UAE tanker hijacked in Somalia

By Joseph George

A week after maritime security forces warned ship owners of increasing piracy, a tanker owned by a UAE company has been hijacked by pirates in Somalia.

The Panamanian flagged MT Asphalt Venture was seized around 100 miles South of Dar es Salaam after unloading its cargo of bitumen at Mombasa in Kenya.

According to reports, the vessel was manned by a crew of 15 Indians. The ship was en route to Durban when radar observation showed her turn suddenly and set a course for Xaradheere, about 300 miles north of Mogadishu on the Somali coast.

EU Navfor, which is responsible for protecting ships from pirate attacks in the Somalia basin, had warned about the possible increase in piracy following the end of monsoon season.

“The number of attacks is expected to increase in the near future and vessels will have to be increasingly vigilant,” a EU Navfor statement said.

It also blamed several shipping lines of not ensuring enough safety measures to prevent piracy.

Speaking to maritime industry representatives recently, Colonel Richard Spencer, Chief of Staff of EU Navfor Operational Headquarters said: “The Best Management Practice (BMP) booklet should perhaps not be called ‘Best’ Management Practice but ‘Minimum’ Management Practice: self protection measures and ongoing vigilance remain, today, the most effective measures against piracy. However, there are, unfortunately, still some ships passing through the Gulf of Aden without applying the BMP measures or without being registered on the MSCHOA website.”

Each year in the Horn of Africa, the number of pirate attacks decreases during the monsoon period, due to rough seas. With improving weather, pirates are expected to increase their attacks.

Meanwhile, small and medium sized shipping companies in the UAE say they do not have enough resources to hire private security guards despite an increasing piracy threat.

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