A large, Greek-managed bulker was towed to safety in Oman last week after being immobilised in a high piracy area in the Gulf of Aden.
The incident began on 4 June, when fire broke out in the engine room of the 114,000-dwt post-panamax Maran Ocean (built 2011), the vessel’s salvors Tsavliris Salvage said in a post on its website.
The ship was sailing 200 miles east of Djibouti at the time, laden with 108,500 tonnes of iron ore. The crew managed to extinguish the fire by its own means. No seafarer was injured during the firefighting, TradeWinds is told.
The Maran Ocean, however, remained disabled and Tsavliris dispatched from Djibouti the 5,200-bhp tug Hercules (built 2009), which arrived at the stricken ship on 6 June.
The Maran Ocean was then towed to Duqm in Oman, where it arrived on 16 June. Due to adverse weather conditions, the ship wasn’t berthed safely until three days later.
One noteworthy aspect of the incident is that it took place in an area considered dangerous for shipping due to high piracy activity there.
The Maran Ocean is not known to have been attacked or suspiciously approached during its time in distress.
This may be due to the fact that the number of piracy incidents dropped considerably in recent years after navies from several nations committed significant forces to protect commercial vessels in the region, which is one of the world's busiest arteries for maritime trade.
The situation improved to the point that analysts at maritime security consultancy Dryad Global asked themselves in their latest annual report whether piracy was no longer the most significant threat shipping faces in the Indian Ocean.
Reported incidents, however, increased in 2020. In May, a gunfight erupted between armed guards on a Stolt-Nielsen chemical tanker and pirates operating off Yemen.
On 23 February, the 63,000-dwt CL Lindy (built 2017) reported a suspicious approach by 11 skiffs with four to five people on board.
Some shipping sources in Athens speculate that pirates in the Gulf of Aden may be stepping up attack attempts, in the expectation that Coronavirus-related travel restrictions make it harder for companies to put armed guards on board their ships.
However, factors other than piracy may be behind some of the recent incidents.
“Whether the explanation of current events in the Gulf of Aden is attributable to human trafficking, the influence of maritime terrorism, the over-reporting of approaches which are being cautiously labelled as suspicious or perhaps, against all indications, is a resurgence in piracy - it is prudent that a full and thorough analysis of events is conducted,” Dryad said in a report published on its website on 24 June.
