Maritime insurance premium shoots up

MAERSK Nigeria Limited has reacted to the hijack of one of its vessels, saying the crew and their families needed a lot of support at the trying times. The company's vessel, Maersk Alabama, a 1,100 container carrying vessel was hijacked off the coast of Somalia recently. The call came amidst reports that three of the pirates were killed during an operation carried out by the U.S Navy to rescue the captain that was abducted by the sea thieves. " This morning, at around 05.00 UTC, Maersk Alabama, a 1,100 TEU container vessel, was attacked by pirates and presumed hijacked. The U.S. flagged vessel has a crew of 20 U.S. nationals and is owned and operated by Maersk Line Limited in the U.S. The vessel is deployed in Maersk Line's East Africa service network and was enroute to Mombasa, when it was attacked approximately 500 kilometres of the Somalia coast. Our initial concern is to ensure proper support of the crew and assistance to their families. At this point in time we do not have any further information," Nigerian media adviser to Maersk Line, Bolaji Akinola, said recently. Agency report on the current situation reveals that Maersk Alabama has remained much the same throughout since the attack. The ship's crew members were said to have been accounted for and are safely aboard the vessel. However, until two days ago, the ship's captain remained in the custody of the pirates, who departed in one of the ship's encapsulated life boats on April 8.

Meanwhile the killing of three Somali pirates in the dramatic U.S. Navy rescue of a cargo ship captain has sparked concern for other hostages and fears that the stakes have been raised for future hijackings in the busy Indian Ocean shipping lane. Sunday's rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips followed a shootout at sea on Friday by French navy commandos, who stormed a pirate-held sailboat, killed two pirates and freed four French hostages. The French owner of the vessel was also killed in the assault. The two operations may have been a setback for the pirates, but they are unlikely to quell the brigands, who have vowed to avenge the deaths of their comrades.

Source :www.ngrguardiannews.com/maritime/article01/indexn2_html?pdate=150409&ptitle=Maritime insurance premium shoots up after U.S., Somali pirates' onslaught