Post by dockworker on Apr 9, 2009 12:20:15 GMT -5
U.S. Warship Reaches Maersk Alabama
Peter T. Leach
Apr 9, 2009
The Journal of Commerce
USS Bainbridge in position near lifeboat carrying pirates, hostage
A U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, was in position near the lifeboat believed to be carrying the pirates and their hostage Capt. Richard Phillips. But there has been no official confirmation of the tiny vessel's whereabouts since early Thursday morning.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, part of the allied fleet that patrols the waters off Somalia, had arrived at the spot in the Indian Ocean Thursday morning where Somali pirates were still holding the captain of the Maersk Alabama.
A day after the 1,100-TEU container ship was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia and then retaken by its American crew, the ship's captain "remains hostage but is unharmed," Maersk spokesman Kevin Speers told CNN Thursday morning.
"The safe return of the captain is our foremost priority," Speers said.
Capt. Richard Phillips was being held on a lifeboat near the Maersk Alabama after the pirates who hijacked the ship reneged on their agreement to exchange him for one of their own, who himself had been captured by the crew members, according to the second officer of the ship, Ken Quinn, who spoke to CNN on Wednesday via a satellite call.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday morning, Speers said the U.S. Navy "is in command of the situation."
"We are in regular contact with the Alabama," he said. "The ship remains at a safe distance as instructed by the Navy. We are coordinating with the Navy and all the governmental organizations involved in this crisis."
The Maersk Alabama was seized early Wednesday. All 20 of its remaining crew members were in good physical shape, Quinn told CNN.
The pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia, a haven for pirates attacking shipping through the Gulf of Aden.
The ship, which was originally named the Alva Maersk when it was completed in a Taiwanese shipyard in 1998, is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd., the Norfolk-based U.S. subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk that operates U.S.-flagged ships with American crews for the Maritime Security Program run by DOT's Maritime Administration. The ship was not working under a Pentagon contract but was carrying U.S. food and other emergency relief from Djibouti to Mombasa, Kenya when it was hijacked at about 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET), a Maersk spokesman said.
The 780-foot (237-meter) Maersk Alabama is the first U.S. ship to be seized in the latest wave of piracy off largely lawless Somalia. Joe Murphy, whose son Shane is the ship's first officer, called the hijacking "a wake-up call for America."
"They're making more money in piracy than the gross national product of Somalia, so it's not going to go away any time soon until there's international concern and international law enforcement," said Murphy, an instructor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
The Gulf of Aden, at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, is a key transit point for ships moving into or out of the Suez Canal. In 2008, Somalia-based pirates attacked more than 100 ships in the gulf or off the Horn of Africa, capturing about 40 of them. The ships and their crews typically are held for ransom.
After a lull early this year, attacks surged again in March, with 15 attacks reported to the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy. An international task force under U.S. command was set up in January to crack down on the problem, and the European Union, India, China and Russia have ships deployed to
The Maersk Alabama was carrying food aid bound for the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was seized about 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET), the ship's owner said. There were 21 American crew members on board at the time.
The pirates were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, while the freighter's crew carried no weapons. The crew -- apparently minus the captain -- locked themselves in the compartment that contains the ship's steering gear, where they remained for about 12 hours with their captive, whom Quinn said they had tied up. The three other pirates "got frustrated because they couldn't find us," he said.
The pirates had scuttled the small boat they used once they climbed aboard the freighter, Quinn said, so Phillips offered them the Alabama's 28-foot lifeboat and some money.
John Reinhart, CEO and president of Norfolk, Virginia-based Maersk Line Ltd., said the crew can try to outrun the pirate boats or turn fire hoses on anyone trying to board the ship, "but we do not carry arms."
The vessel was carrying relief supplies for USAID, the U.N. World Food Program and the Christian charities WorldVision and Catholic Relief Services. The U.N. agency said its portion of the cargo included nearly 4,100 metric tons of corn-soya blend bound for Somalia and Uganda, and another 990 metric tons of vegetable oil for refugees in Kenya.
