It seems whenever an item runs about piracy on a website, you always see comments below it from readers who wonder why ship owners (and cruise lines) even send their ships near Somalia. The answer is easy. It's the only reasonable way to get the ships between the Mediterranean and the east coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf or Asia - all places where ships have to reposition seasonally.
The dangerous zone has expanded as the Somali pirates have increased the scope of the operation beyond the Gulf of Aden now to the south and west. As we reported earlier, in the case of cruise ships, the pirates basically aren't interested. (There is a link on the front page of the CND website to that article.) They present too many problems, so it of course makes sense that they'd rather concentrate their efforts on the low-hanging fruit of cargo vessels.
Even though there's less risk to cruise ships, they still take extra precautions, just like you would if you have to drive through "the bad part of town." You choose a route that can take you around the edge as much as possible, stay on better lit streets, lock your doors and get through as fast as you can. This is the case we saw today with MSC Melody which is currently repositioning from Durban, South Africa to Genoa.
The line said they are making some changes to the ship's northbound journey at the suggestion of the International Maritime Organization and the Maritime Security Centre for the Horn of Africa, a coordination center run by the EU Naval Force to safeguard shipping in the region. Basically, they are sailing farther east, and thus farther away from the coast.
The new route is about 400 miles longer than the original, so naturally, there needs to be some changes to the port calls to keep the cruise at its 21-night length. MSC Melody will drop its call at the Egyptian port of Safaga, but it will still be able to maintain its calls at Aqaba, Jordan (for excursions to Petra) and Sokhnan, Eqypt (for excursions to the Pyramids at Giza). The other bright spot is that it will allow for more time for an extended overnight call at Port Victoria in the Seychelles.
MSC said they are also taking other unspecified (naturally) precautions as they sail through the region. MSC Melody is scheduled to reach Genoa on May 8 to begin its Mediterranean season.
Update - April 26:
Despite the precautions, pirates did attack the ship on the evening of April 25 after it left Port Victoria, more than 500 miles from the Somali coast. Cruiseblogger is covering the attack in a separate posting.
