Pirates Hijack Saudi Oil Tanker

[Le Goat]

(semi breaking so it's a short bulletin)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The U.S. Navy says Somali pirates have hijacked a Saudi-owned oil tanker off the Kenyan coast.
Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, says the pirates hijacked the vessel Saturday. The tanker is owned by Saudi oil company Aramco and was sailing under a Liberian flag.
Christensen says the pirates took control of the ship 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya. He spoke Monday by phone from the 5th Fleet's Bahrain headquarters.



you've got to be shitting me.

[Limp]

I love how they can't catch and destroy pirates.

[Justabot]

First of all, they have to have something that will give oil a temporary price bump.

Second, everyone knows pirates are superior to ninjas.

[Le Goat]

First of all, they have to have something that will give oil a temporary price bump.

Second, everyone knows pirates are superior to ninjas.

one tanker won't bump oil up 50 bucks.

[Justabot]

A buck is enough. And I was being a bit facetious.
But not about the pirate/ninja thing.

[Jatoza]

Do we know if this is the same group that took that Iranian ship a while ago? I want to call it the Iran Deyant, or something like that. I seem to remember them being somali pirates taking an arab tanker... hmm....

[wonderllama]

Isn't the current state of Somalia a bit LIKE a pirate run country?
No laws, no stability, no NUTHIN!

Still, I guess if there's one way to get noticed it is to piss off a bunch of Arab Oil Sheiks!

[mongo]

one tanker won't bump oil up 50 bucks.

one tanker won't bump it up 5 cents.

[heelsguy]

so what is the point? "give us 20 million or we will sink the ship?"

[mongo]

so what is the point? "give us 20 million or we will sink the ship?"

i bet that's close.

[Insomniac]

Isn't the current state of Somalia a bit LIKE a pirate run country?
No laws, no stability, no NUTHIN!

Still, I guess if there's one way to get noticed it is to piss off a bunch of Arab Oil Sheiks!

Let the free market run its course.

[Abnormal]

I am surprised that they don't have better security personnel on such expensive cargo ships. These pirates are basically pulling up in rubber dingies with a few AK 47 rifles.

[billy1980]

I watched a video on the pirate problem off of kenya and in indonesia. They basically take the stance that if they have more security the pirates will just up their attack. And there will just be more people dead with the same shit stolen.

[wonderllama]

The pirate activity around asia is unbelievable...and they don't give a toss who they kill.
They've even gone onto passenger ships in the recent past....

[Don Scrappy]

soon Blackwater will be offering sea based protection.

[wonderllama]

The Marine Mafia will protect you.

[Blue]

soon Blackwater will be offering sea based protection.

They could have sent Blackwater's Navy (http://hamptonroads.com/node/329441) after it.

[Soup Nazi]

Sometimes I wonder if it is too late for me to switch career paths and become a pirate.

[Archangel]

I am surprised that they don't have better security personnel on such expensive cargo ships. These pirates are basically pulling up in rubber dingies with a few AK 47 rifles.

Same reason that they didn't have air marshals on passenger jets before something REALLY bad happened; it shaves dollars off the bottom line. Also, say that you hire mercs to protect the ship for you. Who's to say that they won't hijack the vessel themselves? And even if they don't, having a bunch of armed goons on board is liable to make the crew rather nervous.

A really close friend's father is a VLCC captain, stuff like this makes me worry.

[Claydon]

the international community is simply going to have to commit to a long term naval presence in these areas and if necessary raid/attack their ports of call within the regions of these failed states.

[Archangel]

Fuck that shit. My tax money? Hell no. The Saudis have a modern air force: Let them ask their Muslim brethren in Africa and Indonesia to let them station some F-15s on their soil so they can patrol the waterwa...


Wait.

I forgot. They're Saudis. They only buy those shiny jets because they make them feel manly; like an Arab could operate a modern fucking fighter jet.

And the rest of the Muslim world hates their fucking guts.

Oh well, never mind.

[Limp]

Why don't these dipshits invest a little bit of money for gun turrets on the tops of these tankers? It's a TINY cost when you take in account the cost of the tanker and cargo.

[Archangel]

Because then it would be an armed ship, and that carries with it a shitload of laws and regulations.

Arming merchant vessels is a legal minefield, if memory serves.

