Somali pirate threat diverting grains shipments

Grains shipments are being diverted around Africa as Somali pirate gangs strike deeper at sea increasing journey times and potentially lifting insurance costs at a time of unrest over food prices.

Pirates operating off the Horn of Africa are threatening traffic aiming for the vital Gulf of Aden trade route, either from Asia towards Europe and the Middle East Gulf or from the United States and Europe heading towards Asia.

While wheat shipments from Australia, one of the world's biggest exporters, were expected to accelerate shortly as the new export drive gathers pace, a trade source said sellers could find it harder to find vessels willing to make the journey through the Gulf of Aden to Middle Eastern buyers. A wheat cargo from Australia to Saudi Arabia this month cost an additional $10,000 a day due to the higher risk, Reuters reports.

"You have to find an owner who is willing to put his ship at risk for which there will probably be an insurance premium and higher costs," the source said. "If freight costs spike, it could hurt."

The source said Australian canola shipments to European markets were being diverted around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, which was adding 10-12 days extra journey time.

THREAT RESPONSE

Responding to the growing threat, London's marine insurance market last month expanded the stretch of waterways deemed high risk from seaborne raiders to include the Gulf of Oman and a wider stretch of the Indian Ocean.

Pirates are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international naval forces have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean owing to the vast distances involved.

"Many crews are having to run the gauntlet of small arms attacks that are endangering their lives and the safe passage of world trade," said Peter Hinchliffe, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents about 80 percent of the global industry.

Trade sources said grains shipments from European and US exporters to key buyers in the Middle East were also being re-routed around the Cape rather than run the risk of passing through the Gulf of Aden via the Suez Canal. 

"There is obviously extra voyage time involved but the lower freight costs are cushioning the impact. The dangers of having a ship hijacked are very large," a major European exporter said.

Grains markets are increasingly sensitive to potential disruptions as adverse weather patterns have raised concern over global supplies at a time of growing unrest over food inflation.

Food price protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East reached Jordan on Friday, following disorder in Algeria and Tunisia which has had many countries in the region moving to cut food prices and food taxes.

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index .BADI, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, has tumbled to its lowest in nearly two years hit by a glut of vessels seeking employment.

The cost of hiring a panamax vessel, especially used to transport grains, on a 4 to 6 month time charter contract was estimated at US$14,500 to US$15,500 a day, around US$4,000 a day lower than a year ago. Nevertheless, some shippers were resigned to having to stump up higher costs due to a lack of any solution at present.

One of Australia's largest grain shippers CBH Group said it was still shipping through the risk area. "Premiums are being factored in. So it's just one of those things that has to be taken account of," a spokeswoman said.

FRUSTRATION GROWING

Security analysts said the move by underwriters to widen the piracy risk zone was set to have a bigger impact on shipping, although any premium rises would depend on what risk mitigation procedures were in place such as crew training and watch rotas.

"The extension should be seen as an official warning for the business community that piracy is spreading very far eastwards," said John Drake, senior risk consultant with AKE Ltd.

"By using 'motherships' the pirates are able to travel much further out to sea because they can transport larger supplies of fuel, food and water." 

Maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7 and $12 billion a year with Somali piracy in particular driving up the cost of shipping through the Indian Ocean, researchers say. Frustration is also mounting among seafarers who have found themselves in the firing line, with more than 600 mariners held hostage by pirate gangs in Somalia. 

"Members are expressing profound fears about their vulnerability and the scale of the risk level now," said Andrew Linington, with seafarers' union Nautilus International.

Cornwall frees pirate hostages after three-month ordeal

RAISING their arms in the air under the guns of HMS Cornwall, 17 Somali pirates surrender to the frigate – bringing to an end a 92-day reign of terror.

For this pirate ‘mother ship’ is actually a Yemeni fishing boat – with five of its crew held hostage by the 17 brigands since early November.

The fishermen have now been freed, the pirate skiffs (and all the associated piratical paraphernalia – ladders, grappling hooks, powerful outboard motors, fuel drums, weapons – sent to Davy Jones’ Locker) thanks to Cornwall’s boarding team.

The Fighting 99 responded to a distress signal from a South Korean merchantman after the Yong Jin spotted the dhow acting suspiciously.

The Type 22 stopped the battered vessel from attacking the Yong Jin, then prepared to board with the ship’s Lynx hovering overhead. It was, said Cornwall’s CO Cdr David Wilkinson, “a very slick operation”.

