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Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea affects a number of countries in West Africa as well as the wider international community. By 2011, it had become an issue of global concern. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea are often part of heavily armed criminal enterprises, who employ violent methods to steal oil cargo. In 2012, the International Maritime Bureau, Oceans Beyond Piracy and the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program reported that the number of vessels attacks by West African pirates had reached a world high, with 966 seafarers attacked during the year. According to the Control Risks Group, pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea had by mid-November 2013 maintained a steady level of around 100 attempted hijackings in the year, a close second behind Southeast Asia. Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea continues to be a concern to the shipping industry, which is affected significantly. At the same time, governments in the region generally highlight that the fight against piracy requires a broad understanding of maritime security throughout the Gulf of Guinea.
The MV Golden Nori is a Japanese chemical tanker that was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia on 28 October 2007. In news reports, she has at times been mistakenly referred to as the Golden Nory and Golden Mori. At the time of the hijacking the 23 person crew was composed of citizens of South Korea, the Philippines, and Myanmar. One of the South Korean crew members successfully escaped soon after being taken hostage.
The action of 28 October 2007 was part of Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa, the military operation defined by the United States for combating terrorism in the Horn of Africa. The incident occurred when United States Navy units acted to interdict piracy in the region.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding areas. It was initially a threat to international fishing vessels, expanding to international shipping since the Consolidation of states within Somalia (1998–2006) of the Somali Civil War, around 2000.
MV Manifa is an oil tanker formally owned and operated by Vela International Marine. With a length overall of 330 m (1,080 ft) and a capacity of 2.2 million barrels (350,000 m3) of crude oil, she is classified as a very large crude carrier or VLCC. Vela is based in the United Arab Emirates and is a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian state oil company Saudi Aramco. Sirius Star is one of Vela's 24 tankers, of which 19 are VLCCs. Since her launch, the ship has been registered in Monrovia under the Liberian flag of convenience.
The MV Stolt Strength is a Philippines-flagged ship, managed by a Panamanian company. It was hijacked by Somali pirates off the Gulf of Aden on November 10, 2008. The chemical tanker, carrying phosphoric acid and 21 Filipino crewmembers aboard, was attacked by men carrying automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The ship's owner, Sagana Shipping, of Manila, was awaiting word from the pirates regarding ransom.
The MV Karagöl is an oil/chemical tanker owned and operated by the Istanbul based Turkish company YDC Denizcilik A.Ş., sailing under Turkish flag. The marine company is also partnered by the ruling AK Party's Istanbul deputy Hasan Kemal Yardımcı.
The MV Biscaglia was a chemical tanker managed by Ishima Pte. Ltd. of Singapore and held by Industrial Shipping Enterprises Management Company LLC of Stamford, Connecticut, USA.
Navios Apollon is an Ultra-Handymax bulk carrier vessel with a capacity of 52,073 deadweight.
St. James Park is a chemical tanker.
Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden was a naval operation by the Republic of Korea Navy against Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. The operation was spurred by the pirates' seizure of the South Korean chemical tanker Samho Jewelry. In response, the South Korean government sent a destroyer and 30 naval commandos to retake the ship and rescue its crew. After trailing the tanker for several days and fighting a preliminary engagement that neutralized four of the pirates, the South Korean forces retook the ship by force on January 21, 2011 in a successful boarding action that resulted in the deaths of eight and the capture of five out of thirteen pirates.
The Pasukan Khas Laut, commonly abbreviated to PASKAL, is the principal special operations force of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
The following lists events that happened in 2009 in Somalia.
Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden was a naval operation carried out by the Royal Malaysian Navy against pirates in the Indian Ocean on 20 January 2011. In response to the hijacking of MV Bunga Laurel, the Malaysian Shipborne Protection Team deployed an attack helicopter and 14 members of the naval counter-terrorism group PASKAL in two rigid-hulled inflatable boats to retake the vessel and rescue the crew. After one night of trailing the tanker, the Malaysian forces successfully retook the ship by force on 20 January 2011, resulting in the wounding of three and the capture of four out of 18 pirates, and all 23 vessel crewmembers rescued.
On 18 November 2012, eleven Indonesian pirates hijacked MT Zafirah, a Malaysian tanker, in the South China Sea. The tanker crew was left by the pirates on a lifeboat in the sea two days after the hijacking but were subsequently rescued by Vietnamese fishing vessels on 21 November when their lifeboat was drifting around 118 nautical miles in the waters off Vietnam's southern Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province. All the pirates managed to be tracked by Vietnam Coast Guard and Vietnam People's Navy with information provided by Malaysian based International Maritime Bureau and Singaporean based RECAAP, which led to their arrest after a brief of standoff near Vũng Tàu port.
References
- ↑ "Pirates hijack German-owned ship in Gulf of Aden". CNN. 29 January 2009.
- ↑ Philippine Daily Inquirer (2009-01-31). "Pirates seize tanker with 12 RP sailors". Global Nation. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2009-01-30.