Somali pirates today hijacked a Russian-owned oil tanker off the coast of Yemen with 23 Russian crew and crude oil worth $52 million on board.
The Novorossiyk Shipping Company, which owns the Liberian-flagged MV Moscow University, said it was sailing from Sudan to China with a cargo of 86,000 tonnes of oil.
EU Navfor Commander Rear Admiral Jan Thornqvist confirmed the hijacking this morning.
"The crew members locked themselves in the radar room,” he told reporters in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. “This ship has been hijacked."
Somali pirates continue to outwit an international fleet of warships in the busy shipping lane linking Europe with Asia, raking in tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.
Oil tankers are sailing further east into the Indian Ocean away from Somalia's coastline to avoid pirates who are striking deeper out at sea, shipping experts say.
Some shipping companies are re-routing vessels around the southern tip of Africa to avoid the Suez Canal and pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, adding weeks to passage times and substantial expense. But abuot 20,000 ships continue to run the gauntlet through the busy Gulf shipping lanes where warships operate convoys and have set up transit corridors.
An estimated 7 per cent of world oil consumption passes through the Gulf of Aden.
EU Navfor said the MV Moscow University had not registered with the Horn of Africa Maritime Security Centre for its transit through the Gulf of Aden.
The Russian shipping company said on its website that the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov, which has been patrolling the dangerous waters, was on its way to the tanker.
The use of mother ships has enabled Somali pirates to strike as far as the Mozambique Channel and off India's coast in recent months, launching smaller boats known as skiffs against ships.
Pirate attacks around the world fell by 34 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 from a year ago due to the continued presence of foreign navies in the Gulf of Aden.
Globally in 2009, there were 406 reported incidents, in which 153 vessels were boarded and 49 were hijacked. There were 84 attempted attacks and 120 vessels were fired on. A total of 1,052 crew members were taken hostage. At least 68 crew members were injured and eight were killed.
In all, Somali pirates were held responsible for 217 acts of piracy in 2009, in which 47 vessels were hijacked and 867 crew members taken hostage.
Reuters