The team from Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines found 22 souls on board and plenty of evidence of pirate activity.

Further investigation revealed that five of the men were Yemenis, the rightful masters of the dhow. They’d been held prisoner by the Somalis since November 11.

The freebooters had then turned the dhow into their mother ship, ranging around the Horn of Africa, using three skiffs to carry out pirate raids.

“Our presence had a hugely-significant effect on the lives of the five Yemeni fishermen,” said Cdr Wilkinson.

“They’ve been freed from more than three months of pirate activity and can now return to their families.”

With no legal powers to detain the pirates, only to destroy their kit, the ship returned the Somalis to their native land before resuming her mission with Combined Task Force 151 in the Gulf of Aden.

Danish warship freed Yemeni vessel captured by pirates

Danish naval ship Esbern Snare released a Yemeni fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean which had been held by Somali pirates for about a year, reports Associated Press referring to NATO command. 

Esbern Snare detained a suspect vessel with two boats on the deck. After cautionary fire, a boarding party was sent on board the vessel; they captured 16 pirates and released 2 Yemeni hostages. 

Piracy still remains the main threat to global maritime shipping. Early in Feb Somali pirates tried to hijack a Greek-flagged tanker 290 miles south-westward Indian coast. The ship managed to escape. 

Somalia can not find the answer to the piracy problem because it ceased to exist as united state in 1991 with falling of Siad Barre dictatorship who had been governing the country since late 60's. Currently, world community recognizes Federal Government of Somalia as the only lawful authority in the country; however, the named government controls only a part of a capital city, Mogadishu. 

The rest parts of Somalia are either under control of unrecognized state formations or self-governed territories which leaders have different views on integration. 

Anti-piracy campaign off Somali is carried out under EUNAVFOR – Operation Atalanta launched in 2008 and NATO Operation Ocean Shield started in 2009. Russian warships also participate in maritime security operations.

Nato seizes 'pirate mother ship' off Somalia

A Nato warship has captured a suspected pirate mother ship off Somalia, Nato's counter-piracy mission has said.

It said Denmark's warship fired warning shots on Saturday, forcing the vessel to stop and its crew to surrender.

Sixteen suspected pirates on board were then held and a weapons cache seized. Two Yemeni hostages were also freed.

"These ships provide the pirates with a floating base. They pose a great threat to the merchant shipping," the chief officer of the Danish warship said.

"We have now eliminated one of these threats," Commander Haumann of HDMS Esbern Snare warship said.

The Nato mission said the incident happened on Saturday morning, when the warship came across a suspicious vessel with two skiffs on deck.

It said it believed the fishing vessel had been hijacked.

The Nato mission - alongside with the EU's naval force - has been escorting merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden since 2008.

Earlier this week, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) said Somali pirates were now using at least 20 seized vessels as mother ships to launch attacks in the region.

Somali pirates have made millions of dollars in recent years by capturing cargo vessels in the shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa and holding the ships and crew for ransom.

Somalia has had no functioning central government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish off its coast.

Malaysia to charge Somali pirates under firearms act

Malaysia will charge seven Somali pirates with offences under the firearms act in a move that could see the men hanged if they are found guilty, said a statement from the Attorney General's office.

The pirates were captured in January by Malaysian commandos after they attempted to hijack a Malaysian-owned chemicals tanker, Reuters reports.

They were brought to Malaysia and were due to be charged in a court in the capital Kuala Lumpur later on Friday.

Somali piracy is a ‘threat to global oil supplies’

Ship hijackings could disrupt global oil supplies unless governments do more to combat piracy, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) says.

Intertanko’s warning comes after the supertanker MV Irene SL was hijacked in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday whilst en route to the United States. The 300 metre long ship is carrying US$200 million worth of Kuwaiti crude oil (two million barrels). It is one of the largest ships ever seized by pirates. Joe Angelo, head of Intertanko, says the Greek-flagged crude oil tanker’s cargo represents roughly a fifth of the US’s daily crude oil imports.

"If piracy in the Indian Ocean is left unabated, it will strangle these crucial shipping lanes with the potential to severely disrupt oil flows to the US and to the rest of the world," said Angelo, whose members own the majority of the world's tanker fleet.

