Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker within 3 nautical miles of the Omani port of Salaleh, the first seizure within territorial waters and while a vessel was at anchor, the International Maritime Bureau said, Bloomberg reports. Armed pirates boarded the Fairchem Bogey on Aug. 20, taking 21 crew hostage and putting the vessel on course for Somalia, according to the bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre.
Pirates usually target vessels that are at sea, and the latest attack shows increased desperation as vessels deploy additional security for protection, said bureau manager Cyrus Mody.
“It could lead to an increase in the use of weapons as well,” he said. “It’s upping the game a little bit.”
Attacks on vessels by Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, an area as large as Europe, rose to a record in 2011’s first half, according to the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ shipping agency. Piracy costs the global economy an estimated $7 billion to $12 billion a year, the IMO says.
The Fairchem Bogey’s owners said they did not have armed security on board, according to Harrie Harrison, a spokesman for the European Union Naval Force.
“We take this as a change of tactics by the pirates and the reaction of coastal forces in the area will probably be to increase security,” Harrison said.
Protection
T. Hayase, president of Fairfield Japan Ltd., the Japanese subsidiary of Roseland, New Jersey-based vessel owner Fairfield- Maxwell Services Ltd., confirmed the hijack and declined to comment further.
Some 25 percent of ships that transit the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean region use private armed military teams as protection against pirate attacks, U.K. lawmaker Henry Bellingham told a committee hearing on July 6.
Nineteen vessels with 376 hostages and 26 additional hostages on land are being held by Somali pirates, according to IMB, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce.
Pirates usually target vessels that are at sea, and the latest attack shows increased desperation as vessels deploy additional security for protection, said bureau manager Cyrus Mody.
“It could lead to an increase in the use of weapons as well,” he said. “It’s upping the game a little bit.”
Attacks on vessels by Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, an area as large as Europe, rose to a record in 2011’s first half, according to the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ shipping agency. Piracy costs the global economy an estimated $7 billion to $12 billion a year, the IMO says.
The Fairchem Bogey’s owners said they did not have armed security on board, according to Harrie Harrison, a spokesman for the European Union Naval Force.
“We take this as a change of tactics by the pirates and the reaction of coastal forces in the area will probably be to increase security,” Harrison said.
Protection
T. Hayase, president of Fairfield Japan Ltd., the Japanese subsidiary of Roseland, New Jersey-based vessel owner Fairfield- Maxwell Services Ltd., confirmed the hijack and declined to comment further.
Some 25 percent of ships that transit the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean region use private armed military teams as protection against pirate attacks, U.K. lawmaker Henry Bellingham told a committee hearing on July 6.
Nineteen vessels with 376 hostages and 26 additional hostages on land are being held by Somali pirates, according to IMB, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce.