Behind the Pirate Lines

by FIP, translated by Christopher Sultan/Sail-World on 26 Nov 2008 Piracy, always of great concern to the long range cruising sailor, is now engaging the minds of every commercial seafaring nation in the world,as time and time again they are held to ransom by a straggly bunch of ex-fishermen with RPG7's and missile launchers . Here we take a look behind the dramatic scenes into the world of the Somali pirates:


Early last Tuesday morning Abdinur Haji, a fisherman from Harardere, was out fishing along this coast, as he does most mornings. 'As usual, I got up at 3 a.m. and went to the sea to go fishing. And then I saw this very, very large ship. It was anchored less than three miles from the beach. I have been fishing here for 30 years, but I have never seen such a huge ship.'

The Sirius Star, christened in March, is one of the biggest ships ever built: 330 meters (1,080 feet) long, three times as heavy as an American aircraft carrier when fully loaded, too large for the Suez Canal, and for most ports. It is part of a fleet of 19 supertankers used by Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, to supply the world with the commodity that creates wealth. The Sirius Star was en route from the oil terminals in the Persian Gulf to the United States, and its Polish captain, along with 24 sailors and officers, had planned to take the vessel around the Cape of Good Hope.

The tanker's course was far from the routes where pirates have lurked until now. Some naval experts considered it unlikely that pirates would even dare to target such a colossus - and yet the task is easier than it would seem.

A mother ship - either a traditional dhow or a fishing cutter - must have taken the men far out to sea, the attack boats in tow. This is the way the pirates normally operate. A radar device costs €1,500 ($1,875), and GPS receivers can be had for as little as €100 ($125). Finding prey on the high seas is easy, especially for pirates with time on their hands and a sack of khat. A popular drug among pirates, khat produces a euphoric high followed by mild depression during withdrawal, which is easily counteracted by chewing on more leaves. Time passes quickly for khat chewers.

Perhaps the pirates knew about the Sirius Star's whereabouts in advance. According to experts on the region, the pirates have spies in port cities like Dubai. Their operations may also be coordinated and controlled by powerful backers.

Once a target ship comes into view, the pirates generally move quickly. The attack boats dash off and pull up alongside the target ship. The men throw grappling hooks over the ship's side and use ropes and rope ladders to climb on deck. If the crew resists, with water from high-pressure hoses, for example, or if the captain attempts to out manoeuvre the attackers, the pirates are quick to threaten their victims with their weapon of choice, the RPG-7.

The old Soviet rocket-propelled grenade launcher can hit a ship at 500 meters (1,640 feet). Propelled by a rocket motor, the grenade can penetrate armored steel up to 60 centimeters (two feet) thick. A captain sitting on 300,000 tons of oil would be well advised to surrender quickly.
The pirates forced the crew of the Sirius Star to sail the tanker to Harardere and drop anchor there. When fisherman Haji saw the ship, two small boats were en route to the supertanker, with 18 men on board, followed by a third boat, carrying food and khat.

A short time later Farah Abd Jameh, apparently one of the pirates, contacted the Arab television network Al-Jazeera to announce the gang's ransom demand: 'The ransom will be taken in cash to the oil tanker. We assure the safety of the ship that carries the ransom. We will mechanically count the money and we have machines that can detect fake money.' Another pirate said: 'The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous.'

The pirates were originally believed to have demanded a ransom of $25 million (€20 million), which would have been 10 percent of the combined value of the Sirius Star ($150 million) and its cargo ($100 million). On Monday, however, sources from Somalia said that the ransom figure had been reduced to $15 million.

A few years ago, ransom demands were normally on the order of several tens of thousands of dollars per ship. The shipping companies always paid, and prices rose. Today, the average ransom for a ship and its crew ranges from $500,000 (€400,000) to $2 million (€1.6 million).

'London Has A Lot To Do With It':

'The company is always required to bring the money in cash,' says piracy expert Roger Middleton, who has just completed a study on piracy in Somalia for Chatham House, a British think tank. 'After that, it is normally taken to Mombasa or Yemen, where it is turned over to security professionals. They load the millions onto small boats or tugboats, sail out to the hijacked ship, pull up alongside and hand over the sacks of money.'

In many cases, the cash passes through the hands of several intermediaries. 'London has a lot to do with it,' says a security expert with International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. 'A number of law firms have specialized in the business,' says the owner of a Spanish fishing trawler who had to pay a ransom to get his ship back from the pirates. 'Sometimes one wonders whether the pirates are really in Somalia or perhaps in London.'

The negotiations and money transfers usually take several weeks to complete. During this period, the pirates treat their prisoners on board the ships relatively well, says Colin Darch, a British captain.

On Feb. 1, the pirates hijacked his Danish deep-sea tugboat, the Svitzer Korsakov. One of the pirates barked at Darch on the bridge: 'My name is Andrew. I speak English. This is Omar, our boss. Do as he commands.'

They sailed the ship to Eyl, dropping anchor off the coast there. 'The pirates chewed khat all day long,' says Darch. 'We survived on cigarettes, goat meat and camel's milk.' The pirates occasionally chugged back to land in their boats to buy food. They initially demanded $2.5 million (€2 million) in ransom money.

Control Risks, a British security firm, conducted the negotiations. The British drove a hard bargain, and eventually the two sides agreed to a ransom of $678,000 (€542,000) for the ship. 'It took them all night to divide up the money amongst themselves,' says Darch. After 47 days of captivity, he and his five-man crew were finally allowed to hoist anchor.

Twelve hijacked ships are currently at anchor off the white sand beaches of Eyl. One of them is the MV Faina, a Ukrainian merchant vessel carrying a cargo of 33 tanks destined for shady African buyers. The negotiations are currently at about $8 million (€6.4 million), down from the pirates' original demand of $20 million (€16 million), Sugule Ali, a pirate leader on board the MV Faina, told Spiegel.

Tempted by the new wealth, men are flocking to Eyl. Young pirates guard the ships being held hostage, provide reinforcements and prepare for new attacks.

Their bosses drive large SUVs, use their spoils to have mansions built between the town's huts, invest in new restaurants and hotels to accommodate the influx of pirates, and are taking second and third wives. 'All you need is a boat and three guys, and already you're a millionaire, grumbles a former officer in the now long-defunct Somali navy.

When you think about it, it doesn't sound too different from life in the Central Business Districts of many of the Western world's major cities.