AFRICA 12 June 2011. The tanker with Nile Blend Crude Oil loaded from Marsa Bashayer in Sudan was released after a massive ransom had been delivered after only 45 days being held hostage. The amount paid could well resemble a new recors for a vessel of that class.
Sources close to the owners, diplomatic sources and local observers confirmed that the Somali pirates had let the UAE-flagged, Kuwaiti-owned oil tanker sail free after the ransom was paid. The crew of 29 is apparently all right, given the circumsrtances and after the relatively short hostage period. The crew will be exchanged in the vessels next stop - Salalah / Oman.
BACKGROUND (ecop-marine)
MT ZIRKU : Seized on March 28, 2011. The Arabian-owened, UAE-flagged Crude Oil Tanker MT ZIRKU (IMO: 9237802) was reported pirated at 09h00 UTC (012h00 LT) on 28. March 2011 in position Latitude: 15 36N and Longitude: 057 04E , approximately 250 nautical miles South East of Salalah in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden.
Other pirate activity had been reported just the day before near where the Zirku was hijacked and only 70 miles away another crude oil tanker escaped an attack. While the PAG was not persued by naval forces the MV ZIRKU also did not avoid the area.The 105,846 dwt tanker - not large for a crude oil carrier - was built in 2003 and sails usually very slow at an average 12.5 knots, which makes such vessels a typical target for piracy.
The vessel was first attacked at 06h13 UTC by two pirate skiffs and was in this initial 10 minute assault fired upon by both RPG and small arms while on her way from Bashayer (Sudan) to Singapore. The master had by then increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, and the crew fired rocket flares and activated the fire hoses, achieving that the pirates backed off. The Somali pirates then returned 15 minutes later with a more aggressive hit and managed again to come alongside. They achieved by overcoming water cannons and passing over two rows of razor wire to get on board the ship. It took approximately 30 minutes for them to gain control of the vessel and to hijack the tanker. NATO confirmed the attack and three hours later the pirates had the vessel and crew under their control, which also was confirmed.
MT ZIRKU has a crew of 29 (1 Croatian, 1 Iraqi, 1 Filipino, 1 Indian, 3 Jordanians, 3 Egyptians, 2 Ukrainians and 17 Pakistanis). Though the vessel holds a safety certificate issued by Det Norske Veritas her crew is not covered by an ITF agreement.
The tanker carried a load of Nile Blend Crude Oil from Marsa Bashayer, Sudan. This is a new crude oil from recently developed oil fields in Sudan. The shipment of this grade by sea only started in September 1999 and its nature and the difficulties arising during its transportation are not widely known.
Nile Blend Crude Oil is a paraffinic crude oil with a high wax content, high pour point (+30°C to +36°C) and high wax appearance temperature (+39°C and above). The wax appearance temperature (WAT) or cloud point is the temperature at which waxy solids form by precipitation in the crude . At or below the WAT waxy solids will precipitate or settle out onto the tank bottoms and horizontal structural members. Once wax deposition occurs heating alone will not normally place the deposited wax back into suspension within the main body of the cargo.
The MV ZIRKU was registered with MSC(HOA), and was reporting to UKMTO, the command of EU NAVFOR admitted, who has at present no further information about the crew.
The Tanker is a Green Award Certified ship, though that award seems to be just another phone or even fake label, since, the last PSC inspection of the Zirku was by the US Coast Guard in San Francisco in August 2010, whereby six deficiencies were found, including one operational deficiency.
The vesse is owned and managed by the Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Company, a pan-Arab Organization head-quartered in Kuwait, which is a Kuwaiti government owned business with the other shareholders being the governments of Algeria, Libya, Iraq, UAW, Saudi Arabia, as well as, Qatar Petroleum and Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company.
Classified by the American Bureau of Shipping the vessel is insured by The West of England Shipowners P&I Club - a classic object of Somali piracy in business as usual.
This 244 metre long LOA vessel is capable of a maximum speed of 14.7 and a cruising speed of 12.5 knots and possibly was no match for the fast pirate skiffs, an analyst remarked. Without armed maritime security team on board, it was indeed a sitting duck for the Somali sea-shifta, a security company added.
The Pirate Action Group is reported to be still in the area and all maritime traffic is advised to stay at least 100nm off the zone, especially since it seems that the navies are busy in Libya and are not paying attention to what is happening in the Gulf of Aden.
The vessel has since been commandeered to Somalia, reached the North Eastern Somali Indian Ocean coast, passed Bandar Beyla and Garacad and did reach Ceel Dhanaane, from where the vessel then left again.
On 25. April 2011 the MV ZIRKU was observed while escorting a convoy with the freshly sea-jacked, Italian-owned MV ROSALIA D’AMATO towing seized Taiwanese FV JIH-CHUN TSAI 68 to the Somali coast. An unsuccessful and ill-conceived U.S.American naval attack launched by an U.S.American warship, the USS Stephen W. Groveson, against the convoy endangered also the hostages on MT ZIRKU. Luckily no casualties were reported.
Negotiations concerning the release of MT ZIRKU had commenced well and came to a fast conclusion.
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