Shipping industry associations warn that more than 40% of the world’s seaborne oil passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea is at risk from Somali pirates, who are able to operate even further out to sea and for longer periods through the use of mother ships. Intertanko says that Somali pirates are now using more than 20 seized vessels as mother ships from which to launch attacks in the region.

The capture of the Irene SL is the second tanker hijacking in two days. On Monday pirates took control of the Italian MV Savina Caylyn in the Indian Ocean, with more than US$60 million worth of oil aboard. At least 30 ships are being held by pirates, together with more than 700 hostages.

Somali pirates have made millions of dollars capturing cargo vessels, especially oil tankers as these have high value cargo aboard. Last year pirates received a US$9.5 million ransom for the release of the South Korean Samho Dream oil tanker.

"What we are dealing with here is a business model that is so good, that for a matter of tens of thousands of dollars you can put together a pirate action group, you can send it to sea and if you are lucky and hit the jackpot, you can come back with a vessel that within six months will bring you a return of nine-and-a-half million dollars,” Wing Commander Paddy O’Kennedy, Navfor spokesman told the BBC. “We are the first to admit we are not deterring piracy."

With large financial rewards, piracy has become a highly organised business. Seagoing pirates make up a small part of the entire operation, as there are investors, accountants, leaders and recruiters on land. 

Andrew Palmer, from the security firm Idarat in London, told the BBC that each pirate is highly trained for their roles in things like navigation, equipment and weapons.

“We could very quickly be reaching a point where we’re going to have to call for seafarers to refuse to sail into this area,” said Mike Dickenson, from the Seafarer’s union Nautilus.

"Now what will that mean for the world economy? Well that means ships can't go into the area, that means we have an oil shortage again, maybe then people would take notice, maybe when the supermarket shelves start to empty, when there is no petrol in the forecourt, then people will realise how critical the shipping industry is."

The area north and northeast of the Somali coast is an important shipping route for oil. The Hormuz Strait in the Gulf of Oman carries around a third of all seaborne traded oil, or 17% of oil traded around the world, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Every day around 17 million barrels of oil is transported through the strait, with roughly 13 oil tankers passing through the strait a day.

The nearby Gulf of Aden, on route to the Suez Canal, sees up to 30 000 ships passing through its waters every year. The Suez Canal itself is one of the seven shipping choke points identified by the EIA, which says that such channels are critically important to the world oil trade and are also susceptible to blockages and pirate attacks. Roughly 8% of the world’s seaborne trade passes through the Suez Canal and of the cargo taken through the canal, 15% is oil and related products.

Piracy is costing the global economy between US$7 billion and US$12 billion per year and is raising costs along vital shipping routes between Europe and Asia, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Rerouting ships to avoid Somali pirates is costing between US$2.4 and US$3 billion a year, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy, as ships have to travel sometimes thousands of extra kilometres. International naval anti-piracy operations cost another US$2 billion, the group estimates.

Meanwhile, the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU Navfor) said the Golden Wave, a South Korean fishing vessel seized in October off the Kenyan coast, was released from pirate control on Wednesday and the Danish warship Esben Snare released six suspected pirates as there was not enough evidence to try them in a Danish court. They were taken into custody aboard the ship following their attack on the Elly Maersk container ship last year.

Pirates hijack US-bound oil tanker off Oman

Suspected Somali pirates captured a US-bound tanker carrying around US$200 million worth of crude oil in the Indian Ocean in one of the biggest hijackings in the area so far.

The Irene SL, the length of three soccer pitches and with 25 crew members on board, was carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, or nearly one fifth of daily US crude imports.

The hijacking came a day after an Italian tanker carrying oil worth more than US$60 million was snatched by Somali pirates, reinforcing industry fears that the piracy scourge is "spinning out of control".

"This morning the vessel was attacked by armed men," the Irene SL's Greece-based manager Enesel said. "For the moment there is no communication with the vessel."

Commander Susie Thomson, spokeswoman for the multinational Combined Maritime Forces fighting piracy in the area, said the 333-meter tanker was hijacked 220 miles off Oman and was likely to have been attacked by Somali pirates. "We can only speculate as to where the ship is being taken."

Shipping industry associations have warned that over 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil supply passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea is at risk from Somali pirates, who are able to operate ever further out to sea and for longer periods, using mother ships, reports Reuters.

John Drake, a senior risk consultant with security firm AKE Ltd, said pirate activity off Oman first emerged in 2009.

