The US Navy said on Tuesday that pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have recently increased. There have been four attempted attacks on motor vessels in the Gulf of Aden since September 19,

bringing the total number of piracy attacks on merchant vessels in 2009
to 146, of which 28 have been successful, the Bahrain-based US Fifth
Fleet said in a statement.

“We make every attempt to intercept the skiffs with pirate
paraphernalia before they can attack a merchant ship,” said Scott E.
Sanders, who heads multinational Combined Task Force (CTF) 151.

“We’re not being passive out here; we’re being proactive. We are creating an environment in which pirates are not so bold.”

Multinational forces monitor the waters of the Gulf of Aden and
surrounding areas to defend commercial and fishing vessels in an
attempt to keep the area safe for trade and passage.

More than 30,000 vessels transit the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden
annually, heading to and from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, but they
face the risk of being attacked and hijacked by the heavily armed
pirates, who use high-powered speed boats.

The pirates prey on ships, sometimes holding them for weeks before
releasing them for large ransoms paid by governments or ship owners.

More than 150 suspected pirates were arrested by naval patrols in the region in 2008.

According to Ecoterra International, an NGO monitoring illegal maritime
activities in the region, at least 163 attacks have been carried out by
Somali pirates since the start of 2009 alone, 47 of them successful
hijackings.

Source: AFP

Search to find what you want

• Pirates Extend for attacks, target oil tankers from the Gulf

    Somali pirates have begun to target oil tankers from the Gulf states and have increased the range for attacks to the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and in the Indian Ocean. The International Maritime Bureau has reported that Somali pirates were seeking to capture oil tankers from the Persian Gulf

• Officials say 47 countries that are trying to prevent attacks, pirates far less successful in Somalia

    The State Department says that the United States and 46 other countries have made a significant dent in the percentage of successful pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa. Although the number of pirate attacks is on the rise, fewer of those attacks are successful. The State Department reported Thursday

• Turkish command capture 7-Somali pirates

     Turkish navy soldiers on a NATO mission to combat piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden have reportedly captured seven pirates who were ready to attack a ship. According to a report published by the daily Hurriyet, the frigate TCG Gediz intercepted and seized a boat off Somalia’s coast on Friday in

• Somali pirate attacks Widen Indian Ocean, Admiral Says EU

    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,

• Somali pirates hijack-flagged vessel in Kenya

    Pirates have seized a Kenyan-flagged fishing vessel off the Somali coast for possible use as a “mother ship” to launch more attacks, a maritime official said yesterday. Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme said pirates captured the Spanish-owned FV Sakoba last week. “I think the pirates have

• Jamaica-flagged ship escapes pirates from Yemen: Fifth Fleet

    A Jamaican-flagged ship managed to deter a piracy attack off the coast of Yemen, the US navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said on Monday. A Jamaican-flagged ship managed to deter a piracy attack off the coast of Yemen, the US navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said on Monday. The Miltiades motor vessel

• Piracy in \ u0026 # 39, 09 double-IMB

    Piracy attacks off the Somali coast are set to double this year as lucrative ransoms and difficulties policing vast swathes of ocean lure increasing numbers of pirates onto the seas, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on Tuesday. The Kuala Lumpur-based centre said there have been 200 attacks off the

• EU Naval Force: Somali pirates hijack Saudi Tanker

    Somali pirates have hijacked a Saudi tanker with 14 crew onboard, a spokesman for the European Union Naval Force said Wednesday. The Al Nisr Al Saudi usually carried fuel oil but was empty when it was taken in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, said Cmdr

• Pirate Attacks on the Rise off Somalia

     (marinelink) Pirate activity has increased recently off the coast of Somalia with four attempted attacks occurring on motor vessels in the Gulf of Aden since Sept. 19.   Source

• Russian tanker comes into Egypt to escape the pirate attack

    A Russian tanker, which has come under pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden, has safely arrived in the Egyptian port of Suez with a shipment of aviation fuel, a Primorye Shipping Company spokesman said on Friday. “The vessel has delivered 41,000 tons of aviation fuel to the Suez port and

• CMA CGM Piracy Increases Risk Surcharge

    CMA CGM will increase its piracy risk surcharge for transporting containers through the Gulf of Aden next month, the French carrier said Tuesday.

• Special radar will detect pirates off Somali coast

    A British company has designed a special surface radar that can detect even the smallest skiffs on the water’s surface. This could turn the tide against Somali pirates off the coast of East Africa and the Gulf of Aden. Until now, radar has not been able to detect small pirate

• Chen Somali pirates free Malaysian tug after ransom

     Somali pirates have released a Malaysian-owned tugboat that had been held for more than seven months and its 11 Indonesian crew after a ransom was paid, a maritime official said. The tugboat was towing a barge back to Malaysia from Mukallah in Yemen when it was seized off the Yemeni coast

• Navy foils pirate attack on tankers in the Gulf of Aden

    The Indian Navy on Monday prevented a pirate attack on a US-owned tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s coast. A Navy spokesperson here confirmed the attack on a private tanker that was flying a Norway flag

• Russian destroyer enters anti-piracy mission to Somalia

    A Russian naval task force from the Northern Fleet led by the Admiral Chabanenko destroyer resumed on Monday Russia’s an anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa, the Navy said. “The task force consisting of the Admiral Chabanenko destroyer and a support ship has arrived in the Gulf of Aden.