The leading shipowner associations are studying the latest suspected piracy incident off the coast of Somalia after making a major safety call earlier in the year when they declared an end to the Indian Ocean High Risk Area.
Navibulgar’s 41,600-dwt bulk carrier Ruen (built 2014) was hijacked 700 miles (1,126 km) off the Somalia coast in the Arabian Sea.
It is sailing to Somalia’s Puntland, an area where hijacked ships and crew were held hostage during the peak of Somali piracy between 2008 and 2011.
It follows an attempted hijacking of the 20,000-dwt tanker Central Park (built 2015) by Somalis a few weeks earlier.
The piracy threat in the region was largely believed to be over, without a successful hijacking since 2017.
A group of leading shipowner associations told the International Maritime Organization that they would no longer recognise the Indian Ocean High Risk Area from January this year.
The area extends into the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea from the Somali and Yemen coasts.
However, they advised shipowners to follow the industry security guidance Best Management Practice 5 and reporting procedures in the region.
Recent incidents have raised the question of whether they may have acted too hastily in downgrading the Somali piracy threat.
Representatives of shipowners’ associations Bimco and the International Chamber of Shipping said that they are studying the incidents, but given recent troubles around the Gulf of Aden and Southern Red Sea the situation is confusing.
“Until we have certainty on what happened or more evidence of changing patterns in behaviour in these waters, then existing security advice to industry will be sufficient.”
John Stawpert, environment and trade manager at the International Chamber of Shipping, said: “It is obviously recommended that transits through these waters are thoroughly threat assessed.”
Jakob Larsen, head of security at Bimco, said it is too early to conclude the nature of the attack.
He said Bimco is monitoring the situation.
“With all the trouble unfolding in the Southern Red Sea, and in view of previous attacks in the Arabian Sea by explosive-laden drones, other stakeholders, for example, Iran, could perhaps also play a role,” he said.
Shipowners are required to pay higher insurance rates and additional wages to crew in high-risk areas.
The Bulgarian government has said it considers the incident to be Somali piracy.
Nikolay Denkov, the country’s prime minister, said on Sunday that he was expecting ransom negotiations to begin soon.
The Ruen is currently being shadowed by an Indian Navy vessel. One of the ship’s 18 crew members has been transferred to the navy vessel because of illness.