"This is a strategic area of concern because it implicates shipping traveling to and from the Persian/Arabian Gulf," he said. "This area also does not have a significant naval presence like the Gulf of Aden."

On Tuesday, pirates firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades hijacked an Italian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean and diverted the vessel toward Somalia.

The Irene SL is only the fourth very large crude carrier to have been hijacked by Somali gangs since piracy escalated in 2008, the International Maritime Bureau said.

PIRATE CRISIS

Joe Angelo, managing director of INTERTANKO, an association whose members own the majority of the world's tanker fleet, said the hijacking of the Irene SL marked "a significant shift in the impact of the piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean."

Angelo said the Irene SL's cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil represented nearly 20 percent of total US daily crude oil imports and urged governments to step up anti-piracy efforts.

"The piracy situation is now spinning out of control into the entire Indian Ocean," he told Reuters.

"If piracy in the Indian Ocean is left unabated, it will strangle these crucial shipping lanes with the potential to severely disrupt oil flows to the U.S. and to the rest of the world."

Pirate gangs are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international navies have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean owing to the vast distances involved.

"The situation is only going to worsen. With rising ransoms pirates are able to hire more men, bribe more officials and wait longer periods to negotiate," said AKE's Drake.

"Pirates may not set out into the Indian Ocean with specific intent to capture oil tankers but if they see one they will likely attack it with more determination and ferocity than other vessel types, simply because of the potential ransom sum they could secure through holding such a vessel."

Pirates last year received a record $9.5 million ransom for the release of the Samho Dream South Korean oil tanker. A study showed maritime piracy costs the global economy between US$7 and US$12 billion a year.

The European Union Naval Force said a South Korean fishing vessel, the Golden Wave, and its 43 crew had been released from pirate control. The ship was hijacked off the Kenyan coast last October. EU NAVFOR did not say if a ransom had been paid.

Indian Navy successfully combats pirates

India’s coast guard and navy has captured 28 suspected Somali pirates and rescued 24 Thai fisherman from a fishing trawler that was used as a pirate mothership off the coast of India. It is the country’s second piracy success in under two weeks.

On Saturday February 5, the Greek-flagged merchant ship Chios was attacked by pirates about 100 miles off the Indian coast, but the attack was unsuccessful. A coast guard vessel, the ICGS Smar, and INS Tir, an Indian Navy training ship, were deployed to search for the pirates. The next day Smar came across the Thai fishing Trawler, Prantalay 11, which had been hijacked in April last year. After shadowing the trawler and failing to establish communications with it, the ICGS fired several warning shots, forcing the vessel to stop.

“The crew of the pirate vessel surrendered by hoisting a white flag and mustered on the forward portion of the ship,” the coastguard said. “All personnel onboard the pirates' vessel were thereafter directed to jump into the water for recovery.” 

Samar and Tir picked up a total of 28 suspected pirates and 24 fishermen. The pirates had been using the Thai ship as mother ship and used for launching raids on the open ocean.

The week before, the Indian Navy and Coast Guard liberated another Prantalay fishing vessel. On January 28 the Bahamas-flagged container ship MV Verdi was approached by pirates in skiffs. After the crew asked the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) for help, the Indian Coast Guard sent out a Dornier maritime patrol aircraft over the area. As soon as the pirates saw the aircraft, their skiffs changed direction and moved towards their Prantalay 14 mother ship.

The ship had been hijacked a few months before and its Thai and Burmese crew held hostage. After several hours chase, the Navy’s fast attack craft Cankarso closed in and tried in vain to establish contact. Then Cankarso fired a warning shot and after an exchange of gunfire, the pirates surrendered. Twenty fishermen were rescued while the 15 Somali and Ethiopian pirates apprehended were arrested once ashore in India.

Somali pirates are quite active in Indian Ocean, as they have launched several attacks in recent years. Today pirates successfully hijacked an Italian-flagged oil tanker in the Indian Ocean, abducting 17 sailors. Suspected Somali pirates also captured five Italian sailors in the incident, which occurred 800 kilometres off the west coast of India and some 1 300 kilometres off the Somali coast.

The pirates used rocket launchers and submachine guns to hijack the 266 metre long MV Savina Caylyn, which is now heading for Somalia. According to the Italian Coast Guard, gunfire was exchanged between the pirates and crew before the ship was boarded.

India has a warship permanently stationed in the Gulf of Aden, together with more than 40 ships from different countries that are deployed there to combat piracy. Whilst pirate activity has decreased in that region, it has risen to the east, near India, and south, near Tanzania.

