even if it does kill "innocents".
The people we really need to get after is the money men in the Middle East/Europe who are funding and organising the operation - this is most definitely not the work of some hacked off fishermen on their own.

[alistairuk]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

It will continue to happen until Somalia gets a working government. It has been happening for years, however the past year or two is the first time I have seen it in the mainstream media (except for the once or twice they fired at a passenger ship going through the area which always seemed to make the news).

As RNR said, passenger ships are just as much 'potential targets', although some would say less likely purely because of the sheer number of persons onboard. It very rarely happens because it's not exactly a prime cruising area, the small number of cruise ships that do transit the area usually only do it once or twice a year when they are repositioning at the start / end of season.

[chris]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

i stand corrected - better start work on an anti pirate device for my eto course project

[Steve]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

Since going into Somalia and sorting out the political/economical situation will never happen, then really the only policy I can think is one of extreme force - kill the pirates wherever they're found without mercy and adopt a scorched earth policy on their shore bases, even if it does kill "innocents".

Outlaw and prevent the payment of ransoms. Send in marines to retake every pirated ship with extreme prejudice. Accept the resultant casualties as the cost of curbing Somali piracy. No need to go ashore other than to recover hostages.

[Chiefy]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

Since going into Somalia and sorting out the political/economical situation will never happen, then really the only policy I can think is one of extreme force - kill the pirates wherever they're found without mercy and adopt a scorched earth policy on their shore bases, even if it does kill "innocents".

Outlaw and prevent the payment of ransoms. Send in marines to retake every pirated ship with extreme prejudice. Accept the resultant casualties as the cost of curbing Somali piracy. No need to go ashore other than to recover hostages.

You first

[Steve]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

To do what? Have you got some better ideas or are you content to accept the status quo?

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

Outlaw and prevent the payment of ransoms. Send in marines to retake every pirated ship with extreme prejudice. Accept the resultant casualties as the cost of curbing Somali piracy. No need to go ashore other than to recover hostages.

We need to get our house in order with regards prevention too. How about all British flagged ships in the GOA to be escorted by station RN warships instead of said ship(s) taking perpetual long weekends alongside in Salalah/Dubai/Seychelles and looking after everyone else except their own.
The likes of an LPH with say half a dozen converted MCM's (Hunts, not Sandowns and maybe some new River class perhaps) as helo/SGF base and escort/patrol vessels respectively would be perfect. Far better than the present 23/42(45) which really aren't suited to chasing Ak47/RPG armed pirates in wooden boats - they're overmanned, overarmed and too expensive.
Also perhaps deploy RN/RM force protection teams to British flag ships in the region, armed with SA80 plus a couple of GPMG's with the owners making some kind of financial contribution.
Having British Forces personnel on British flag ships would negate a lot (but not all) of the legal hurdles to arming merchant ships.
Quite simply make sure the pirates know that if they try and attack any ship then there's a good chance they'll have a real fight on their hands.

Regarding MN crews, whilst they have the opportunity to leave their ship for the duration of the GOA transit and enjoy double bubble for the same, this does not apply to the Western Indian Ocean - it should on both counts.

[Steve]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

There are usually one or two frigates in the region. Not nearly enough to escort every British flagged ship without employing infrequent convoys that would be rejected by the demands of commerce. GoA isn't really the problem now anyway, successful piratings in the IRTC are infrequent. The one referenced in this thread was waaay outside the GoA. You want escorts all the way to SoH and Maldives?

Hunts would be crap. My mum could outrun them!

Frigates have helicopters and boats to scare off pirates and conduct boardings, as well as seakeeping and speed. Some sort of coastguard vessel would be a cheaper alternative, but we haven't got anything like that and we have to work with what we've got.

If the owners of British flagged ships want force protection teams, I'm sure they can pay private security to do it. That they don't do so more often suggests that they aren't willing to pay.

And even if what you suggest was implemented and effective, it would have to be carried on indefinitely since it does nothing to make Liberian, Panamanian, Bahamian etc. flagged ships unattractive. But I'm alright Jack!

Piracy isn't that big a military/political priority.

How many Brits are currently held by pirates and how much taxpayers' treasure are you prepared to spend and for how long to safeguard British flagged shipping?

[dawg]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

Actually the northern part of "Somalia", called Somaliland (a former British colony), is a very well run stable area, but completely unrecognised by anyone in the world... which makes F All sense, considering the dearth of stable, democratic regimes in those parts.
http://www.somalilandgov.com/
You'd think they'd want to encourage and support it, and use it as a way of regaining control of this crucial global supply chain artery.


