CRUISE SHIPS RUN A PIRATE GAUNTLET
Cruising is more exciting than ever—sometimes too exciting. Last fall, Hapag-Lloyd’s Columbus and Plantours and Partner’s Vistamar separately ran into pirates in the Gulf of Arden, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean near Somalia. In both cases, passengers disembarked and later rejoined the ships in Oman.
On November 28, a German frigate, part of the international naval patrol, fired on two suspected pirate boats approaching Transocean Tours’ Astor with 492 passengers on board; most were unaware of the incident at the time. Then on November 30, Somali pirates in speedboats chased Oceania’s Nautica, but the ship was able to outrun them. The attack on the nearly 600-foot long, American-operated cruise ship was dramatic proof of the pirates’ increased aggressiveness and called for a stronger military response.
Today the US Navy announced it would head a new international force to combat pirates off the Somali coast in an attempt to protect one of the world's key shipping lanes. Rear Admiral Terence McKnight has been tapped to head the force of 21 nations.
At least 111 cruise and merchant ships were attacked in 2008, and more than 40 of them hijacked. Thirteen ships remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 250 crew members, including a Saudi supertanker filled with $100 million worth of crude and a Ukrainian ship loaded with 33 battle tanks.
On November 28, a German frigate, part of the international naval patrol, fired on two suspected pirate boats approaching Transocean Tours’ Astor with 492 passengers on board; most were unaware of the incident at the time. Then on November 30, Somali pirates in speedboats chased Oceania’s Nautica, but the ship was able to outrun them. The attack on the nearly 600-foot long, American-operated cruise ship was dramatic proof of the pirates’ increased aggressiveness and called for a stronger military response.
Today the US Navy announced it would head a new international force to combat pirates off the Somali coast in an attempt to protect one of the world's key shipping lanes. Rear Admiral Terence McKnight has been tapped to head the force of 21 nations.
At least 111 cruise and merchant ships were attacked in 2008, and more than 40 of them hijacked. Thirteen ships remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 250 crew members, including a Saudi supertanker filled with $100 million worth of crude and a Ukrainian ship loaded with 33 battle tanks.