MOGADISHU, Somalia, Nov. 18, 2008
Walk The Plank: Resisting Piracy Has Risks
After More Than 80 Attacks This Year, The World's Most Powerful Navies Say They Can't Police The Seas
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Somali pirates have attacked more than 80 ships this year off the coast of Africa. (CBS)
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Play CBS Video Video High Seas Piracy In 2008 alone over 70 ships have been hijacked off the coast of Africa and their newest hostage is a Saudi oil tanker and its crew. Mark Phillips reports.
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Video Somali Pirates Strike Again Pirates hijacked another cargo ship the coast of Somalia making it the 7th ship to be hijacked in less than two weeks. Shelia MacVicar reports.
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Fast Facts Somalia Learn about the people, economy and history.
NATO and the U.S. Navy say they can't cover everywhere, and American officials are urging ships to buy private security. Warships patrolling off Somalia have succeeded in stopping some pirate attacks as they happen. But outright military assaults to wrest free a ship are highly risky.
Yet when pirates took their biggest prize yet over the weekend - a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil - it raised the stakes dramatically. The pirates struck hundreds of miles off the coast of East Africa, far out to sea where ships had presumed they were safe.
Governments, navies, oil companies and ship owners are scrambling for solutions, and finding few options are ideal. At least one private security company said it has been flooded with requests from shipping companies for protection, including from Saudis.
A major Norwegian shipping group on Tuesday ordered its more than 90 tankers to sail around Africa rather than use the Suez Canal after Somali pirates seized the Saudi supertanker.
The U.S. and other naval forces decided against intervening in the seizure of the supertanker. The pirates captured an Iranian cargo ship Tuesday, the seventh vessel seized in 12 days.
The capture of the Saudi Sirius Star opened up an entirely new front further out in the Indian Ocean - nearly as far from the Gulf of Aden as Paris is from Moscow. It signalled a threat to another key route, one that rounds Africa's southern tip and is used by vessels too large to traverse the Suez Canal with full cargos.
"Shipping companies have to understand that naval forces can not be everywhere. Self-protection measures are the best way to protect their vessels," U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of the Combined Maritime Forces under the 5th Fleet said after the Sirius Star's capture.
In Dubai there is a specialist team on alert, waiting for the pirates to make contact again. But these negotiations can be long and drawn out, reports CBS News correspondent Shelia MacVicar. A Ukrainian ship, carrying Russian tanks and weapons, that was seized in September, is still being held by Somali pirates.
For the modern-day swashbucklers, it's all about the money. And it's a growth industry. In three years, the pirates have netted an estimated $30 million. For the pirates, there are three sources of revenue from every ship seized; ransom for the crew, the cargo, and the ship itself which can be repainted, reflagged and resold.
They've invested the profits and upgraded their gear, MacVicar reports, now equipped with GPS, sophisticated communications and rocket launchers. And now they're going after bigger prizes.
"They climb the ship we're talking about an operation that would take only a few minutes," says Mustapha Al Ani, with the Gulf Research Council.
Pirates usually attack in small speedboats, using ropes and ladders to climb a ship's hull and seize the crew. Once they have a ship, military action to free it holds dangers. The pirates are trained fighters, heavily armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, and they have the crews as hostages.
Odfjell SE, the Norwegian shipping group, said it made the decision to divert its ships after pirates seized the Saudi Arabian supertanker hundreds of miles off the coast of Kenya, the most brazen attack yet by Somalian pirates.
"We will no longer expose our crew to the risk of being hijacked and held for ransom by pirates in the Gulf of Aden," said Terje Storeng, Odfjell's president and chief executive. "Unless we are explicitly committed by existing contracts to sail through this area, as from today we will reroute our ships around Cape of Good Hope."
The Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, connects to the Red Sea, which in turn is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. The route is thousands of miles and many days shorter than going around the Cape of Good Hope off the southern tip of Africa.
"This will incur significant extra cost, but we expect our customers' support and contribution," said Storeng.
"Odfjell is frustrated by the fact that governments and authorities in general seem to take a limited interest in this very serious problem," he added, describing the seizures as "ruthless, high-level organized crime."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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reality101a
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If you know your history you''ll know that Catholics once committed heinous murders in the name of God. The inquisitions are a fact I''m sure catholicism would just as soon not be reminded of. Blaming all muslims for radical ideology of MANY other muslims
is unfair. I am no lover of islam and want all terrorists dead but blaming all for some is unfair and we as a country are above that.
Posted by jgg0002 at 10:10 PM : Nov 18, 2008
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please provide quotes, date and source of your claim.
Resist & find Davey Jones'' locker!!!
ARRRRGH!!!!
If they (Saudi Arabia,Iran and Russia) can establish that it is an act of war (arms, tanks and oil), there is no justification for bombarding and defeating their headquarters without Somali governments approval.
In fact, anti-terrorist forces should look at the money flow and will probably discover that it is going to the terrorists inland. Again, can Saudi Arabia and Iran exercise pressure on Somali banks to trace and track?
That is great advice not only for shipping companies, but also for personal protection.
- by reality101a November 18, 2008 9:58 PM EST
- "Eliminating" islam, totally, would go a Long way towards solving most ''terrorist'' activities on the planet.
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