HIJACK! A TALE OF TWO SHIPS

Two of West’s entered ships were hijacked by Somali pirates in the past 12 months. They had very different outcomes, but both serve as a reminder to Members that the risk has not gone away.

MV Ruen

Bulgarian shipowner Navibulgar’s 27,781 GT bulk carrier MV Ruen was seized by pirates on 14 December 2023 around 380 nautical miles east of the Yemeni Island of Socotra. The Maltese-flagged 2016-built ship was carrying steel from South Korea.

The 18 crewmembers – made up from eight Bulgarians, nine from Myanmar and one Angolan – locked themselves in the citadel but the pirates broke in the next day. The captain had already contacted the European Union Naval Force’s (Eunavfor) Atlanta operation, and Spanish Navy ship ESPS Victoria arrived at the scene on 16 December. The Indian Navy ship INS Kochi and Japanese navy vessel Akebono, part of Combined Task Force 151, were also on hand and followed the ship into Somalia’s territorial waters.

The shipowner appointed a response consultant to negotiate the crew’s release, with legal assistance by Holman Fenwick & Willan (HFW). On 18 December an injured Bulgarian crewmember was evacuated to INS Kochi for medical care. Negotiations progressed for the next three months while the ship and the rest of the crew remained captive.

In a surprising development on 13 March 2024, Ruen upped anchor and set sail to the east, potentially as a new pirate mothership from which to launch attacks further into the Indian Ocean. However, two days later and some 260 nautical miles off Somalia, the pirates encountered the INS Kolkata, so turned around and headed west.

Kolkata ordered Ruen to stop and opened fire on its steering gear when the pirates refused to do so, causing a fire in the steering gear room. Following a 40-hour military operation, involving another Indian Navy ship and various surveillance aircraft and drones, the 35 pirates surrendered and the 17 crew were freed on 16 March. Amazingly, apart from one of the pirate commanders being hit by shrapnel in his left eye, no-one else was injured in the heavily armed assault.

The crew were transferred to Kolkata while the navy searched the damaged Ruen for arms, ammunition and contraband. The crew then reboarded on 17 March, made emergency repairs and headed to Salalah, Oman a few days later. Kolkata handed the pirates over to the police in Mumbai on 23 March. Under India’s anti-piracy laws, they face life imprisonment.

MV Abdullah

While the seized Ruen was anchored off the coast of Somalia, possibly the same Somali pirate gang boarded the Bangladesh steel maker KSRM’s 32,714 GT bulk carrier MV Abdullah on 12 March 2024, about 600 nautical miles east of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The Bangladeshi flagged 2015-built ship, managed by KSRM subsidiary Brave Royal Ship Management Limited, was carrying coal from Mozambique.

The captain reported around 20 pirates had boarded and that he and the other 22 Bangladeshi crew were safe but not in the citadel. The ship headed to Somalia’s territorial waters and dropped anchor, shadowed by ships from the Italian Navy (Eunavfor) and Indian Navy.

The pirates contacted KSRM demanding a ransom on 20 March. The negotiations were managed directly by chief executive officer Mohd Mehrul Karim, again with support from HFW. KSRM had experience of negotiating with pirates following the seizure of its ship MV Jahan Moni for 100 days, between December 2010 to March 2011.

Settlement with the Abdullah pirates was reached 21 days later on 10 April, the day of Eid – which photographs shared by crewmembers showed they had been allowed to celebrate. The pirates headed to shore on 14 April, leaving the ship and its crew free to continue their journey to Hamriyah in the United Arab Emirates. After discharging the coal and going on to load limestone in Mina Saqr, the ship arrived back at Kutubdia in Bangladesh on 13 May and the crew were reunited with their families.

Lessons learned

Both hijackings took the industry by surprise. The Ruen was the first ship to be successfully boarded by Somali pirates since 2017, and the lack of attacks and stronger Somali government had led to declassification of the Indian Ocean high risk in area on 1 January 2023. The focus had also shifted to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which started in October 2023 following the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.

While the Indian Navy’s successful recapture of Ruen might have deterred the pirate gangs, their successful ransom of the Abdullah suggests otherwise. But we should consider too that the former was driven by the Indian Navy’s desire to put on a show of force at the expense of the safety of the ship and its crew, while the latter was driven by the owner’s desire to protect his fellow countrymen at all costs. Both cases show that the pirates remain capable of boarding ships several hundred nautical miles from Somalia’s coast, beyond the former high risk area. They also appear to be increasingly sophisticated and better informed, for example having higher technology military equipment and knowledge of K&R cover limits.

Both cases also show the increasing impact of social media in hijacks. Crews sent information and videos from their mobile devices until these were confiscated, and navy crews also added to the instant online news coverage. The net result is significantly increased public awareness, putting even greater pressure on shipowners to resolve incidents as quickly as possible.

In conclusion the attacks show there is no room for complacency. In addition to taking out suitable insurance including K&R cover, owners of ships travelling within 1,000 nautical miles of Somalia should revisit BMP5 Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy and Enhance Maritime Security in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea published in 2018.

In particular, they should refer to BMP5 section 5 on ship protection measures, such as practicing avoidance manoeuvring, hardening with razor wire or overhanging barriers, use of water and foam jets and enhanced bridge protection. Should piracy risks escalate, owners should also reconsider carrying armed guards, though this can now involve a protracted approval process.

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