Indian defence minister has A K Antony voiced concern over recent incidents of piracy involving Somali pirates around Indian waters, according to Outlook India. “Our waters are not safe like before. There are some other forces helping them. We cannot remain mere spectators”.

Piracy is costing international governments between US$7 billion and US$12 billion per year and is raising costs along vital shipping routes between Europe and Asia, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Rerouting ships to avoid Somali pirates is costing between US$2.4 and US$3 billion a year, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy. International naval anti-piracy operations cost another US$2 billion, the group estimates.

“It’s a sign of the situation worsening,” according to P K Ghosh, a maritime expert at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “While the numbers of incidents are going down, the sophistication and their strategic reach are increasing dramatically.”

Ghosh was making reference to the increasing use of mother ships to launch attacks further and further from Somalia, as the recent attacks in Indian waters have demonstrated. Mother ships allow pirates to carry tools to break down ‘citadels’ or safe-rooms in ships, and also carry fuel for long chases. At the moment there are between eight and ten known mother ships in use, but probably double that when taking into account unknown vessels, according to Dirk Steffen, a director at the Hamburg, Germany, office of Risk Intelligence.

The Indian Navy is improving its presence around the Kakshadweep islands just off its coast by building new facilities and upgrading existing stations. It says piracy fell 75% around the islands since December, a month after patrols were stepped up there.

However, experts and organisations like the United Nations agree that solving piracy means tackling problems on land. “What the military effort, in a sense, is doing, is suppressing the issue,” says Ghosh. “The problem can only be sorted out if it is tackled from land, otherwise my prediction is that this piracy issue will spiral totally out of control and countries will find it extremely difficult to handle it.”

India has suggested various ways of combating piracy and proposed several ideas at a UN Security Council meeting in New York. Among its suggestions are that vessels off the Somali coast should be tracked in defined corridors; governments should follow the ransom money and prosecute beneficiaries; and laws should be enacted to criminalise piracy as defined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Italy oil tanker hijacked, diverted towards Somalia

Pirates firing guns and rocket propelled grenades hijacked an Italian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean and diverted the medium-sized vessel towards Somalia, Italian Navy and European Union officials said.

Seaborne gangs are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international navies have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean owing to the vast distances involved.

Ship industry associations have warned that over 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil supply passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea was at high risk from better equipped Somali pirates, who are able to operate further out at sea and for longer periods using mother ships, Reuters reports.

The attack on the Savina Caylyn took place some 500 miles off the coast of India and 800 miles off Somalia, an Italian Navy spokesman said on Tuesday, adding that no-one among the crew of 17 Indians and five Italians was reported hurt.

"It is heading west, in the direction of Somalia," Commander Paddy O'Kennedy, spokesman for the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) said later on Tuesday. "This is what we expected at this stage."

EUNAVFOR said the vessel was boarded early on Tuesday after a sustained attack by one small high speed craft known as a skiff with five pirates firing small arms and four rocket propelled grenades.

An Italian navy frigate was heading to the scene but was some 600 miles away.

Responding to the growing threat, London's marine insurance market has expanded the stretch of waterways deemed high risk from seaborne raiders to include the Gulf of Oman and a wider stretch of the Indian Ocean.

"The piracy crisis off Somalia is spiralling out of control -- seafarers are being tortured and executed," said Graham Westgarth, chairman of INTERTANKO, an association whose members own the majority of the world's tanker fleet.

"If the piracy situation is not dealt with, there is the potential for oil flows coming out of the Middle East Gulf, and between Asia and the West, to be disrupted," he told Reuters.

Forcing the original crew to operate hijacked ships at gunpoint, pirates can now launch attacks during stormy monsoon seasons using the vessels as giant mother ships.

The Rome foreign ministry said the incident showed the need for "even greater international collaboration against piracy."

TANKERS SEEN HIGHLY PRIZED

A study showed that maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7 and $12 billion a year, with Somali piracy in particular driving up the cost of shipping through the Indian Ocean. Pirates last year received a record $9.5 million ransom for the release of the Samho Dream South Korean oil tanker.

"Pirates have made a lot of money out of previously released tankers so they will now be viewed as a highly attractive prize," said John Drake, a senior risk consultant with security firm AKE Ltd.

