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By Abdi Guled and Mohamed Ahmed
Reuters
Tuesday, December 29, 2009; 9:52 AM MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates seized a chemical tanker and a
cargo vessel on Monday, underlining the continued risk to shipping in
some of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
Somalia has been mired in chaos with no effective central government
since 1991 and pirate gangs operating from coastal havens have
flourished over the past few years. They have made tens of millions of dollars from seizing ships for ransom
in the Gulf of Aden, linking Europe to Asia, and are also hunting far
into the Indian Ocean to evade foreign navies sent to protect commercial
shipping. On Monday, pirates seized the British-flagged chemical tanker St James
Park in the Gulf of Aden and the Panama-registered cargo ship Navios
Apollon, taking the number of vessels they hold to more than 10,
maritime officials said.
ad_icon On the same day, pirates released the Singaporean-flagged container ship
Kota Wajar, saying they received a $4 million ransom for the vessel
seized in October far out in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles
archipelago. An official with Navios ShipManagement, the managers of Navios Apollon,
said the vessel was seized about 800 miles off the Somali coast, north
of the Seychelles. The official, who declined to be named, said there
had been no contact since. ATTACKS ON THE RISE Somalia's Western-backed government has promised to battle piracy but it
controls little more than a few blocks of the capital Mogadishu, and the
hefty ransoms are attracting more investors in piracy from within the
country and abroad. Analysts say there is scant hope of stamping out piracy unless some
order can be brought to Somalia, an unlikely prospect as rebel groups
control much of the country and the pirates are well entrenched in their
fiefdoms. Foreign navies have been deployed around the Gulf of Aden and have
operated convoys as well as setting up and monitoring a transit corridor
for ships to pass through vulnerable points. The European Union force, numbering 7 vessels currently, is among navies
with warships in the Gulf of Aden. But forces have been stretched over
the vast expanses of water including the Indian Ocean, leaving vessels
vulnerable. According to the International Maritime Bureau pirate attacks worldwide
have risen sharply this year. The increased activity and range of Somali
pirates has been behind the increase. In the year to October 20, there were 324 attacks worldwide with Somali
pirates accounting for 174 -- up from 194 incidents in the same period
of 2008. Of the 37 vessels seized, Somali pirates accounted for 35 and
took 587 crew hostage. The raids carried out by heavily armed men in high-speed skiffs have
pushed up shipping insurance premiums and forced some vessels to switch
routes to try to evade the sea gangs. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers' Association
said the chemical tanker and its 26 crew had been sailing to Thailand
from Spain with a chemical used to make plastics when it sent a distress
signal from the Gulf of Aden. He said crew members were from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, the
Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The Panama-flagged bulk vessel was sailing from the United States to
India with a cargo of fertilizer when it was seized. The Greek
management company confirmed there were 19 crew. According to Ecoterra International, a group that monitors shipping off
Somalia, at least 10 foreign vessels and 228 seafarers were being held
close to the country before the two latest seizures.
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