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Weekly Piracy Report
27 December 2004 to 3 January 2005

The following is a summary of the daily reports broadcast by the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre to ships in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions on the SafetyNET service of Inmarsat-C from 27 December 2004 to 3 January 2005.

Recently reported incidents

Suspicious craft

03.01.2005 at 0120 LT in posn: 01:14N - 103:25E, Phillip Channel.
A craft named "golden sphere sc-375" followed a tanker underway for 50 minutes. Suspecting it could be a pirate boat; master activated anti-piracy measures and craft moved away.

31.12.2004 at 2300 LT in posn: 15:48N - 042:29E, Red Sea.
D/O on a tanker underway spotted an unlit fast craft 10 metres long closing in on port quarter. Alert crew directed searchlights and craft turned and moved in direction of a container ship eight NM away.

Actual or attempted incidents

02.01.2005 at 2120 UTC Kandla outer anchorage, India.
Robbers boarded a general cargo ship, broke into forward
locker and stole ship's stores. D/O raised alarm and robbers escaped in their boat.

02.01.05 at 0730 LT in posn: 26:13.2N - 056:52.2E, Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf / Arabian Sea.
Several persons armed with guns in six blue speedboats about 6 - 8 meters long crossed a container ship from starboard to port. They were dressed in black clothes with facemasks. D/O raised alarm and crew mustered and activated fire hoses. Boats followed the ship but later moved away.

31.12.2004 at 0330 LT at CBM Rio Haina terminal, Dominican Republic.
Two robbers armed with long knives boarded a LPG tanker tied to mooring buoys. Duty watchman raised alarm and one robber jumped overboard. The other robber threatened D/O with a knife and also jumped overboard. Port control informed.

29.12.2004 at 1720 UTC in posn: 22:05N - 091:43E, off Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Eight pirates armed with knives in an unlit boat boarded a bulk carrier underway. Alert crew mustered and switched on deck lights. Pirates broke in to aft locker and stole ship's stores. They jumped overboard and escaped in a waiting boat.

27.12.2004 at Kandla inner anchorage, India.
Robbers boarded a general cargo ship from a small boat. They stole ship's stores and escaped.

I once had a friend who had been in the Merchant Marines. He told me that on long ocean voyages they would put the ship on the "Iron Mike," leave the bridge totally unattended and go about other business on the ship that had to be done. Once in a while someone who happened to be passing near the bridge would look around to see if there were other ships in the area then go about his business. I suppose that's why some of these pirates are successful. No one on the ship sees them until already onboard and making noises.

Though it's not well known pirating is still a problem in parts of the Bahamas as well.