[redsox39]

yeah, but I think that any real warships or military operations would chuckle at the thought of a .50 cal mounted on a tanker, when they are rolling with hundreds of 150mm cannons. However, a pirate dinghy would be in trouble.

I bet it is a pain in the ass, but you can't let the terroris Pirates win!

[Archangel]

Yeah, but then you're gonna have hundreds of fisherboats and the like driving around the Persian Gulf, the Suez and the South China Sea with .50-cals on them all of a sudden.

[Morfin]

Just like freeway driving in Texas!

[ShitnaSux]

I wish I could be a pirate, I mean me and a couple "mates" in a canoe with a couple assault rifles can take over this massive ship with 20 fucking people...are you kidding me?

[Stax]

Would be more interesting if it was

http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/pirates.jpg

[Claydon]

why can't these shipping companies hire people like blackwater etc to put their SOF on these ships. Say what you will about private companies like blackwater, but they could probably kick some serious ass. What is say the cost of $50,000 to put a dozen mercs on your ship to protect a cargo with tens of millions.

[Stax]

why can't these shipping companies hire people like blackwater etc to put their SOF on these ships. Say what you will about private companies like blackwater, but they could probably kick some serious ass. What is say the cost of $50,000 to put a dozen mercs on your ship to protect a cargo with tens of millions.

I'd say the cost of $50,000 in mercs is about $50,000.

[Abnormal]

I am baffled as well to leave $100 million in cargo unprotected on the open sea is unimaginable.

[Jatoza]

Yeah, but life isn't like Escape Velocity where you can just load up some freighter with guns and shit. There are tons of regulations about who's allowed to have what, it's just that the pirates don't give a fuck and zoom around on speedboats with machine guns. The same probably goes for hiring out a security firm with the big guns, they're probably not allowed to go most places with those any more than I would be.

[resolva]

You've heard of the pirates of caribbean! This is pirates of somalia real life style w00t w00t!

[Archangel]

Go get torn in two by a syphillitic grizzly bear's cock up your arse.

[wonderllama]

I want a shirt with that on it.

[Abnormal]

Yeah, but life isn't like Escape Velocity where you can just load up some freighter with guns and shit. There are tons of regulations about who's allowed to have what, it's just that the pirates don't give a fuck and zoom around on speedboats with machine guns. The same probably goes for hiring out a security firm with the big guns, they're probably not allowed to go most places with those any more than I would be.


The vessel is from Saudi ok granted if they are devout Muslims there are regualtions but anybody else can and should be beheaded.

[Le Goat]

BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) – As dawn breaks over the Indian Ocean each morning, elders in Somali pirate bases sip strong coffee and clutch mobile phones to their ears, eager to hear the latest from the gunmen out at sea.
Have any more ships been hijacked or ransom talks concluded? Any news of the Western warships hunting them?
Last weekend's spectacular capture of a Saudi Arabian supertanker loaded with oil worth $100 million has jacked up the stakes in what is probably the only growth industry in the failed Horn of Africa state.
Massive ransoms have brought rapid development to former fishing villages that now thrive with business and boast new beachside hotels, patronized by cash-rich buccaneers who have become local celebrities virtually overnight.
Investors have been attracted from around Somalia.
"There are some 'pirates' who never shoulder a gun or go out into the ocean, but they own boats which earn them a hell of a lot of money," gang member Bashir Abdulle told Reuters by phone from Eyl, the most notorious of the pirates' strongholds.
Just three years ago, maritime security experts estimated there were just five Somali pirate groups and fewer than 100 gunmen in total. Now they think there are more than 1,200.
Some analysts trace the gangs' roots to ties forged with criminal networks across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen during years of people-smuggling operations.
Others say the buccaneers began life as a rag-tag "coast guard" formed by elders enraged by European fishing fleets illegally trawling Somali territorial waters for tuna, and even more clandestine craft dumping deadly toxic waste on its shore.
LINKS TO REBELS?
But the biggest lure now, of course, is the vast ransoms being paid for captured ships. Kenya says it thinks the pirates have received more than $150 million this year alone.
Many young men who used to work as bodyguards and militia fighters for Somalia's many warlords and feuding politicians have quit with their guns to chase the rewards available out on the waves.
And most worrying for the international community, some analysts see links between the pirates and Islamist militants who control Somalia's south and are advancing slowly on Mogadishu.
In some areas, residents say the pirates are the only ones allowed to defy night time curfews imposed by the Islamists.
For their part, militant leaders deny any connections and have vowed to attack the gang holding the Saudi supertanker in retaliation for their hijacking a "Muslim" ship.
Russia has proposed raiding the pirates' land bases such as Eyl, but the NATO alliance has said African nations must take the lead. Few in the gunmen's strongholds showed any fear.
"I know piracy isn't good, but if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be able to make a living," shrugs Kadija Duale, a mother of four in Eyl. She sells the gunmen $3 cups of tea on credit, then collects when they receive their share of ransoms.
A kilo of khat, a popular mild narcotic plant, now costs $65 in Eyl, compared with $20 elsewhere, thanks to pirate demand.
Eyl is in the semi-autonomous northern province of Puntland -- whose main port is Bosasso -- though the Saudi ship is being held further south in Haradheere port, another center of piracy.
As the profits from the crime wave draw in businessmen from around the country, residents in the pirate's coastal bases -- and some inland towns -- have seen development in recent months that is unprecedented in their anarchic nation.
Abdiqadir Yusuf Ow Muse, the Eyl chairman, said his village had existed since 1927, but had long been only a tiny fishing community. This year, he told Reuters, all that had changed.
"Now it's a district with almost all facilities you would expect, because of the convergence of rich pirates," he said.

