Somali pirates seize supertanker

[Winter]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi supertanker with a cargo of crude oil hundreds of miles out in the Indian Ocean in a dramatic escalation that showed their expanding reach.
It was the largest vessel seized yet in a surge of pirate attacks, and the farthest out to sea that the well-armed fighters, bolstered by millions in past ransoms, have successfully struck. Maritime experts warned that the daylight attack, reported by the U.S. Navy on Monday, was an alarming sign of the difficulty of patrolling a vast stretch of ocean key for oil and other cargo traffic.

The brand-new MV Sirius Star tanker, with a 25-member crew, was seized at about 10 a.m. Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, the U.S. Navy said. The area lies far south of the zone where warships have increased their patrols this year in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest channels in the world, leading to and from the Suez Canal, and the scene of most past attacks..........

Rest of the article - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27766333/

This is certainly concerning...

[Treize]

Time to arm crews???

[Erik]

Time to arm crews???

They can arm themselves if they want.

But most crews choose not to because resisting pirates will almost certainly get you killed.

[The Dude]

They can arm themselves if they want.

But most crews choose not to because resisting pirates will almost certainly get you killed.

?

Seriously. The only reason those pirates are even getting on board is because nobody is shooting at them while they throw out their ropes.

As someone else said, mount a few 50 cals on the side of oil tankers and things'll look a lot better all of a sudden.

[Broken Lance]

you'd think these days something as valuable as a supertanker would be
protected by something more than 25 crew members

[hellheaven1987]

So, Somalian pirates again??

Do we even have any fresh news??

[fieldmarshal]

you'd think these days something as valuable as a supertanker would be
protected by something more than 25 crew members

Yeah, no , especially in the waters off Africa. This is absolutely ridiculous, when i read it i went WTF. A few 50. cals would go a long way to beat some pirates in some speed boats.

[eizo]

This is what happens when you let kids play tropico 2...damn infernal video games ...

[Chaigidel]

somalia needs to be regulated.

[Kamos]

somalia needs to be regulated.

Yeah have fun with that. Anyways I can understand crews not wanting to be armed for various reasons. However there is no reason the companies that own these ships couldn't hire professional security services via PMC's.

[Каие]

1/4 of Saudi Arabia's daily output? So...where's the Royal Navy?

[StarDreamer]

Hmmm maybe not arm the crews but have armed mercenaries on board when being in pirate infested waters? You would think it would be cheaper than having to pay the ransom.

[Grof]

Hmmm maybe not arm the crews but have armed mercenaries on board when being in pirate infested waters? You would think it would be cheaper than having to pay the ransom.

yea but shooting guns on a oil tanker is not exactly the smartest thing to do. if the crew or mercenaries attack the pirates, the pirates will certainly fire back and hit the tanker doing more damage.
but i do agree that something has to be done, I thought that Russian and US warships being present of the Somali coast would prevent these guys from attacking or at least make them think twice but this proves otherwise. Its kind of funny that full armed warships cant stop a group of rebels with machine guns and rocket launchers.


and another thing, damn these guys are good. they must have some skills to seize a ship that size.

[Nikos]

yea but shooting guns on a oil tanker is not exactly the smartest thing to do. if the crew or mercenaries attack the pirates, the pirates will certainly fire back and hit the tanker doing more damage.
but i do agree that something has to be done, I thought that Russian and US warships being present of the Somali coast would prevent these guys from attacking or at least make them think twice but this proves otherwise. Its kind of funny that full armed warships cant stop a group of rebels with machine guns and rocket launchers.


and another thing, damn these guys are good. they must have some skills to seize a ship that size.

Yeah, because Its not dangerous to let the pirates just have their way.........

Also, two warships can't patrol the whole horn of Africa.

[StarDreamer]

yea but shooting guns on a oil tanker is not exactly the smartest thing to do. if the crew or mercenaries attack the pirates, the pirates will certainly fire back and hit the tanker doing more damage.
but i do agree that something has to be done, I thought that Russian and US warships being present of the Somali coast would prevent these guys from attacking or at least make them think twice but this proves otherwise. Its kind of funny that full armed warships cant stop a group of rebels with machine guns and rocket launchers.


and another thing, damn these guys are good. they must have some skills to seize a ship that size.

The problem is that the US warships/others can't be everywhere all the time. I guess if you would want to have the freighters guarded by warships you would have to form convoys through those waters. The pirates operate in a large enough area so that the few warships there aren't enough. Hmmm maybe it would be a good idea to form convoys.

Normal gunfire wouldn't be much of a problem I doubt it would even penetrate the hull. Usually the modern freight ships, especially oil tankers have double hulls. The rpgs would be more of a problem though.

[Chaigidel]

wont be hard if they keep messing with the oil money.

[DisgruntledGoat]

I'm with Kamos, I'd say this is the perfect chance for professional security forces to make some money. And judging by the number of ships that go through those waters on a yearly basis there would be a lot of people looking to hire.

[Captain Jin]

Those pirates need a short drop and a sudden stop.

I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing PMCs making a play into maritime security. It seems like it could be pretty lucrative.

[Bongfu]

Those pirates need a short drop and a sudden stop.

I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing PMCs making a play into maritime security. It seems like it could be pretty lucrative.

Hello? Where have you blokes been the last twenty years...

PMCs are all over places like Indonesia and Somalia. They have been protecting ships in those waters from pirates for decades.

[Captain Jin]

Hello? Where have you blokes been the last twenty years...

PMCs are all over places like Indonesia and Somalia. They have been protecting ships in those waters from pirates for decades.

They're not doing a very good job then... I haven't really kept up on Somalian pirate activity.