Post by dockworker on Apr 8, 2009 16:02:09 GMT -5
Maersk Alabama Captain Still Held Hostage
Peter T. Leach
Apr 8, 2009
The Journal of Commerce
Crew offers food to negotiate release; U.S. Navy sending destroyer
The captain of the Maersk Alabama, the U.S.-flag, Danish-owned container ship that was hijacked in the Indian Ocean early Wednesday morning and then retaken by its American crew, is still being held hostage on the ship's lifeboat, a crew member on the vessel told CNN.
Pentagon officials said the other 19 members of the crew appeared to have retaken control of the 1,100-TEU ship from Somali pirates after the hijacking.
The second mate of the ship, Ken Quinn, said in a telephone interview with CNN that the other members of the crew were trying to negotiate the captain's release by offering food.
"They want to hold our captain for ransom, and we are trying to get him back," Quinn said. "He is in the ship's lifeboat."
Quinn said all four pirates were on the lifeboat, after sinking their own boat when they seized the container vessel.
The crew took one pirate hostage and held him for 12 hours. They then released that pirate to the other pirates in exchange for the captain, but this did not work, Quinn told CNN.
"We're offering food but it's not going too well."
At a noon news conference, Maersk Line president and chief executive John Reinhart said he could not confirm the crew had retaken control.
"A lot of speculation is going on. I believe it is premature to comment on that," he said on a conference call, adding that he had received a cell phone call from the crew at about 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) saying they were all safe.
He said company protocol advised the U.S. sailors not to attempt to retake the ship once hijackers were on board.
"Once boarded, the crew has safe rooms and they are not to take on active engagement because they have no weapons. It would be a risk to their lives," Reinhart said. It would be the first time Somali pirates have seized U.S. citizens, if only briefly.
The Maersk Alabama, which was originally named the Alva Maersk when it was completed in a Taiwanese shipyard in 1998, is owned and operated by Maersk Line, Limited, the Norfolk-based U.S. subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk that operates U.S.-flag ships with American crews for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Maritime Security Program. The ship was not working under a Pentagon contract when hijacked.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Army Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Hibner, said she understood at least four pirates boarded the ship at first. She said it was not clear how the crew may have retaken the ship.
There was no suggestion anyone had been harmed, a second Pentagon official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
The U.S. Navy destroyer Bainbridge was en route, Hibner said. Details on how far away it was were not immediately available.
Earlier, a Pentagon spokesman said it was "probably correct" the nearest U.S. warship was hundreds of miles away.
It’s a pretty vivid reminder that the plague on lawful commerce is with us,” said Christopher Koch, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council.
The U.S. Navy said that the ship was hijacked early Wednesday about 280 miles southeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. The vessel is the sixth to be seized within a week and the first with an all-American crew.
On April 4 pirates seized the “Hansa Stavanger” approximately 400 nautical miles from the Somali coast between Kenya and the Seychelles. Since then, at least five more ships were reported hijacked, including a British cargo ship and a Taiwanese fishing vessel. As many as 17 ships and more than 250 hostages are currently under pirate control.
Armed with machine guns and grapnels aboard small skiffs, pirates are venturing farther out into the Indian Ocean, away from shipping corridors that are increasingly heavily patrolled. An international naval effort has pursued pirates and saved some vessels under attack.
Pirates tried to seize a containership operated by Zim Integrated Shipping Services on Saturday 700 kilometers off the coast of East Africa, but did not succeed because of barbed wire that was strung along the sides of the ship.
Zim said that after the failed attempt, the pirates returned to their boats and followed the Zim ship for several hours.
In the first three months of 2009 only eight ships had been hijacked in the busy Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal.
See also: U.S. Crew Retakes Maersk Alabama from Pirates
Peter T. Leach
Apr 8, 2009
The Journal of Commerce
Crew offers food to negotiate release; U.S. Navy sending destroyer
The captain of the Maersk Alabama, the U.S.-flag, Danish-owned container ship that was hijacked in the Indian Ocean early Wednesday morning and then retaken by its American crew, is still being held hostage on the ship's lifeboat, a crew member on the vessel told CNN.
Pentagon officials said the other 19 members of the crew appeared to have retaken control of the 1,100-TEU ship from Somali pirates after the hijacking.
The second mate of the ship, Ken Quinn, said in a telephone interview with CNN that the other members of the crew were trying to negotiate the captain's release by offering food.
"They want to hold our captain for ransom, and we are trying to get him back," Quinn said. "He is in the ship's lifeboat."
Quinn said all four pirates were on the lifeboat, after sinking their own boat when they seized the container vessel.
The crew took one pirate hostage and held him for 12 hours. They then released that pirate to the other pirates in exchange for the captain, but this did not work, Quinn told CNN.
"We're offering food but it's not going too well."
At a noon news conference, Maersk Line president and chief executive John Reinhart said he could not confirm the crew had retaken control.
"A lot of speculation is going on. I believe it is premature to comment on that," he said on a conference call, adding that he had received a cell phone call from the crew at about 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) saying they were all safe.
He said company protocol advised the U.S. sailors not to attempt to retake the ship once hijackers were on board.
"Once boarded, the crew has safe rooms and they are not to take on active engagement because they have no weapons. It would be a risk to their lives," Reinhart said. It would be the first time Somali pirates have seized U.S. citizens, if only briefly.
The Maersk Alabama, which was originally named the Alva Maersk when it was completed in a Taiwanese shipyard in 1998, is owned and operated by Maersk Line, Limited, the Norfolk-based U.S. subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk that operates U.S.-flag ships with American crews for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Maritime Security Program. The ship was not working under a Pentagon contract when hijacked.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Army Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Hibner, said she understood at least four pirates boarded the ship at first. She said it was not clear how the crew may have retaken the ship.
There was no suggestion anyone had been harmed, a second Pentagon official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
The U.S. Navy destroyer Bainbridge was en route, Hibner said. Details on how far away it was were not immediately available.
Earlier, a Pentagon spokesman said it was "probably correct" the nearest U.S. warship was hundreds of miles away.
It’s a pretty vivid reminder that the plague on lawful commerce is with us,” said Christopher Koch, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council.
The U.S. Navy said that the ship was hijacked early Wednesday about 280 miles southeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. The vessel is the sixth to be seized within a week and the first with an all-American crew.
On April 4 pirates seized the “Hansa Stavanger” approximately 400 nautical miles from the Somali coast between Kenya and the Seychelles. Since then, at least five more ships were reported hijacked, including a British cargo ship and a Taiwanese fishing vessel. As many as 17 ships and more than 250 hostages are currently under pirate control.
Armed with machine guns and grapnels aboard small skiffs, pirates are venturing farther out into the Indian Ocean, away from shipping corridors that are increasingly heavily patrolled. An international naval effort has pursued pirates and saved some vessels under attack.
Pirates tried to seize a containership operated by Zim Integrated Shipping Services on Saturday 700 kilometers off the coast of East Africa, but did not succeed because of barbed wire that was strung along the sides of the ship.
Zim said that after the failed attempt, the pirates returned to their boats and followed the Zim ship for several hours.
In the first three months of 2009 only eight ships had been hijacked in the busy Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal.
See also: U.S. Crew Retakes Maersk Alabama from Pirates