Maritime news

A group of 8 Somali pirates have been repatriated to Puntland, Somalia as a port of the still continuing convicting programme in the Seychelles.

Departing from Mahi, Seychelles to Puntland, the transferred Somali pirates were flown aboard an IDC chartered air plane under escort secured by specially trained police officers. The convicted Somali pirates were successfully handed over to Puntland officials to serve out the remainder of their sentences in Basaso Prison, Puntland.

The operation to repatriate the Somali pirates was made possible by extensive diplomatic efforts among the Government of the Seychelles and the Puntland Authorities and it was carried out without accident.

The Minister for Justice of Puntland, Abdikalif Sheik Hassan, when visiting the Seychelles in March this year expressed his government's appreciation in the way Seychelles was handling the piracy situation and conveyed his interest to strengthen the relationship among Seychelles and Puntland, Somalia.

It should be mentioned that the minister had visited Seychelles after a group of 25 convicted Somali pirates had been transferred back to Puntland to serve out their sentences.

It is expected that another group currently incarcerated at the Montagne Possιe Prison will be transferred towards the end of May 2013.

The IDC flight crew and police escorts returned safely to Seychelles the same day.

by VesselFinder

An Algerian cargo vessel was kept hidden by pirates for 40 weeks, its Saudi owner admitted paying $2.6m ransom hostages to be freed. in November 2011. MV Blida had onboard 17 Algerians, 6 Ukrainians, 2 Filipinos, 1 Jordanian and 1 Indonesian. The ship was attacked by heavily armed pirates. Pirates released 2 hostages because of health problems in October same year. The rest of the crew members kept hostages were released after a bag full of money was sent to the pirates with a plane.

The gang wanted $2.6m ransom. Algerian authorities refused to negotiate. The owner, Ghaith Rashad Feraoun, explained the situation:
"I thought of the seafarers. I had no interest in freeing the bulk carrier and cement on board, as it was 100 percent insured and the insurance companies were going to reimburse me,"

"The pirates demanded a ransom of $ 2.6 million to free the seafarers and the ship. The Algerian government refused to negotiate or pay a ransom,” owner Ghaith Rashad Feraoun told Arabic daily Ennahar. “I thought of the seafarers. I had no interest in freeing the bulk carrier and cement on board, as it was 100 percent insured and the insurance companies were going to reimburse me," he announced.

"I negotiated through a man called Abu Ali or Abu Ahmed. After agreeing with the pirates on the amount, I paid a one-off payment in cash.

"I withdrew the money from Lebanon, because it’s the only country where you can get that amount without encountering obstacles," Feraoun added.

"We took a small plane and threw the money onto the ship,” he informed, adding that “Algeria didn’t pay a single dinar."

Algeria like many countries do not negotiate with criminals who take hostages and even wanted from the UN General Assembly to punish those who pay ransom to pirates.

by VesselFinder

Sunship Schiffahrtskontor KG confirmed that the all of its 5 crew members that were abducted during the boarding of the City of Xiamen off the coast of Nigeria, on 26th of April 2013, were freed on 11th of May 2013.

After the release all of the kidnapped crew members that are Polish and Russian citizens, were looked after by company representatives in Nigeria and were undergoing medical check-ups. Despite rough conditions while in captivity, they are in good health conditions. They already returned to their own countries and reunited with their families.

This news comes as an big relief to all Sunship Schiffahrtskontor KG workers that share the joy of the families.

The company of Sunship Schiffahrtskontor KG wishes to extend its thanks to the organizations that have worked towards securing their freedom, including the Nigerian local authorities, the embassies of Poland and the Russian Federation in Nigeria and the German Bundespolizei.

by VesselFinder

It is difficult to send pirates to prison announced Spanish Admiral. For example the EU military forces in the Indian Ocean (part of Operation Atalanta) had to free nearly 30% of the pirates.
The main problem is that the arrests are a month after the crime and collecting evidence is problematic.
The Spanish Admiral explains "When you spend a lot of time between the criminal act and the arrest, it is very difficult to obtain enough evidence so that justice can proceed,".

Another problem for bringing pirates to the justice is that nobody wants their country to be a prison for pirates. The political situation with the transfer of pirates is complex, negotiations are heavy and sometimes unproductive.

The European Union has agreements with countries which share common values and similar standards on human rights. There are many difficulties with transferring pirates to countries that have death penalty for example. Pirates have to be imprisoned in countries where the piracy is present.

One more problem is that the sailors sometimes have to travel a lot in order to give evidence and they do not do that and the pirates are released.

by VesselFinder

There is a list released with a maritime rules to follow in order to be safe at open sea.
After years of making and collecting these best practices they have been released.

According to Piracy Law:

“The 100 Series Rules are an international model standard and example benchmark of best practice for the use of force in the maritime security and anti-piracy fields for application by privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) and private maritime security companies (PMSCs) on board ships.

The idea of this project is to be helpful for the maritime industry.

Read the rules ->

by VesselFinder