Somali piracy sparks three hijackings

European Union naval force Atalanta said the tanker HONOUR 25 and the merchant vessel SWARD were pirated off northern Somalia in late April. (eunavfor.eu) Atalanta said Puntland Maritime Police first reported the fishing vessel ALKHARY 2 hijacked on April 20, and then reported a piracy incident involving HONOUR 25 on April 21. A Japanese patrol aircraft later confirmed HONOUR 25 inside Somali territorial waters. (eunavfor.eu) On April 22, Puntland authorities said ALKHARY 2 had been released and all crew were safe, but the pirate group stayed aboard HONOUR 25. On April 26, Atalanta said SWARD was pirated near Dhinowda on Somalia’s northern coast. (eunavfor.eu) The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military-linked reporting center for merchant ships, logged two hijack alerts on April 26. One said a tanker had been seized 45 nautical miles northeast of Mareeyo; the other said a cargo vessel had been taken 6 nautical miles northeast of Garacad. (ukmto.org 1) (ukmto.org 2) UKMTO said the seized tanker was then maneuvered 77 nautical miles south into Somali territorial waters. Two days later, it logged another Somalia incident after a tanker 500 nautical miles east of Mogadishu was approached by a larger wooden vessel and two smaller craft. (ukmto.org) The same reporting network has also been handling the surge of violence around the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. UKMTO said it received 38 incident reports in those waters between February 28 and April 27, including 23 attacks, 13 suspicious approaches and 2 hijacks. (ukmto.org) A Joint Maritime Information Center advisory dated April 16 put the regional threat level in the Strait of Hormuz at “critical.” The note said U.S. Central Command had begun enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas on April 13. (ukmto.org) That wider war has changed the economics of commercial shipping as well as the security picture. Al Jazeera reported that war-risk insurance for Hormuz transits could rise from about 0.25 percent of hull value before the war to as much as 5 percent now. (aljazeera.com) The result is a maritime map where merchant crews are navigating missile threats in the Gulf and pirate mothership tactics off Somalia at the same time. For now, the distress calls from both crises are landing at the same 24-hour reporting desks. (nytimes.com) (eunavfor.eu)