HIJACKED SHIPS BEING USED AS "MOTHERSHIPS"

HIJACKED SHIPS BEING USED AS "MOTHERSHIPS"

Somali pirates have apparently changed tactics in their attacks on ships. Forcing the original crew to operate the ship at gunpoint, pirates can now launch attacks during stormy monsoon seasons thereby raising the amounts of ransoms, security costs and shipping rates.

The pirates are changing their modus operandi, taking ships which have been hijacked and sailing them back out into the Somali basin. They are using larger ships, the weather is having much less effect on their operations and they can travel farther out into the ocean to prey on ships navigating the area.

The EU estimates between two and eight such ships are now out in deep Indian Ocean waters at any one time, carrying 20-30 pirates as well as a similar number of hostages from the original crew.

ICS DISCUSSES USE BY PIRATES OF HIJACKED SHIPS

The Executive Committee of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has started to discuss the impact of the escalating use by pirates of hijacked ships as "motherships' for launching pirate attacks.

The use of these ships have increased the pirates capabilities to launch attacks at unlimited distances from the Somali coast and are able to do so during weather conditions that previously made it impossible for the pirates to conduct their operations.

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FSA Updates/Page 5/ January – March 2011 Vol. 4 No. 01 Series of 2011

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In a statement, ICS Chairman Spyros Polemis said that "However, in view of the current crisis in the Indian Ocean - with over 700 seafarers held hostage and, most recently, a seafarer being

executed – ship operators must be able to retain all possible options available to deter attacks and defend their crews against piracy. Many shipping companies have concluded that arming ships is a necessary alternative to avoiding the Indian Ocean completely, which would have a hugely damaging impact on the movement of world trade".


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