J. Peter Pham, an African security adviser to U.S. and European governments and private companies, said tankers were inviting targets despite it being more difficult to seize them than slower bulk carriers which are easier to board.

"The value of their cargo as petroleum prices continue to rise as well as the fear of the environmental damage should it spill make a larger ransom more quickly paid," he said.

The Aframax-type tanker can carry a maximum of just over 700,000 barrels of oil with the Savina Caylyn's maximum cargo value estimated at $63 million. The largest crude tankers carry maximum cargoes of between 2 to 3 million barrels of oil.

O'Kennedy said the anti-piracy task force was monitoring the movement of the ship but was no longer in direct contact.

"The last communication was when the pirates were on board and then we lost all contact," he said.

The ship is carrying a load of crude for the European oil trading company Arcadia. It was sailing from the Bashayer Oil Terminal in Sudan and was destined for Pasir Gudang port in Malaysia, according to Reuters Freight Views.

BIMCO Seafarer To Execution By Somali Pirates

BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO and the International Transport Workers’ Federation have issued a joint statement expressing their outrage that Somali pirates have executed, apparently in cold blood, a seafarer on the merchant ship Beluga Nomination which had been attacked and hijacked by armed pirates on 22 January in the Indian Ocean, 390 nautical miles north of the Seychelles. Three seafarers were reportedly taken aside for ‘punishment’ after an attempt by the Seychelles coastguard to free the hostage crew resulted in the death of a pirate.

“The international shipping industry is truly disturbed at reports that pirates have been torturing seafarers physically and mentally, often in the most barbaric ways,” the statement read, “including hanging them over the ship’s side by ropes around their ankles with their heads under water and even subjecting them to the horrendous practice of keelhauling.” The grouping urged governments to empower their naval forces to take fast and robust action against pirates, and the vessels under their control, before passing ships are boarded and hijacked. The statement concluded with a sobering look at ships having to mull alternative routes to deliver cargoes. “This latest particularly atrocious action appears to represent a fundamental shift in the behaviour of Somali pirates. The cold-blooded murder of an innocent seafarer means that ship owners and their crews will be re-evaluating their current determination to ensure that this vital trade route remains open – over 40% of the world’s seaborne oil passes through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. The shipping industry will be looking at all possible options, including alternative routes, which could have a dramatic effect on transport costs and delivery times – piracy is already estimated to cost the global economy between $7-12 billion per year.”

Piracy challenges maritime security off Somalia

Pirates off the coast of Somalia are using bigger vessels to extend their criminal reach in a move that could prompt US Navy forces in the region to intensify techniques for pursuing the lawbreakers, says the top naval officer in the region.

Navy Vice Adm. Mark I. Fox, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command and the US 5th Fleet, said ina press release, that pirates have begun commandeer large merchant ships and use them as "mother ships" to put smaller boats into operation far from the coast and beyond the reach of the international forces arrayed against them.

"This is the first time we've seen persistent and increased use of mother ships -- up to eight 'pirate action groups' as we refer to them, disbursed throughout the region," Fox said, calling this development a "game changer."

Such groups may include one or two mother ships that travel with a range of dhows, skiffs and other small craft to attack and hijack international commercial vessels. Fox said the number of pirate hostages rose from 250 to about 770 between September and January. In response to this and to the pirates' evolving capabilities, "we're in a constant process of assessing the way we do our business here."

The international force that works together in the region includes participation from the political alliance with the European Union, the military alliance with NATO, and military combined task forces that bring together nations from around the world to address critical security issues facing the region, including terrorism and piracy, the media release added.

US Naval Forces Central Command is part of that mosaic, Fox said, "and then we have independent deployers like China or Russia, who are also in the region looking out for the well-being of their ships."

Everyone in the region has been "too keen" to categorize some efforts as counterpiracy and some as counterterrorism, the admiral noted.

"We've not used the same level of rigor and discipline in terms of [investigating] the counterpiracy piece as we have in the counterterrorism piece," he said. The same techniques should apply to both, he added, including investigating the sources of financing for pirates' activities, equipment, relationships and supplies.

The fight against piracy and terrorism is a critical issue in the region but it has helped countries in the region work better together, Fox said.

"Pirates are enemies of all, terrorists are enemies of all, and there has been willingness on the part of a large number of nations to come together and work together, where heretofore that hasn't happened," the admiral added.

"This is real, no-kidding capability of regional partners developing their own capacity to take care of their own water space, communicate and effectively deal with a threat that they all want to be able to manage," Fox said.

