29 ships taken and 363 people held captive by Somali pirates

AS of December 13, Reuters reports that 29 ships containing at least 363 people are still being held captive by Somali pirates after a year of piracy off the Horn of Africa.

Tankers and bulkers were the hardest it with only one containership and a multipurpose ship still in the hands of pirates. Taken, and still held, were fishing boats which despite their dimunitive size tends to have disproportionately large crews.

The ships and crews - and in one case, passengers, and in another, private yatchsmen - listed are:

The Yemeni-owned Socotra 1, seized on December 25, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden after it left Alshahr in Yemen with six Yemeni crew.

The Taiwan-flagged ro-ro ship Iceberg 1, seized on March 29, taken 10 miles from Aden with. 24 crew.

The Taiwanese fishing boat Jih-Chun Tsai 68, seized on March 30 with 14 crew composed of a Taiwanese captain, two mainland Chinese and 11 Indonesians.

The St Vincent and Grenadines-flagged 7,561-dead weight ton cargo ship Raf Afrikana, seized on April 11, some 280 miles west on the Seychelles where it is owned by the Seychelles' Rak Afrikana Shipping Ltd.

Three Thai fishing vessels, the Prantalay 11, 12 and 14, taken between April 17 and 18 with 77 crew.

The Taiwanese fishing boat Tai Yuan 227, seized on May 6 with 24 crew composed of nine Chinese, three Vietnamese, three Filipinos, seven Kenyans and two from Mozambique.

The Yemeni fishing boat Al-Dhafir, seized on May 7 off Yemen, with seven Yemeni crew.

The chemical tanker Marida Marguerite seized on May 8 en route from Kandla in Gujarat to Antwerp in the Gulf of Aden with 22 crew of 19 Indians, two Bangladeshis and one Ukrainian.

The 13,065-ton Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Motivator, seized on July 4 in Red Sea with 18 Filipino crew.

The Panama-flagged cargo ship Suez, seized on August 2 in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden with 23 crew from Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.

The Maltese-flagged Olib G seized on September 8, and again taken in the IRTC with a crew of 18 - that is, 15 Georgians and three Turks.

The 3,884-ton bitumen carrier Asphalt Venture, seized on September 29 while bound to Durban from Mombasa with 15 Indian crew.

The South-Korean fishing vessel Golden Wave, seized on October 9. Golden Wave with 43 crew, 39 Kenyans, two Koreans and two Chinese.

The NYK-Hinode Line's Panama-flagged Izumi seized on October 10 en route to Mombasa with cargo of steel and a 20-strong Filipino crew.

The 5,076-ton Singapore flagged Greek managed LPG tanker York, seized 50 miles from Mombasa, sailing empty with a German master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos.

The South-African owned yacht Choizil, seized on October 26 after leaving Dar es Salaam. European naval forces rescued one South African but two other crew members were taken ashore.

The motorised show Al-Nassr, seized October 28 off the Yemeni island of Socotra.

The Panama-flagged Liberian owned 72,825-tonne tanker Polar, seized on October 30,580 miles east of Socotra with 24 crew, one Romanian, three Greeks, four Montenegrins and 16 Filipinos.

The Comoran passenger vessel Aly Zulfecar, seized on November 2 in Tanzanian territorial waters with nine crew of one Tanzanian, four Comorian, four Madagascarans as well as 12 Tanzanian and eight Comorian passengers.

The 24,105 tonne Panama-flagged chemical tanker Hannibal II seized on November 11, some 860 miles east of Horn of Africa while sailing to Suez from Malaysia carrying vegetable oil and 31 crew of 23 Tunisians, four Filipinos, a Croat, a Georgian, a Russian and a Moroccan.

The Chinese owned cargo ship Yuan Xiang, seized on November 12 of off Oman with 29 Chinese crew.

The Malaysian-owned cargo ship Albedo, seized on November 26, some 900 miles off Somalia as it went to Mombasa from Jebel Ali in United Arab Emirates with 23 crew from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran.

The Jahan Moni, a bulk carrier, carrying 43,000 tonnes of nickel ore, seized on December 5, some 1,300 miles east of Somalia while going from Indonesia to Greece via Singapore with 26 crew.

The US-operated by Liberian-flagged containership Panama seized on December 10 enroute from Tanzania to Beira with 23 Burmese crew.

The Liberian-owned 70,156-ton bulker Renuar, seized on December 11 en route to Fujairah from Port Louis with 24 Filipino crew.
(Source:www.schednet.com)