[Pax Britannia]

We should just sink the boats. The Somali authorities obviously dont give a fuck about what their people do so I think we should adopt a similarly cavalier attitude and just blow these fuckers out of the water.

Do you think the Royal Navy gave a fuck where pirates came from? They just killed them all.

[Le Goat]

If they starve the saudi's I couldn't give two shits. If they attack civilian ships (ie Cruise Liners) THEN we blow them out of the water.

[Claydon]

We should just sink the boats. The Somali authorities obviously dont give a fuck about what their people do so I think we should adopt a similarly cavalier attitude and just blow these fuckers out of the water.

Do you think the Royal Navy gave a fuck where pirates came from? They just killed them all.

is there such a thing?

[Pax Britannia]

My point exactly old bean.

[Rumpleforeskin]

I think these pirates are a bunch of buttpirates.

[Claydon]

My point exactly old bean.

Top drawer Kensington!

[Le Goat]

I lol'd so god damn hard when I read this earlier today.

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Five of the pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a $3 million ransom, a relative said Saturday, the day after the bundle of cash was apparently dropped by parachute onto the deck of the ship.
The Sirius Star and its 25 crew sailed safely away Friday at the end of a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden, where pirates attacked over 100 ships last year. Hundreds more kidnapped sailors remain in the hands of pirates.
The drowned pirates' boat overturned in rough seas, and family members were still looking for four missing bodies, said Daud Nure, another pirate who knew the men involved.
Piracy is one of the few ways to make money in Somalia. Half the population is dependent on aid and a whole generation has grown up knowing nothing but war. A recent report by London's Chatham House think-tank said pirates raked in more than $30 million in ransoms last year.
Somalia's lawless coastline borders one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Attacks have continued despite the patrols by warships from France, Germany, Britain, America, India and China.
The naval coalition has been closely monitoring both the Sirius Star and the Faina, a Ukrainian ship loaded with military tanks that has been held since September. The seizure of the Sirius Star on Nov. 15 prompted fears that the pirates might release some of the cargo of crude oil into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster as a way of pressuring negotiators. At the time, the oil was valued at $100 million.
Abukar Haji, uncle of one of the dead pirates, blamed the naval surveillance for the accident that killed his pirate nephew Saturday.
"The boat the pirates were traveling in capsized because it was running at high speed because the pirates were afraid of an attack from the warships patrolling around," he said.
"There has been human and monetary loss but what makes us feel sad is that we don't still have the dead bodies of our relatives. Four are still missing and one washed up on the shore."
Pirate Daud Nure said three of the eight passengers had managed to swim to shore after the boat overturned in rough seas. He was not part of the pirate operation but knew those involved.
"Here in Haradhere the news is grim, relatives are looking for their dead," he said.
The tanker had left Somali territorial waters and was on its way home Saturday, said Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi. A Saudi Oil Ministry official said the ship was headed for Dammam, on the country's Gulf coast, but gave no estimated time of arrival. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The U.S. Navy, which announced this week it will head a new anti-piracy task force, released photos Friday showing a parachute, carrying what was described as "an apparent payment," floating down toward the tanker.
The Liberian-flagged ship is owned by Vela International Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of Saudi oil company Aramco. Neither commented on the reported ransom drop.
"All the crew members are safe and I am glad to say that they are all in good health and high spirits," said a statement by Saleh K'aki, president and CEO of Vela. "Throughout this ordeal, our sole objective was the safe and timely release of the crew. That has been achieved today."
But over a dozen ships and around 300 crew members are still being held. The capture of the Sirius Star has already demonstrated the pirates' ability to strike high value targets hundreds of miles offshore.
On the same day the Saudi ship was freed, pirates released a captured Iranian-chartered cargo ship, Iran's state television reported Saturday. The ship Delight was carrying 36 tons of wheat when it was attacked in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 18 and seized by pirates. All 25 crew are in good health and the vessel is sailing toward Iran, the TV report said. It did not say if a ransom was paid.

