• ICEBERG 1 (RORO/CARGO – Reported as Aground) – Flagstate: Panama. Date Taken: 29 March 2010. Number of Crew: 24. Number of days held: 691.
•  ALBEDO (Container) – Flagstate: Malaysia. Date taken: 26 November 2010. Number of Crew: 23. Number of days held: 449.
• ORNA (Bulker) – Flagstate: Panama. Date taken: 20 December 2010. Number of Crew: 19. Number of days held: 428.
• LIQUID VELVET (Chemical Tanker) – Flagstate: Marshall Islands. Date taken:31 October 2011. Number of Crew: 22. Number of days held: 110.
• ENRICO IEVOLI (Chemical/Oil Products Tanker) – Flagstate: Italy. Date taken: 27 December 2011. Number of Crew: 18. Number of days held: 53
• FREE GODDESS (Bulker) – Flagstate: Liberia. Date taken: 07 February 2012. Number of Crew: 21. Number of days held: 11.

The fishermen from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu had put out to sea on the morning of Wednesday 15th February from Neendakara in Kollam district.

The Italian ship Enrica Lexie is currently anchored 14 kilometres from the Kochi coast. Police and other officials have arrived to ascertain further details about the incident, following which future course of action would be charted out by Indian authorities. A naval press release said personnel onboard Enrica Lexie fired on the fishermen mistaking them for pirates and that the vessel informed authorities about the incident. There were around 10-12 fishermen in the fishing vessel at the time of the incident.

The Coast Guard then launched two ships ‘Sumar’ and ‘Lakshmi Bai’ and an aircraft to trace the ship, located it and asked it to anchor off Kochi for a detailed investigation.

The Kerala cabinet today decided to give Rs 5 lakh compensation each to the next of kin of the two fishermen shot dead.

State Fisheries Minister K Babu told a news agency that it remained to be seen how the issue was settled as an Italian ship was involved.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has asked the home department to register a case and do all the necessary procedures as it involves a foreign vessel.  

The killings off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest shipping gateway, came after pirates attacked a ship and hijacked a tanker ship near neighbouring Benin in the last week.

The IMB said although the average length of captivity of ships attacked off Benin and Nigeria is about 10 days compared with six months in Somali hijackings, the attacks can be more violent. While 10 attacks were reported in Nigeria in 2011, the number is “not representative of the real threat of Nigeria.”

“Underreporting of attacks in Nigeria continues to be a cause for concern, and IMB states that it is aware of at least another 34 unreported incidents in Nigerian waters,” the agency said.

In neighbouring Benin, there were 20 incidents involving tankers, eight of which were hijacked and had cargoes partly stolen.

Source: The Journal of Commerce

Reports state that UKMTO received a call from the CSO of Free Goddess stating that he could not contact the vessel. The Free Goddess was en route from Adabiya, Egypt to Singapore, carrying 19,475mt of steel cable with a crew of 21 Filipinos on board. The vessel is not responding to any calls.

The last known positional data on the Free Goddess is that she has dramatically altered course and her last recorded position was 11.59N – 056.09E at 0533 UTC Feb 9, approximately 110nm south east of Socotra Island.

Trade Winds News stated the loss of the bulker to pirates comes as a heavy blow at a time when hijackings have been falling.

Experts note hijackings have fallen to a rate of one a month since last summer. This compares with the successful capture of seven ships last January alone.

The Free Goddess is one of seven handysizes in the Freeseas fleet, all of which are trading in the battered spot market. The company saw it’s market value drop by close to one tenth following news of the hijack.

According to CMF, the vessel is heading towards the Somali coast.

Vessel in position 1159N 05609E at 090533ZFEB12, approximately 110nm south east of Socotra.

Vessels transiting the area are to exercise extreme caution.

In the first half of January 2012 the Korean convoys are executed by Republic of Korea Ship MTG. On 15 January this duty is taken over by Republic of Korea Ship DJY.

Eastbound convoys, rendezvous position “A”: 12 07 N – 044 11 E:
06 January, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship MTG
20 January, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
07 February, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
19 February, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
25, February, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY

Westbound convoys, rendezvous position “B”: 14 54 N – 054 41 E:
03 January, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship MTG
09 January, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship MTG
17 January, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
26 January, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
04, February, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
10, February, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY
22, February, 0400Z, Republic of Korea Ship DJY

Convoy speed 
The convoys’ base speed is 12 Knots. Ships should be able to maintain 12 knots throughout the transit.

Joining instructions
Merchant vessels that wish to join the ROK Naval escort task group need to submit their application directly to the ROK warship actually conducting the escort (via the Cheong hae 8th dispatch, which is the name of the Korean responsible for the tasking of the Korean warships). Application form can be found via link below, and registered ships should establish good communications with the warship at least 24 hours prior to convoy start time.

Furthermore, from 24 hours prior to convoy start time, please update the ship’s position, course, speed, and ETA every 4 hours.

Contact details
Applications to be submitted by one of the following means:
INMARSAT Republic of Korea Ship DJY: 870-783-110-375
Email: cheonghae8th@gmail.com

source: IMB Piracy Report 30/01/2012

source: IMB Piracy Report 30/01/2012

source: IMB Piracy Report 30/01/2012