It has to be said, the policies of the 17th and 18th centuries in a modern manifestation... carpet bombing the coast, would probably be a lot more cost effective than the current efforts.

As with most current issues, it's this misconceived notion of "human rights" that is the ultimate source of the problems... the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

If you look at the very wording of the UN declaration, much of it is completely specious, disingenuous, logically fallacious, axiomatic crap:
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#atop

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Evidence?

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Except when they do something horrible and "wrong"? Or are we going to give every pirate and would-be terrorist counselling?

Articles 18-30 deserve the response, "yeah, right!"

Rights are not absolute, they are "rules" made up by a "group" or "society" to serve a purpose; if they don't serve that purpose when implemented, then they need to be changed (i.e. "reformed").

People forget that the USA, for whom much of the world depends on for some form of freedom, has yet to ratify the whole of the main bits of Geneva Convention; yet the USSR/Russia (and many other horrendous regimes have), which tells you a lot about the good of these hallowed international treaties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pa ... onventions
(Protocol III isn't the most important bit, now, is it... unless you're a regional theatre director: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 79162.html).

Returning to the point a little bit...

This is quite a slick little site for live info on the situation:
http://www.oceanuslive.org/main/viewnew ... d=00000188

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Oh Dear... Somali Pirates' biggest haul yet...

The one referenced in this thread was waaay outside the GoA. You want escorts all the way to SoH and Maldives?

Only in the GOA region as far East as Socotra and North as Ras Al Hadd. Outwith would be totally impractical which is why SGF would be the only solution. Attacks are becoming more infrequent in the GOA yes, but it does still happen, and things aren't calming down in the vicinity of Socotra.

Hunts would be crap. My mum could outrun them!

Frigates have helicopters and boats to scare off pirates and conduct boardings, as well as seakeeping and speed. Some sort of coastguard vessel would be a cheaper alternative, but we haven't got anything like that and we have to work with what we've got.

Yes, but the chances of being able to release further 23s/42s to operate in the area are bordering on nil at the moment and decreasing all the time. Hunts wouldn't do the chasing, they simply be a more cost effective patrol/escort vessel for group transit. Every other country seems to employ national group transits in the GOA, except the UK of course. Hunts are (or at least used to be) capable of circa 16 knots, which is more than enough for keeping up with most merchant ships. Long range large RIBs/'Daughter Craft' and helos from a few strategically positioned LPH could perhaps do the chasing, that is unless we have half a dozen 23's available, which we don't. I wouldn't be too shocked to see the RN presence in the area removed altogether in the next few years due to funding issues.

If the owners of British flagged ships want force protection teams, I'm sure they can pay private security to do it. That they don't do so more often suggests that they aren't willing to pay.

Partly, but most refuse to even consider it because of the legal implications of having private guns for hire onboard.

And even if what you suggest was implemented and effective, it would have to be carried on indefinitely since it does nothing to make Liberian, Panamanian, Bahamian etc. flagged ships unattractive. But I'm alright Jack!

In some quarters that would be viewed as a rather good thing - shipowners would finally have to face up to the consequences of flagging out.
During the Iran/Iraq war in the 80s the RN used to escort all British flagged ships up/down the Gulf, and during this time the UK registry had an influx of British/foreign owned tonnage whose owners wanted that protection and were willing to pay for it.
A few RN Officers also learnt a salutary lesson in when it's not a good time to show off, particularly those chaps on 'Southampton'......

Piracy isn't that big a military/political priority.

Which shows you how misguided policy tends to be - it's one of the most serious threats to Western/Eastern trade at the moment, and one which shows no sign of abating.
The first effective Navies which evolved some 2000 years ago were there principally to protect Merchant ships, a theme which continued until the middle of the last century, but was then abandoned as our attention turned Eastwards.
As it is many in the RN still appear to be locked in a cold war mindset, ready to fight an enemy which doesn't exist anymore and therefore pay scant attention to some of the more pressing current issues, that and pirate chasing doesn't grab enough headlines.

How many Brits are currently held by pirates and how much taxpayers' treasure are you prepared to spend and for how long to safeguard British flagged shipping?

Whilst a threat remains to our people, our trade and our ships, then they should be protected.
If not, then really what is the point of having a Royal Navy or any of our Armed Forces?