"There are starving people in Africa who need this food," Reinhart said.
Peter T. Leach
Apr 9, 2009
The Journal of Commerce
USS Bainbridge in position near lifeboat carrying pirates, hostage
A U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, was in position near the lifeboat believed to be carrying the pirates and their hostage Capt. Richard Phillips. But there has been no official confirmation of the tiny vessel's whereabouts since early Thursday morning.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, part of the allied fleet that patrols the waters off Somalia, had arrived at the spot in the Indian Ocean Thursday morning where Somali pirates were still holding the captain of the Maersk Alabama.
A day after the 1,100-TEU container ship was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia and then retaken by its American crew, the ship's captain "remains hostage but is unharmed," Maersk spokesman Kevin Speers told CNN Thursday morning.
"The safe return of the captain is our foremost priority," Speers said.
Capt. Richard Phillips was being held on a lifeboat near the Maersk Alabama after the pirates who hijacked the ship reneged on their agreement to exchange him for one of their own, who himself had been captured by the crew members, according to the second officer of the ship, Ken Quinn, who spoke to CNN on Wednesday via a satellite call.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday morning, Speers said the U.S. Navy "is in command of the situation."
"We are in regular contact with the Alabama," he said. "The ship remains at a safe distance as instructed by the Navy. We are coordinating with the Navy and all the governmental organizations involved in this crisis."
The Maersk Alabama was seized early Wednesday. All 20 of its remaining crew members were in good physical shape, Quinn told CNN.
The pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia, a haven for pirates attacking shipping through the Gulf of Aden.
The ship, which was originally named the Alva Maersk when it was completed in a Taiwanese shipyard in 1998, is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd., the Norfolk-based U.S. subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk that operates U.S.-flagged ships with American crews for the Maritime Security Program run by DOT's Maritime Administration. The ship was not working under a Pentagon contract but was carrying U.S. food and other emergency relief from Djibouti to Mombasa, Kenya when it was hijacked at about 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET), a Maersk spokesman said.
The 780-foot (237-meter) Maersk Alabama is the first U.S. ship to be seized in the latest wave of piracy off largely lawless Somalia. Joe Murphy, whose son Shane is the ship's first officer, called the hijacking "a wake-up call for America."
"They're making more money in piracy than the gross national product of Somalia, so it's not going to go away any time soon until there's international concern and international law enforcement," said Murphy, an instructor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
The Gulf of Aden, at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, is a key transit point for ships moving into or out of the Suez Canal. In 2008, Somalia-based pirates attacked more than 100 ships in the gulf or off the Horn of Africa, capturing about 40 of them. The ships and their crews typically are held for ransom.
After a lull early this year, attacks surged again in March, with 15 attacks reported to the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy. An international task force under U.S. command was set up in January to crack down on the problem, and the European Union, India, China and Russia have ships deployed to
The Maersk Alabama was carrying food aid bound for the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was seized about 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET), the ship's owner said. There were 21 American crew members on board at the time.
The pirates were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, while the freighter's crew carried no weapons. The crew -- apparently minus the captain -- locked themselves in the compartment that contains the ship's steering gear, where they remained for about 12 hours with their captive, whom Quinn said they had tied up. The three other pirates "got frustrated because they couldn't find us," he said.
The pirates had scuttled the small boat they used once they climbed aboard the freighter, Quinn said, so Phillips offered them the Alabama's 28-foot lifeboat and some money.
John Reinhart, CEO and president of Norfolk, Virginia-based Maersk Line Ltd., said the crew can try to outrun the pirate boats or turn fire hoses on anyone trying to board the ship, "but we do not carry arms."
The vessel was carrying relief supplies for USAID, the U.N. World Food Program and the Christian charities WorldVision and Catholic Relief Services. The U.N. agency said its portion of the cargo included nearly 4,100 metric tons of corn-soya blend bound for Somalia and Uganda, and another 990 metric tons of vegetable oil for refugees in Kenya.
"There are starving people in Africa who need this food," Reinhart said.