Sometimes you just have to drive through the bad part of town to keep from going miles and miles out of your way. It’s no place you’d want to walk, but driving through, you’ll be ok as long as you just keep on going except for stop lights, and then keep your doors locked and chances are you’ll be just fine. If you want to, you can whistle or sing, if it makes you feel better.
In the same way, cruise ships sometimes have to sail through bad parts of the world, among other threats, there are pirates. They aren’t the ones like you see in Disney movies, but these are bad guys, who chase down ships at sea, board them (by force), take them over and hold them and the people aboard for ransom.
Recently it was necessary for Sea Princess to sail through the Indian Ocean where pirates are known to operate, and in this article CND takes a look a some of the precautions taken aboard the ship.
The complete article appeared in the August 9 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Showing posts with label piracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label piracy. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pirate Available
High tech resumes and searches for work have even spread to the Gulf of Aden. Lloyd's List reports they have come across a profile on Linked In for Abdulla Ahmed. Abdulla is available for hire. His field is listed as "pirate in the Gulf of Aden," and he says his experience includes "Pirate, Shipping & Maritime Industry, January 2007 — Present (2 years 10 months)."
He's interested in job inquiries, business deals and expertise requests. The Lloyd's List article list the link to his profile, should you be in the market for a pirate in the Gulf of Aden.
He's interested in job inquiries, business deals and expertise requests. The Lloyd's List article list the link to his profile, should you be in the market for a pirate in the Gulf of Aden.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Can there be humor in ship hijackings?
We don't know who is behind the "Somali Cruises" website, but it's obviously someone's attempt at humor about a very serious subject.
Is it too soon for humor about a very dangerous situation?
Is it too soon for humor about a very dangerous situation?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Suspected MSC Melody Pirates Captured
The BBC reports that the Spanish navy captured nine men suspected of attacking MSC Melody on Saturday evening.
They were found near the site of the attack near the Seychelles and handed over to authorities in the Seychelles.
In another article about the capture, AFP quotes a bizarre interview with the pirate leader who said, "We were aware that hijacking such a big ship would have been a new landmark in piracy off the coast of Somalia but unfortunately they used good tactics and we were not able to board."
Update April 28, 7:30am
The president of the Seychelles says he expects the suspected pirates to be tried in the Seychelles.
They were found near the site of the attack near the Seychelles and handed over to authorities in the Seychelles.
In another article about the capture, AFP quotes a bizarre interview with the pirate leader who said, "We were aware that hijacking such a big ship would have been a new landmark in piracy off the coast of Somalia but unfortunately they used good tactics and we were not able to board."
Update April 28, 7:30am
The president of the Seychelles says he expects the suspected pirates to be tried in the Seychelles.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
MSC Melody Evades Pirate Attack
MSC Cruises reports that MSC Melody successfully evaded an attack by pirates Saturday evening (April 25, 2009) at approximately 7:35pm GMT (3:35pm eastern time in the US).
MSC said that when the ship came under attack, it initiated avoidance procedures and quickly escaped the pirates. They characterized the encounter as being "relatively brief." There were no injuries to the approximately 1500 passengers and crew, and damage to the ship was "not significant." The line immediately informed the Italian government foreign office, the Maritime Security Center in London and the Coordination Center for Security in Dubai.
The line does confirm that they came under automatic weapon fire from the small boat, and confirms the security force aboard MSC Melody repelled the pirates with fire hoses and evasive maneuvering by the bridge, but does not confirm that the ship's security forces returned the pirates' fire.
The attack came when MSC Melody was approximately 200 miles north of Port Victoria in the Seychelles and almost 700 miles off the Somali coast. As a precaution, a military vessel from the international security forces in the region is escorting MSC Melody as it continues on its scheduled itinerary to its next port of Aqaba, Jordan. Its published schedule shows it due to arrive there on Saturday.
MSC Melody is on a 21-day repositioning voyage that is taking it from South Africa to the Mediterranean which necessitates it travel through the area. It was sailing a revised routing at the suggestion of the International Maritime Organization to avoid the area where pirates were known to be operating. The revised itinerary, reported in Cruise News Daily on April 17, took MSC Melody about 400 miles off its planned itinerary and caused several changes in its ports of call to accommodate the longer distance. This indicates the expanding scope of the pirate operations in the Indian Ocean.
Additional elements of the story will appear in the April 27 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Last updated April 26, 10:56pm
View Pirate attack on MSC Melody in a larger map
MSC said that when the ship came under attack, it initiated avoidance procedures and quickly escaped the pirates. They characterized the encounter as being "relatively brief." There were no injuries to the approximately 1500 passengers and crew, and damage to the ship was "not significant." The line immediately informed the Italian government foreign office, the Maritime Security Center in London and the Coordination Center for Security in Dubai.
The line does confirm that they came under automatic weapon fire from the small boat, and confirms the security force aboard MSC Melody repelled the pirates with fire hoses and evasive maneuvering by the bridge, but does not confirm that the ship's security forces returned the pirates' fire.
The attack came when MSC Melody was approximately 200 miles north of Port Victoria in the Seychelles and almost 700 miles off the Somali coast. As a precaution, a military vessel from the international security forces in the region is escorting MSC Melody as it continues on its scheduled itinerary to its next port of Aqaba, Jordan. Its published schedule shows it due to arrive there on Saturday.
MSC Melody is on a 21-day repositioning voyage that is taking it from South Africa to the Mediterranean which necessitates it travel through the area. It was sailing a revised routing at the suggestion of the International Maritime Organization to avoid the area where pirates were known to be operating. The revised itinerary, reported in Cruise News Daily on April 17, took MSC Melody about 400 miles off its planned itinerary and caused several changes in its ports of call to accommodate the longer distance. This indicates the expanding scope of the pirate operations in the Indian Ocean.
Additional elements of the story will appear in the April 27 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Last updated April 26, 10:56pm
View Pirate attack on MSC Melody in a larger map
Friday, April 17, 2009
Taking Extra Precautions
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.
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.
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