[Okie Medicvet]

soon Blackwater will be offering sea based protection.

dayum, now there's a thought...actually, there is just so MUCH cargo traffic that it is hard to police. So far, a lot of ransoms are being paid because they work. They get the ship back and most of the time all the people on it alive too.

And I have read up on pirates, because of course they rule more than ninjas, but also because it is pretty fascinating. Best coverage of them has been in National Geographic magazine..at least the Indonesian area pirates.

I seem to remember reading somewhere about how the Somali pirates are throwing so much money around and paying so much for small shit that it has caused some pretty bad inflation..not like Somalia never had any problems in the first place though.. (insert rolled eyes icon here with the eyes tht really roll)

dangit, now I got to move my fat fingers to google this shit now.

EDIT: It has been a concern of mine for some time how easy it would be to really wreck the economy by a terrorist attack on a port. Shut down any major port in the US for any length of time, and you would have major economic problems, at the very least!

MAJOR SECOND EDIT:

here is the story I was thinking of..one of them anyways..


JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - – Today's pirates are mainly fighters for Somalia's many warlord factions, who have fought each other for control of the country since the collapse of the Siad Barre government in 1991. more here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1120/p25s22-woaf.html

Oh and another break in the main story:


http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013664074

[Morfin]

Abukar Haji, uncle of one of the dead pirates, blamed the naval surveillance for the accident that killed his pirate nephew Saturday.
"The boat the pirates were traveling in capsized because it was running at high speed because the pirates were afraid of an attack from the warships patrolling around," he said.No, don't blame the pirate, the fact that he is stealing, or his demanding ransoms using fear. It's the navy's fault for patrolling to stop the pirates.

Christ, why do journalists even publish these asinine comments?

[Claydon]

Christ, why do journalists even publish these asinine comments?

they themselves are asinine, and probably are paid by the word.

[Alcestis]

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash, a resident said Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship.

www.msnbc.msn.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28607365/?GT1=43001)

[Morfin]

Enjoy your $153,000 in Hell, motherfucker. I'm happy that you're dead.

[redsox39]

No, don't blame the pirate, the fact that he is stealing, or his demanding ransoms using fear. It's the navy's fault for patrolling to stop the pirates.

Christ, why do journalists even publish these asinine commentswhy is the sky blue?


Same question

[satandole666]

Wait...the guys got the money then drowned on their way back home?

It does not get any better than that.

[Alcestis]

Enjoy your $153,000 in Hell, motherfucker. I'm happy that you're dead.

Shall we call it, irony?

But five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. Three other pirates survived but also lost their share of the ransom.

[jlemire18]

conspiracy theory.... the Saudis killed the pirates after they paid them.

[Whiffleball]

mo' money mo' problems

[Will-Kill]

This seemed the right place to put this....

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[Hanover Fist]

This doesn't really have anything to do with the hijacked tankers, although it does pertain to oil supertankers, but I didn't feel it deserved its own thread. This was more of an article of interest, at least I found it interesting.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/15/business/15oil.php