The bulker Ruen, the hijacking of which marked the return of Somali piracy last December after several years, is now feared to be being exploited as a pirate ship itself.
That is according to information circulated on Thursday by Ambrey Analytics.
Following the lack of a ransom deal with owner Navibulgar, the Somali group controlling the 41,600-dwt Ruen (built 2016) is suspected to be using it “as a mother ship to conduct further attacks on merchant vessels”, Ambrey said in a flash note.
That suspicion is backed up by a reported sighting of the ship in the open Indian Ocean, 160 nautical miles (about 300 km) southeast of its previously known place of capture at Eyl in Somalia.
Navibulgar officials were unavailable by phone and did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
The ship suspected of being the Ruen “had a black hull, red deck, white superstructure and a yellow smokestack with a red horizontal stripe”, Ambrey said.
Another big vessel was captured by suspected Somali pirates this week — the 58,000-dwt Abdullah (built 2015) off Mogadishu.
Somali pirates are furthermore known to have attacked several fishing boats in the open Indian Ocean in recent weeks, probably in an attempt to use them later as mother boats for raids on larger vessels.
The Indian Navy has captured some pirates engaged in such hijackings and thwarted another assault on a bigger ship — the 170,100-dwt Lila Norfolk (built 2006) in January.
