When Somali pirates chose to board a Chinese cargo vessel flying they received more than they expected.

The captain of a Chinese cargo ship spoke proudly of the efforts of his crew to fight off Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. “Armed only with only beer bottles, fire hoses and homemade incendiary bombs, the crew battled against the pirates  who boarded our vessel. After thirty minutes the pirates called it off.”

Fully aware of the threat to shipping in the area, the Chinese sailors made themselves as prepared as they possibly could, without having access to firearms, in spite of facing very heavy odds stacked against them.
In an incident early in the month, three British ex-soldiers were picked up from the water, after jumping over the side of a ship, because of the intensity of the attack they found themselves under.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Liu Jianchao, confirmed, “Over twelve hundred Chinese mechant ships pass through the gulf this year. Seven have been attacked.”

Now the Chinese government will join the other international warships in the gulf in a concerted effort to stem the growing tide of pirate attacks in the area. A Beijing newspaper reported that the Chinese navy was likely to send two destroyers and a supply ship to the area.

It is great to read of some fighting people back against what is nothing less than highly organized high seas robbery and extortion. The renegades have to learn they cannot rule international waters and hold an entire globe to ransom.

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If you book an ocean cruise that goes through the Suez Canal and the Gulf Aden, past the pirate-infested coastline of Somalia, you will find your ticket entails a lot of extra expenses.

Hapag-Lloy, the German Hamburg-based cruise operator, announced on Wednesday that its 246 passengers, from the MV Columbus, would now disembarked at the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. The passengers would be flown by charter plane to Dubai, where they will spend three days in a five-star hotel, waiting for their 150-meter ship to arrive. Should the MV Columbus manage to survive running the gauntlet of the pirate-infested waters, the passengers will re-embark at the Omen port of Salalah. They will then continue their around-the-world tour, which commenced in Italy. In this way the company hopes to minimize the piracy risk to the passengers.

Abdul Haasan has led the Central Regional Coast Guard, formed only three years ago. This group has unleashed a storm of terror and fear on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. They claim: “We are eco-warriors, or marines defending Somali waters from foreign exploitation.” Yet the Saudi Arabia, state-owned Sirius Star, the world’s largest oil tanker, was hijacked on November  18th 833 km off the Somali coast.

The remote decrepit Somali fishing outpost, Eyl, has become the piracy capital of the world. Secondary school kids education and head for Eyl, enticed by the alluring promise of making big dollars.

“Armed guards will now be posted on vulnerable cargo ships using the Gulf, in the first such deployment of military personnel, in the international fight against piracy,” says the European Union’s anti-piracy mission in a statement yesterday. Warships from Greece, Britain and France, plus two maritime surveillance aircraft from France and Spain will police the area. It is expected that a German war ship will join the anti-piracy mission mid December.

Merchant vessels owned by Indian shipping companies will place armed guards on vessels moving through the Gulf of Aden. “Once the ships are out of the danger zone, the armed guards will disembark. This will be a very expensive exercise,” stated Captain Anshul Rajvanshi of the Mumbai-based Ebony shipping company. “However, once the pirates have boarded a vessel, negotiation is the only safe way left open to us.”

Armed with information from relatives in custom offices, a typical ‘day-at-the-office’ for the 350 Somali pirates, with their mother ships and 100 small crafts, it is merely a matter of deciding which ship to attempt to hijack next. With the world in financial crises it seems the Somali pirates have created their own ‘pot of gold’.
40 ships have been hijacked, of the 90 attempted attacks this year. To view the full extent of world-wide piracy it is worth taking a few minutes to Google a live IBM Piracy Map.

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Many shipping companies are abandoning the shorter sea route through the Suez Canal in favour of the safer, longer and rougher  sea- route around the Cape of  Good Hope. This will not only add 12 extra days to the typical voyage, it will increase the freight rates by 25 – 30%. Add to this, the steep increase in insurance for shipping firms.

In the biggest ship hijacking in history, of $100 million worth of crude oil, the hijackers have warned against being offered fake money for any ransom payment. It is still unconfirmed they have demanded $25 million, after having seized the  Sirius Star, a 318,000 tonne crude Saudi oil tanker, one of the largest oil tankers in the world, off the coast of Kenya, on November 18th. The fate of the 25 crew is still unclear. The hijack took place in spite of the fact there were was a NATO warship in the area, protecting commercial shipping.

“The Sirius Star is said to be anchored about 17 miles east of the port of Haradheere, 10 miles out to sea, with 30 Somali pirates on board,” said Ahmed, an associate of the pirates. Three more ships have been hijacked since the Sirius Star was taken.

In 2006 there were 31 attacks on shipping, 60 in 2007, with 20 crew members killed and over 150 injured. There have been 199 recorded attacks in 2008 to September, earning the sea pirates millions of dollars in ransoms. At least 12 of the 2008 ships and more than 200 hostages,  are still under the control of the pirates. Previously the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait between Indonesia and Malaysia had been considered the most dangerous waters. However, recent figures confirm the greatest increase in incidents have occurred off the coast of Somalia, in the Gulf of Aden.

The international community believes there can be no end to piracy, in spite of increased sea patrols,  until there is peace among the feuding politicians, with their own militia, in Somalia. Yet Somali security forces threaten to attack and release a Yemeni cargo ship, if the pirates won’t release it without the $2 million ransom being paid. Minister of the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region said, “We have friendly relations with the Yemeni people.” In mid-October the Puntland forces raided and retrieved a Panama flagged ship, the Wail, arresting 10 pirates during a gun battle.

It is a tragedy that the Somali pirates cannot find more rewarding Blue Moon Opportunities, instead of resorting to gangland style piracy on the high seas. It is also an amazing fact that the nations of the world are unable to stop a tiny band of 350 terrorists with their 100 small boats.

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