NPR's "To the Point" radio show talks about piracy

You can listen to an excellent panel discussion about piracy from yesterday's episode of To The Point, the current affairs show hosted by Warren Olney on NPR, by following this link (downloadable as a podcast, too.). The original show aired Tuesday, November 25, 2008.

Guest hosted by Sara Terry, the panel consisted of Chatham House African expert Roger Middleton, American maritime lawyer Mark Tempest, shipping industry organization Intertanko's deputy managing director Joe Angelo, International Transport Workers' Federation general secretary David Cockroft, and yours truly offering a little bit of input as a journalist who's been investigating piracy the last few years. It was an interesting panel and you'll hear some excellent analyses from the other guests.

Indian Navy sinks the wrong vessel

It has now been confirmed by the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre that the vessel sunk last week by an Indian warship was not a pirate mothership but, rather, a fishing boat that had been hijacked by pirates. The Thai-owned fishing boat, Ekawat Nava 5, had been commandeered early on November 18 and the crew had been tied up by their captors, according to the shipowner. Later that same day, the Indian Navy Ship Tabar encountered the Ekawat Nava 5 and ordered the fishing boat to stop for an inspection. The pirates are reported to have threatened the warship, leaving the Indians no choice but to fire on what they believed was a mothership, eventually destroying the vessel. But with the rescue of a crewman from the fishing boat day ago, after six days adrift, the real story has come to light, with tragic consequences. Fourteen of his crewmates remains missing.

Photo of Ekawat Nava 5 exploding, Nov. 18, 2008 (Indian Navy photo)

Hijacked supertanker's ransom announced

It is now being reported that the Somali pirates holding the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star are demanding a ransom of $25 million (US). That's a surprisingly small sum for a vessel and cargo valued at a quarter billion dollars, and a likely sign that the pirates want to be paid quickly and release the tanker.

Piracy and the Law

In the last 24 hours, two more vessels were hijacked off East Africa and a pirate ship was blown out of the waters. Interesting developments as we watch the ongoing situation off Somalia in the wake of the seizures of the supertanker MV Sirius Star this past weekend and the freighter transporting T-72 battle tanks, the MV Faina, two months ago.

The hijacking of a Greek bulk carrier yesterday shows there is no respite in the current pirate campaign against mariners. A Thai fishing was also reported to have been attacked, and is now in the hands of Somali pirates. No doubt the anger is growing in commercial, governmental and security establishments to do something about the crisis (for that it what has become), and we are already hearing of upcoming deployments of warships from participants eager to augment the naval vessels already in the area.

Some wonder if these naval forces may take a more pro-active role - such as sending Special Forces teams to board hijacked vessels and free them - however this is an unlikely scenario. The question is: If naval forces were to board the Sirius Star and rescue her crew, would these same forces be used to free every other ship held by pirates? Or would it only be the largest and most valuable merchant ships that are considered worthy of rescue? When France sent commandos to Somalia to deal with pirates - twice, I might add - their activities were limited to dealing with French vessels, not those of any other nation. It's an important question to address, for the Sirius Star and her crew should not be considered more important than that Thai fishing boat and its crew.

Meanwhile, I'd like to point readers to an excellent piece written at the EagleSpeak blog that talks about the legal aspects of modern day piracy. It's well worth a look.

Somalia: How big can you go?

Somali pirates have seized their largest prey to date, a 318,000 dwt supertanker. The MV Sirius Star was sailing about 420 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, on Sunday when a group of armed men boarded her and seized control of the immense vessel and took hostage its crew of 25. The vessel was reported to be sailing with a full load of 2 million barrels of crude, bound from the Middle East to the United States. The tanker was taking the long route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, avoiding the more dangerous pirate haunts in the Gulf of Aden.


This marks another note-worthy incident by pirates in that part of the world, for a number of reasons: First, the size of the Sirius Star is notable, with the seizure making this one for the record books. At 330-metres (1080 feet), the tanker is among the longest vessels plying the world’s oceans, the same size as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The tanker – a very large crude carrier (VLCC) – is operated by Vela International Marine, the shipping arm of the state-owned firm Saudi Aramco, and has a multinational crew hailing from Great Britain, Croatia, Poland, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. Given the tanker’s size, the pirates who took control would have to rely on the professional mariners aboard the Sirius Star to operate the vessel. And there is no harbour in Somalia that can accommodate a VLCC like this, nor are their any refineries in the country able to process the crude. (It is reported by new agencies like AFP that the Sirius Star is headed towards the pirate stronghold of Eyl.)