UN envoy proposes piracy courts in Somali enclaves

A UN envoy proposed special courts be set up rapidly in the Somali enclaves of Somali land and Puntland, and in Tanzania, to try captured pirates who are costing the world billions of dollars.

Pirates based in Somalia have turned the busy shipping lanes off the coast of the lawless Horn of Africa nation into some of the most dangerous waters on earth.

"Pirates are becoming the masters of the Indian Ocean," the envoy, Jack Lang, told the UN Security Council.

Many pirates are captured by international warships trying to combat the scourge but 90 percent of them are then released because no place can be found to prosecute them, Lang said. With conflict-torn Somalia lacking the legal infrastructure to try pirates, Kenya and the Seychelles have prosecuted dozens of suspects handed over by foreign navies. But both have said they would have difficulties coping if all the seized pirates were sent to them, Reuters reports.

Lang, special adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Somali piracy, recommended specialized courts be set up within eight months in Somaliland and Puntland in northern Somalia, and at Arusha in Tanzania. They would use Somali law.

In a report to the Security Council, Lang put the cost of the project at less than US$25 million over three years. The funding could be provided by a special donors' conference.

The breakaway enclave of Somaliland and semi-autonomous Puntland, itself a center of piracy, are seen as relatively stable compared with Somalia proper, where a weak interim government is battling Islamist insurgents.

Arusha is now the site of a UN-backed tribunal that tries suspects from Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Lang, a former French culture minister, proposed the same facilities be used to try suspected Somali pirates.

PIRATE ECONOMY

Lang also recommended two special prisons be built, one in Somaliland and one in Puntland, with capacity of 500 prisoners each, with a third to be built in Puntland soon afterward.

Any such project will have to be authorized by the Security Council, which took no immediate decision after listening to Lang's oral presentation at a meeting on Tuesday.

Researchers reported earlier this month that maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7 billion and $12 billion a year, including higher insurance rates, with Somali pirates responsible for 95 percent of the cost.

The highest ransom on record for a single vessel is $9.5 million. There are now some 30 ships, ranging from fishing boats to bulk carriers, held by Somali pirates.

Lang told the council the problem was worsening.

"The pirate economy ... is having a destabilizing effect on Somalia and the entire region owing to rising prices, insecurity of energy supplies and loss of revenue," his report said.

The number of victims was rising, it said, with 1,900 people taken hostage since the end of 2008.

Lang also proposed all countries should make piracy a criminal offense and impose universal jurisdiction for it, meaning they could prosecute pirates whatever their nationality and wherever the offense took place.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said Washington "would support further consideration" of the report's ideas but also favored trials being held by Somalia's neighbors.

British envoy Philip Parham said Somali courts and prisons were "the best long-term solution" but the Arusha court would need its facilities for Rwanda trials for the foreseeable future.

Somali pirates seize German ship off Seychelles

A German shipping line appealed for naval intervention after Somali pirates seized a cargo ship and its 12 crew off the Seychelles.

The owners of the Beluga Nomination voiced frustration that no military help had reached the 12-man crew during the first two days of their ordeal, when they had taken refuge in a secure "citadel". The pirates were now in full control of the vessel.

"Military assistance is badly required," Bremen-based Beluga Shipping GmbH said in a statement, adding that the ship was now heading west toward Somalia. The crew comprises a Polish captain and seven Filipino, two Russian and two Ukrainian seamen, Reuters reports.

"We are somewhat irritated," Beluga chief executive Niels Stolberg said. "Why, within 2-1/2 days during which the crew had hidden from the pirates in the citadel, could no external help be offered?"

The Beluga Nomination was boarded about 800 miles off the Seychelles, far from the areas where pirates mainly operate.

A distress call was sent to the European Union's anti-piracy naval mission in the Indian Ocean, Beluga said. No help arrived.

Poor weather prevented Seychelles coastguards from reaching the ship. Images from a plane which flew over the vessel indicated the pirates had taken over the crew's safe area.

According the website marinetraffic.com, the Beluga Nomination is 9,775 dead weight tonnes and flies the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

Somali pirates are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers, in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, despite the efforts of foreign navies to clamp down on such attacks.

A report this month said piracy worldwide was costing the global economy $7-12 billion a year, with Somali sea-bandits in particular driving up the cost of shipping in the Indian Ocean.