The 75,750-dwt Golden Ice (built 2008) and GulfEnergy Maritime’s 75,000-dwt tanker Gulf Pearl (built 2005) were the two shipsinvolved according to UK-based security consultants AKE Maritime.
TheGolden Ocean vessel was attacked on 9 December in position 12° 52.5'N, 047°52.4'E at around 0348 UTC.
“Despiteemploying evasive manoeuvres and warning shots by the on-board security team,the skiff retreated only after gunfire had been exchanged,” AKE said.
Eighteenminutes earlier the Bahamas-flagged Gulf Pearl was approached by a skiffcarrying five armed attackers.
AKEsaid BMP4 procedures were followed and a display of arms by the on-boardsecurity team resulted in the skiff aborting its attack.
“Just eighteen minutes separated the attacks of 9 December in the Gulf of Aden,demonstrating that attack groups remain highly opportunistic when targettingcommercial vessels,” AKE said.
“Weatherconditions in the region remain conducive to piracy, and vessels should ensuretheir security plans are up to date and well tested as the risk of attackremains over the coming weeks.”
Attacksin seas around Somalia fell dramatically in the first nine months of this year,the IMB reported in October.
Justten incidents were attributed to Somali pirates during this period, down from70 in the same nine months of 2012.
However,in a recent weekly update the NATO Shipping Center warned that “currentconditions are favorable to piracy activity, and the presence of pirate attackgroups at sea in the High Risk Area (HRA) cannot be ruled out."
