Wednesday, October 08, 2008
David Osler
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AT LEAST one further piracy attack has taken place off the Somali coast, NATO sources have confirmed.In a development not reported until now, the Greek-managed, 10,006 dwt chemtanker Genius was ambushed, chased and fired upon before being captured on September 25, while the world’s attention was turned to the seizure of Faina, the Ukrainian-owned ro-ro with over 30 tanks on board, which took place the same day.
There were four attacks or approaches between September 26 and October 1, with victims including the boxships Georg Maersk and Ever Unicorn, the bulk carrier Vancouver Victory and another chemtanker, Athena IV.
An official of the 26-nation military alliance told Lloyd’s List that he has been briefed of further incidents since October 1, possibly including at least one more hijacking, but details have yet to be declassified.
Liberian-flagged Genius – which was carrying refined petroleum products from Europe to the Middle East – is managed by Mare Shipmanagement of Piraeus, and is thought to have 19 Romanian seafarers on board.
A spokesman for the company confirmed that contact had been established with the vessel, and that as far as he was aware, all of those being held are in good health. Other than that, he did not wish to comment further.
Nobody at either the London headquarters or the Kuala Lumpur reporting centre of the International Maritime Bureau was immediately available to give an updated tally of the total number of vessels now thought to be hijacked or the number of hostages currently in captivity.
Source: Lloyd's, Oct 08, 2008