The fact that the vessel was hijacked so far south, in an area where there had previously been little activity by Somali pirates, points to a new theatre of operations for maritime criminals. Coming on the heels of several other attacks in the last week, the seizure of the Sirius Star occurred in waters where there is little in the way of an international naval presence; the majority of warships are patrolling the waters around the Horn of Africa. This enlarges the area that will now be considered dangerous due to piracy, and should attacks continue in this region it will require the deployment of additional naval forces to properly address the situation.

Finally, taking control of an oil tanker represents an attempt to increase dramatically the ransom demands. The crude oil is reported to have a value of $100 million; the vessel is newly built – it made it maiden voyage from a South Korean shipyard in March of this year – and has a book value that will be in excess of $100 million. Expect to hear ransom demands that are higher than those being asked for the MV Faina and her cargo of Soviet tanks.

Somali pirates seize fishing boat in Kenyan waters

Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme says that a Chinese fishing boat, the Tianyu No. 8, was hijacked around 2100 local time Thursday evening. He tells me that, "The location is not yet known, but it is believed that it was [hijacked] within Kenyan territorial waters." The crew of 24 is believed to be unharmed and the vessel is now in Somali waters.

Prior to hijacking the Tianyu No. 8, the same pirate gang is believed to have attacked the Russian-operated container vessel Kapitan Maslov as it was sailing off Pemba Island (Tanzania). in that incident, Mwangura says that the boxship, "Managed to escape with minor damages and is expected to dock in Mombasa port this evening."

In related news, Lloyd's List today reports that another pirate attack was repulsed in the Gulf of Aden by a vessel armed with a magnetic acoustic device. The unnamed vessel was sailing about 18 miles off the Yemeni coast when approached by suspicious boats, forcing the ship to take evasive manoeuvres. A three-man team of security guards aboard the vessel deployed the device to drive the pirates away. The guards are ex-special forces personnel hired to provide additional security in the waters of this region, and it's almost certain that their numbers will increase over the next few months as ship owners worry about the costs of doing business off East Africa.

Somalia: How low can you go?

The ongoing situation regarding the freighter MV Faina remains unclear. The Faina is the vessel hijacked by Somali pirates on September 25, along with her crew and a cargo that includes 33 T-72 battle tanks. Her captain died shortly after the ship was seized, possibly suffering a heart attack, and the freighter continues to be anchored near the Somali coast, boxed in by foreign naval vessels from the United States and Russia.

But while that situation remains at an impasse, pirates have not let up in their attacks on merchant ships plying the waters off the Horn of Africa, targeting a number of vessels in the last week. This led to joint British-Russian efforts to assist a Danish vessel, the MV Powerful, which was assaulted yesterday by pirates presumably intent on hijacking the ship. In response, two helicopters were deployed from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland and the Russian frigate Neustrashimy, while British boat teams were also dispatched. The end reuslt was that two of the would-be attackers were killed by British commandos, the first instance of the Royal Navy engaging pirates in quite some time.

Meanwhile, the situation in Somalia itself continues to deteriorate. As reported by Time Magazine, aid workers are being killed ashore, government officials are being killed, civilians are being killed and even Italian nuns are being abducted. As the article by Alex Perry points out, 8 UN staffers and 24 aid workers have died in Somalia this year. there is no idea how many Somalis have perished in the anarchy that reigns there.

But just one under-reported event gives you some idea of how the downward spiral in Somalia is continuing: A 13-year old girl is reported to have been stoned to death by Islamic extremists on October 27 in the southern part of the country. Her crime? Having commited "adultery" after being gang-raped. That incident allegedly involves the al-Shabaab (Arabic For Youth) gang, who have been linked to incidents of piracy off Somalia, including the taking of the MV Faina.

The connection between sea-based piracy and land-based tyranny should not be forgotten in this part of the world. Expect things to get worse.