Sea Piracy in the 21st Century

Enzo1982

New Member
March-April, 2017 was marked by new cases of pirates` attacks.
On March, 13 fuel tanker MT Aris 13 was seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Three days later the vessel and all eight crewmembers were released without condition. Noteworthy that it has been the first successful hijacking of a merchant vessel in the Somali waters since 2012.
On April, 1 pirates boarded and hijacked the Al Kausar, an Indian sailing dhow with crew of 11. Later on, the vessel was released by Somalian Security Forces and formally handed over to Indian Navy ship on April, 13.
On April, 3 pirates hijacked the Pakistani vessel Salama 1 off the coast of Somalia.
Another hot-spot is the Gulf of Guinea, where several incidents have also happened. On March, 10 LNG carrier La Mancha Knutsen fended off a pirate attack 100 nm off the coast of Nigeria. The pirates approached the vessel in a speedboat and opened fire with small arms. La Mancha's bridge team used evasive maneuvers and evaded the attack.
On March, 14 a bulk carrier was attacked in 120nm southwest of Brass, Nigeria, while en route from Lagos to Libreville, Gabon. The vessel was approached by a motor skiff with armed men who fired upon the ship and tried to board it. After short pursuit the pirates gave up and followed to the shore.
On April, 19 a tug operating 11 nautical miles south of Brass, Nigeria was attacked and boarded by armed pirates. The pirates escaped the vessel kidnapping eight crew members and wounding one.
At the same day a group of pirates in a skiff approached and fired upon a tanker underway about 59 nautical miles south-southwest of Brass, Nigeria. The crew raised the alarm, tanker increased speed and conducted evasive maneuvers and finally evaded the attack.
Many questions arise concerning this situation. For example, was it just crews` negligence or it’s a result of reducing of assets and resources available for international community to counter piracy?
 

ChrisLee1971

New Member
Don’t forget about the cargo ship BBC Caribbean which was captured by Nigerian pirates in the Gulf of Guinea in February! Her crew (seven Russian and one Ukrainian sailor) was released on March, 5.
Even though crews’ carelessness took place, all these attacks are wake-up call! It looks like the piracy is returning to the global agenda again. But I think the international community knows how to deal with this problem. The fact that Somali pirates has almost disappeared from world’s news (at least until the last incident) proves this point.
Russia probably will also not stand aside as Russian citizens are among victims of pirates` attacks.
 

Enzo1982

New Member
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Actually, the Russian Navy’s already been in on the game. The Russia has started to deploy naval ships in the Gulf of Aden since the end of 2000s. At that period of time about 30 Russian Navy’s combat ships and auxiliary vessels performed the counter-piracy duty in the Indian Ocean.

Russia also takes part in the international naval exercises which are focused on countering piracy. Despite of tensions, countering to illegal activities at sea is a point of contact between Russia and West.

The last case of formal interaction between Russian and American naval ships occurred within the framework of multinational ‘Aman-17’ naval exercise, which was held in the Arabian Sea near Karachi on February, 9-15. These maneuvers have brought together representatives from 37 countries from all around the world. Nine of the participating nations were taking part with naval ships. Among them are the United Kingdom (HMS Daring), the United States (USS Typhoon, USS Amelia Earhart), and Russia (Northern Fleet destroyer Severomorsk, replenishment tanker Dubna, and salvage tug Altay). The aim of ‘Aman-17’ is to show the unity of efforts of international community in countering emerging threats in the maritime domain.
 
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