Piracy News
Piracy costs shipping firms over $100m annually, says report
pircay
Piracy off the coast of Somalia is costing the international shipping industry at least $100 million a year, a new report states. Aside from payments in ransom - estimated at about $110 million over the past two years - there have also been increased transportation and insurance costs, as well as costs related to protecting [...]
Somali pirates set to gain from Asia coal boom
piracy
Booming Asian demand for South African coal will put more ships at risk from Somali pirates operating in the Indian Ocean and raise insurance and freight costs already hiked due to seaborne attacks. Emboldened by rising ransom payments, Somali pirates have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars by hijacking [...]
A Rundown of Anti-piracy Tactics Employed by Bulk Cargo Ships
pircay
Somali pirates are likely to increasingly target ships taking coal and other commodities over the Indian Ocean because smaller bulk vessels are an easier target than large oil tankers and trade to Asia is booming. A 75,000 ton vessel carrying South African coal at current prices of $85.00 a ton has a cargo value of [...]
Clean fuel can bring new problems
ship-pollution
Regulations for the restriction of air pollution from ships will mean extra costs and responsibilities for shipowners, warns Gerry Williams, principal surveyor at BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys Ltd., a subsidiary of BMT Group, Speaking at a London insurance market seminar, Mr. Williams said: “Burning ships’ fuel in an environmental manner is a huge challenge.”
Describing [...]
Ransom takes a toll on shipping firms; $80m paid in 2009
pircay
The commercial impact of piracy on the shipping industry has been massive with more than $80 million (Dh293.8m) paid as ransom worldwide in 2009 alone, a senior industry official said. Farhad Patel, Assistant General Manager at Sharaf Shipping, said that insurance premium for the Gulf of Eden alone has increased 10-fold and continues to increase. [...]
Danish Troops Free Bulk Ship from Pirates
piracy
Danish special forces stormed a dry bulk ship Friday after reports that it had been captured by armed Somali pirates, the Associated Press reported. The Danish troops approached the vessel in an inflatable dinghy and scaled the side of it, a naval spokesman said. But there were conflicting accounts as to whether any of the [...]
Somali Pirates Widen Attacks to Indian Ocean, EU Admiral Says
pircay
Pirates preying on commercial ships off the coast of Somalia are shifting attacks from the tightly patrolled Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean, the head of the European Union’s anti-piracy force said. Sea bandits are straying from the Gulf of Aden, the choke point leading to the Suez Canal, into 1 million square miles [...]
Ransom paid for cargo ship held by Somali pirates
piracy
A ransom for the release of the cargo ship MV Filitsa has been delivered to pirates on board the vessel off the Somali coast, a regional maritime official and pirate sources said on Monday. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme said helicopters dropped the agreed ransom, but the vessel was now [...]
UN group of nations says most ships hijacked by pirates ignored safety precautions
piracy
Piracy experts said that most of the hijacked ships off the coast of Somalia had ignored safety precautions, and at least 25 percent of the commercial ships that pass through the Gulf of Aden continue to do so. An informal band of nations and organizations fighting piracy along Somalia’s vast and lawless coastline vowed to [...]
“PIRATE MOTHER SHIP” SPOTTED
The US Office of Naval Intelligence has warned of a possible mother ship lurking around the entrance to the Red Sea.
In a warning to merchant ships the ONI says: “Possible mother ship activity noted near position 13:08N - 056:56E (approximately 153NM east of Socotra Island, Yemen) on 26 January 2010 at 1128Z.”
ONI adds: “Mariners are [...]
