The London market has not seen positively this revision and the JWC has not made an announcement endorsing it. “Piracy is fought on land it is only intercepted on the water”Īdditionally, we see the difference on opinion between the leading War underwriters, with one major club adopting the revised HRA and the other not. Military sources in the region are expressing their serious concern on the wisdom behind the decision to reduce the HRA at this time, clearly stating that the conditions in country (Somalia) have not changed in order for piracy to be affected in a negative way. Through these operations, subject groups have upkept their sea going equipment, weapons and a healthy cash flow to sustain them until the next big opportunity presents itself. Smuggling of narcotics, weapons and people from Somalia to Yemen and beyond, has been the business of choice for the past years. Somali based piracy has been dormant for a significant time, however the same armed groups that performed successful hijackings from 2009 and on, are still operating in the region in a different mode. This news has also reached the PAG leaders who will patiently wait for complacency to set in with mariners and companies, eventually making them soft targets again. The reduced HRA will by all means and purposes send out the wrong message to the international maritime community that the threat has also been reduced while this couldn’t be further from the actual truth. Intelligence and information gathered from open and closed sources, clearly indicates that coastal communities in Somalia’s Central and South-Central regions, are still keen to support PAG operations in the Indian Ocean. This incident clearly demonstrates that Somali Based Piracy has NOT been eradicated and still poses a significant threat to shipping and the safety of human life at sea in the Indian Ocean. The hijacked Dhow, the F/V Al Azham and her 23-man crew were released unharmed. On the 23rd of April, the ESPS Navara, intercepted and boarded the PAG’s mother vessel and arrested 5 pirates. The Spanish Frigate ESPS Navara, operating under EUNAVFOR mission Atalanta departed from Mombasa port and arrived on scene to provide further assistance. This attack was also unsuccessful as the Chinese F/V also had an AST on board. Later on the same day, the Chinese Fishing Vessel Shin Shuen Far 889 was also engaged by 2 skiffs with armed persons on board. The F/V Txori Argi had an AST onboard who engaged with the attacking skiffs that were launched from the pirate’s mother vessel leading to the withdrawal of the later. Korean registry of ownership, did not have an Armed Security Team (AST) onboard but managed to evade the attack long enough to receive assistance from the Spanish F/V Txori Argi that arrived on scene to assist. On the 21st of April 2019, the F/V Adria was attacked 280 NM off the Somali coast. On the 19th of April 2019 a Yemeni Dhow was hijacked and used as a mother ship to carry out attacks on merchant and commercial vessels. Somali Pirate Action Groups (PAG’s) have recently been active off the South – Eastern and Central coastlines having recently performed attacks and hijackings. The time required for any of these assets to be in the immediate vicinity of a merchant vessel under attack rages from 2 to 20 hours. Korea, Japan etc.) operate in the GoA performing convoy escorts within the IRTC.Ĭooperation between the above-mentioned forces is good but coordination is still to be maximized.
It is worth noting that various National Navies (India, China, S. Please see below Admiralty Chart Q6099, showing the revised HRA region and the UKMTO Voluntary Reporting Area:Īccording to open source information the following Navy Assets are in the wider region, available to provide assistance to vessels in distress or facing a security incident:Īdditional assets provided within The Combined Maritime Forces (CTF 150 & CTF 151) Then a bearing 310° to the territorial waters off the Arabian Peninsula. In the Indian Ocean a line linking: From the territorial waters off coast of east Africa at Latitude 05° 00’S to 050° 00’E. In the Southern Red Sea: Northern Limit: Latitude 15° 00’N
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