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| Posted: November 21, 2008 |
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Piracy off the coast of Africa has increased in recent weeks, with eight attacks just this week. In a brazen attack, pirates captured a Saudi supertanker loaded with at least $100 million in oil, the largest ship ever hijacked. |
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| Kevin of Demarest, N.J., asks: |
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| My kid is planning on going on a Semester at Sea program which travels through this region. I've been told that the pirates are only targeting freighters, not passenger ships. Is this true? |
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| J. Peter Pham responds: |
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 While the pirates have largely targeted cargo ships, both for the value of the cargo (and, hence, the amount for which it might be ransomed) and to avoid the unwanted attention of the international community that would come with hostage-taking civilian passengers, that's not to say that they won't attack passenger vessels if the opportunity presents itself. In Nov. 2005, pirates attempted to hijack the Seabourn Spirit, a cruise ship sailing 75 nautical miles off the Somali coast. Last April, they successfully captured the French luxury yacht Le Ponant, taking its thirty-member crew hostage (fortunately, the vessel had no passengers at the time). Just two months ago, a French couple, Jean-Yves and Bernadette Delanne, were kidnapped when their yacht, the Carre d'As IV, was seized by pirates as it was passing through the Gulf of Aden en route to France from Australia. The couple was subsequently freed by French commandos. |
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| Andre Le Sage responds: |
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 In fact, the pirates are targeting any ship that appears of interest and easy to board. They have already hijacked a French luxury yacht as well as a smaller sailing vessel. In 2005, a tourist cruise ship called the Seaborne Spirit was attacked (but the vessel was not successfully hijacked). So I would disagree with any assertion that pirates "are only targeting freighters." If you are concerned about a particular vessel and its passage, I would ask about the route the ship will take - e.g. how far off-shore the vessel will stay, and if it will utilize the Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) that has been established for east-west traffic through the Gulf of Aden. I would also want to know what non-lethal defense systems will be on the ship - acoustical devices, water cannons, etc. The awareness and preparation of the ship's crew is also a key consideration. That said, despite the rapid increase in the number of vessels targeted by pirates off Somalia over the past few years, it remains a limited number of attacks (over 90 thus far in 2008) by comparison with the huge volume of ships that transit the area (over 20,000 per year by some counts). |
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