Somali Coast

Piracy – Russian Navy to Send Task Force to Gulf of Aden

Russia to send new anti-piracy force for patrols off the Somali coast A task force from Russia’s Northern Fleet, led by the Udaloy class destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov, is to depart on an new anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast, the fleet’s spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Vadim Serga said. The destroyer is currently on a training mission in the Barents Sea as part of the preparations for the upcoming tour-of-duty in the Gulf of Aden. “It will be the first anti-piracy mission for the Vice Admiral Kulakov destroyer,” Serga said. The new task force will replace the Russian Pacific Fleet’s task force headed by the Admiral Tributs destroyer, which has completed its anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast  and set sail for its home base in Vladivostok. The Admiral Tributs, the Pechenega tanker and a rescue tugboat arrived in the Gulf of Aden early this year, and has escorted five convoys of commercial ships since then. Task forces from the Russian Navy, usually led by Udaloy class destroyers, operate in the area on a rotating basis. Russian warships have successfully escorted more than 130 commercial vessels from various countries through pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast since 2008, when Russia joined the international anti-piracy mission in the region

U.S. Company Hired to Thwart Piracy

Somalia's government signed a deal with a US maritime security firm to fight rampant piracy in the waters off its unpatrolled coast, according to a report in the Taipei Times. Waters off the coast of Somalia are considered among the most dangerous in the world. Pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns earlier this month tried to board a US-owned cruise liner about 160km off the Somali coast. New York-based Topcat Marine Security Inc signed a deal worth more than $50

India to Protect Merchant Ships With On-board Military

Concerned over piracy off the Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden, India is readying an initial 100-man team to protect its merchant vessels in the area. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will take on the responsibility of securing the merchant vessels, under a proposal mooted by the ministry of shipping and, as a pilot project, will train 100 of its personnel for the purpose, a government source told IANS.

Somali Counter-piracy Offensive Paying Off

Piracy off the Somali Coast falls to lowest levels in years as result of tough measures on land & at sea. As Kenyan Defense Forces continue to weaken Al-Shabaab on the ground in Somalia, new reports indicates Somali pirates off the coast have similarly been weakened this year. According to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center, “The number of ships signaling attacks by Somali pirates has fallen this year [2012] to its lowest since 2009

Ten Seamen Saved from Sea off Somalia

EU Naval Force French Frigate 'Surcouf' rescues 10 from life-raft after their coastal cargo vessel sank 30 miles off the Somali coast. The master of the Indian flagged vessel had sent out a distress call after engine failure and the vessel began to  ship water. FS Surcouf, which was conducting counter piracy patrols 26 nautical miles away, raced to assist the mariners, who by now had ‘abandoned ship’ in rough seas and climbed into a life raft.

Another Tankship Released by Somali Pirates

EU Naval Force Flagship ESPS Méndez Núnez assists 'MV Smyrni' after it sails out of the Somali pirate's holding anchorage. MV Smyrni, with a crew of 26, was carrying 135,000 tonnes of crude oil when she was hijacked on 11 May 2012.  After ten months of being held in a pirate anchorage off the Somali coast, it is understood that a ransom was paid for the vessel, and on 10 March 2013, she was released by her captors.

MV Sinin Believed Pirated in Arabian Sea

On the afternoon of 12 February, the MV Sinin is believed to have been pirated approximately 350 nautical miles East of Masirah (Oman) in the North Arabian Sea.     The vessel, which has a crew of 23 (13 Iranian and 10 Indian nationals), sent out a distress signal, saying she was under attack, late afternoon on Saturday to which an aircraft from the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) immediately responded.  The aircraft photographed 2 suspected pirate skiffs on board the vessel

NATO Weekly Piracy Assessment

Reporting period: 29 September - 05 October 2011 (Updated: 06 October).   Overview: During the reporting period (29 Sep – 5 Oct 11) there were two incidents of suspicious activity and one attack in the Gulf of Aden (GOA), one incident of suspicious activity, one disruption and two attacks in the Arabian Sea and one approach, three attacks and a disruption in the central Somali Basin. Also, a French woman was abducted from Manda Island off the Kenyan coast

SOS Welcomes Robust EU Action on Somali Coast

The SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign welcomes the extension of the EU counter- piracy operation until end 2014, and the  EU decision to broaden the scope of its naval operation in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean  by extending the naval forces’ area of operations to include Somali coastal territory which allows it to take more robust action on the Somali coast.   This is a bold step towards the goal that the shipping industry and its seafarers embrace - that of seeing

Somali Counter-piracy Operations Effective, Should Continue

UK House of Lords Select Committee states naval 'Operation Atalanta' has turned the tide on Somali pirates but should extend. The House of Lords EU Committee for External Affairs has praised the success of Operation Atalanta in curbing piracy off the Somali coast. However, they say that the operation must be extended beyond its current end date of December 2014 if it is to make a lasting difference in combating the threat.