Eric Watkins
Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11 -- Pirates off Somalia have hijacked a second vessel chartered by chemical tanker group Stolt-Nielsen, this time taking the MT Stolt Strength in the Gulf of Aden, despite a coalition of 10 countries, including Russia, that have naval vessels patrolling the waterway.
"The ship was en route to Kandla, India from Senegal and was carrying phosphoric acid," said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, which monitors piracy.
According to Mwangura, there were 23 Filipino crew aboard the Philippines-flagged carrier, which is managed by Manila's Victoria Ship Management and on long-term charter to Stolt Tankers BV.
Seizure of the MT Stolt Strength came nearly 2 months after pirates hijacked the MT Stolt Valor, 60 km off Yemen.
That vessel, which carried 22 crew members, was en route from the Suez Canal to Mumbai and remains in the hands of the hijackers.
Busy, unsafe waterway
The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest waterways, with some 20,000 ships passing through each year.
The waterway also is an important energy corridor, especially for Persian Gulf oil westward bound for the Suez Canal or Suez Mediterranean (Sumed) pipeline.
Tankers carrying 3.3 million bbl of oil—about 4% of daily global demand—pass through the Gulf of Aden each day, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The International Maritime Bureau says 199 incidents of piracy or attempted piracy were reported worldwide this year from January to September. Of these, 63 were in the Gulf of Aden or off the Somali coast.
According to Stolt Tankers, charterers of MT Stolt Strength, "the vessel was within the recognized Coalition corridor at the time of the seizure."
But that is no guarantee of safety, according to IMB, which has issued an urgent warning to ships to take extra measures to deter pirates even while sailing in the corridor patrolled by coalition naval forces.
"The corridor is protected, but safe passage is not 100% guaranteed. The patrol boats cannot be everywhere at the same time. The ship master must maintain a strict radar watch for pirates," said Noel Choong, who heads IMB's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.
EU to guard the passage
Meanwhile, 10 European Union nations said Nov. 10 that they would contribute to an EU operation to deploy an air and naval force to guard the busy sea lane.
The EU operation is due to be launched next month and is expected to involve 4-6 ships at any given time, as well as several maritime surveillance aircraft.
In September, a Japanese oil tanker, the Panama-flagged MT Golden Elizabeth, was able to fend off an attack by eight pirates in a small wooden boat in the Gulf of Aden.
Due to the stepped-up attacks and sophisticated equipment, however, the US Fifth Fleet said it would set up a special patrol area in the region, monitored by American and other naval vessels and aircraft (OGJ Online, Sept. 17, 2008).
Earlier, a UN Security Council resolution authorized international naval vessels to enter Somalia waters in pursuit of pirates (OGJ, June 16, 2008, p. 34).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].