Ship Simulator
English forum => Small talk => Topic started by: IRI5HJ4CK on November 18, 2008, 20:10:17
-
Pirates hijack Saudi tanker November 18, 2008
(http://www.kuwaittimes.net/upload/img_pict/headline98f574.jpg)
DUBAI: Pirates have seized a Saudi-owned supertanker fully laden with oil off east Africa, capturing the biggest vessel yet in a zone where Somali pirates strike almost daily and pushing world crude prices higher. The US Fifth Fleet said the Sirius Star was being taken to the pirate haven of Eyl, on the Somali coast yesterday.
The hijacking of the vessel is certain to add to pressure for concerted international action to tackle the threat posed by pirates from anarchic Somalia to one of the world's busiest shipping routes. "This is unprecedented. It's the largest ship that we've seen pirated," said Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Fifth Fleet. "It's three times the size of an aircraft carrier." Christensen said the supertanker was nearing Eyl.
The Sirius Star held a cargo of as much as two million barrels of oil-more than one quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily exports. Reports of the hijacking helped lift global crude prices above $58 a barrel after earlier losses. The hijacking on Sunday, 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, was in an area far beyond the Gulf of Aden, where most of the attacks on shipping have taken place and where some foreign navies have begun patrols. The pirates have been getting bolder. The Sirius Star had been hea
ding for the United States via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, skirting the continent instead of heading through the Gulf of Aden and then the Suez Canal.
There were no reports of damage to the ship, Christensen said. He declined to say if the US navy was considering taking action to rescue the tanker, which had 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. "We are evaluating the situation," he said. Chaos onshore in Somalia, where Islamist forces are fighting a Western-backed government, has spawned a wave of piracy.
Ship-owners have paid out millions of dollars in ransoms. Well over 60 vessels have been hijacked this year, driving up shipping insurance premiums and pushing some vessels to take longer routes between Asia and Europe than passing through the Suez Canal-potentially increasing the cost of traded goods. Among the vessels seized is one with 33 tanks on board. British think-tank Chatham House warned in a report last month of the danger a tanker could come under attack.
As pirates become bolder and use ever more powerful weaponry a tanker could be set on fire, sunk or forced ashore, any of which could result in an environmental catastrophe that would devastate marine and bird life for years to come," it said. "The pirates' aim is to extort ransom payments and to date that has been their main focus; however, the possibility that they could destroy shipping is very real.
The NATO alliance and the European Union have scrambled to provide patrols in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean waterways off Somalia. The United States and France, which have bases nearby, are also helping, while Russia has sent a warship too. The Sirius Star is Liberian-flagged, and owned and operated by state oil giant Saudi Aramco's shipping unit Vela International. The vessel was launched in March.
-----------------------
Information taken from: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTA4Mzk5NDI0
Jack.
p.s. Saw this on the news last night and decided to tell you all.
-
I heard this on the news this morning... over 50% of Sky News viewers reckon they should respond with "Military Action" - Not sure that's the way to go :-\
By the way, a Cargo ship was hijacked today not far away from this incident.
-
Hmm... I hope they know how to drive that thing.
-
I think this is dreadful.
I hope that the navys do go out there and patrol.
-
Hmm... I hope they know how to drive that thing.
Believe me...They know exactly where they are going, these guy's are pro's. To be able to Hijack a ship in the first place is amazing, they certainly know where they are going and what they are doing.
What I cannot understand is that, obviously, the ship has to enter the port, why can't the military be waiting there undercover when she arrives?
Jack.
-
Hello Jack,
Have a look at the port of Eyl in Google Earth: 7°57'22"N - 49°50'39"E and you will see that the infrastructure is minimal.
Regards,
Luc
-
Hello Jack,
Have a look at the port of Eyl in Google Earth: 7°57'22"N - 49°50'39"E and you will see that the infrastructure is minimal.
Regards,
Luc
Ahhh, yes, I see, I wonder what will happen to this poor ship and her crew. I think Pirate's that are caught should be sent to prision for a long, long time. And made to pay money to the shipping company for their losses.
Jack.
-
the time is long overdue to stand up to people like this
they must be stopped
-
They've been doing it for some years now, and the shipping companies are paying an average of 2million dollars per vessel. The pirates ensure that the crew are very well treated.
The main "brains" behind this are ex-fishermen. The reason they started it was because inustrial trawlers were fishing their waters ilegally and the fishermen could no longer feed their families.
The "muscle" behind these activities are ex-militia who are now out of a job and have no other way to feed their families.
Unfortunately, other nations looked away while the trawlers stole the fish. Since the pirating has progressed, organised crime has become involved (as always).
So, nothing is ever as clearly good/bad as you might think.
The pirating may be illegal, but there are reasons why it started. And why it continues.
-
This is awful. Evil selfish people!
-
Today some more pirates hijacked an Iranian cargo ship full of wheat
-
This is awful. Evil selfish people!
But read what I said, just a few seconds before your post. Perhaps things are not quite as they appear to be.
-
that doesn't make it right terry
-
I didn't say it did. But perhaps it makes things less black and white. It's all shades of grey.
What may at first seem to be a terrible crime gets reduced to a less serious one when you find out that they take great care to not injure or harm any of the crew nor to damage the vessel in any way.
You begin to understand their reasons when you find that they were starving as a result of governments who couldn't be bothered to stop industrialised nations stealing their food.
It may not be right, but you can begin to understand, perhaps.
-
The Volvo Ocean Race is now on the second leg, from Capetown, South Africa to Cochin, India
The organizers have changed the course to prevent the contestants from encountering pirates near Somalia..
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/11/17/volvo.piracy.threat/
-
hmm no wonder saudi arabia has so much oil :). i been to dubai 4 times,and love the place, so if they take military action, only take military action on the ship
-
But read what I said, just a few seconds before your post. Perhaps things are not quite as they appear to be.
I read your earlier post, And they doesnt seem as bad as first thought. Although It still looks like a lot of pirate actions recently, But thanks for the insight.
-
No problem.
The world is a complex place, and you should always look underneath the rabble-rousing headlines of the press.
"Man eating shark" may just be a chap having rock salmon and chips.... But shouting the former will sell thousands more newspapers than the latter.
-
No problem.
The world is a complex place, and you should always look underneath the rabble-rousing headlines of the press.
"Man eating shark" may just be a chap having rock salmon and chips.... But shouting the former will sell thousands more newspapers than the latter.
Very true, Wise wise words
-
Yeah, I've heard this as well. Wonder what they'll go after next?
-
I just hope the QE2 keeps a wide berth..
-
I agree.