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Tuesday, December 09, 2008
BERLIN (AP) — A German cruise ship plans to evacuate passengers in
Yemen and fly them to the next port of call Wednesday to avoid any
possible encounters with pirates off the coast of lawless Somalia.Several
other cruise operators said Tuesday they were also shifting or
canceling tours that would have taken clients past Somalia, as nations
and companies around the world debated how to confront the piracy
dominating the Gulf of Aden.
The European Union said its
anti-piracy mission would station armed guards on vulnerable cargo
ships — the first such deployment of military personnel during
international anti-piracy operations in the crucial waterway.
But
that deployment would not cover cruise ships, and at least two
companies have already altered or canceled routes that would have
brought passengers within the reach of pirates.
The M/S Columbus,
on an around-the-world trip that began in Italy, will drop off its 246
passengers Wednesday at the Yemeni port of Hodeidah before sailing
through the gulf, the Hapag-Lloyd cruise company said.
|
Dutch cargo ships the MV Stolt Innovation, in the foreground, and the
MV Stolt Helluland, in the background, seen from the rear of Dutch
warship de Ruyter in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. De
Ruyter is escorting the two ships and another Dutch cargo ship, the MV
Jumbo Javelin, through the Gulf of Aden, which has become the world's
top piracy hotspot this year. (AP Photo/Tom Maliti) |
Passengers
will take a charter flight to Dubai and spend three days at a five-star
hotel waiting to rejoin the 150-meter (490-foot) vessel in Oman's port
of Salalah for the remainder of the trip. The Hamburg-based company
called the shift a "precautionary measure."
Piracy has become
rampant off the Somali coast, and recently pirates have begun targeting
cruise liners as well as commercial vessels. On Nov. 30, pirates fired
upon the M/S Nautica — a cruise liner carrying 650 passengers and 400
crew — but the massive ship outran its assailants. Other ships have not
been so lucky.
Pirates have attacked 32 vessels and hijacked 12
of them since NATO deployed a four-vessel flotilla in the region Oct.
24 to escort cargo ships and conduct anti-piracy patrols. Ships still
being held for huge ransoms include a Saudi oil tanker carrying $100
million in crude and a Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and heavy
weapons.
Hapag-Lloyd decided on the detour for its passengers
after the German government denied the company's request for a security
escort through the gulf, company spokesman Rainer Mueller said.
"We
won't travel through the Gulf of Aden with passengers" as long as the
German Foreign Ministry's travel warning is in effect, Mueller said.
Another
German cruise ship operator, Stuttgart-based Hansa Touristik, canceled
a trip that would have brought the M/S Arion through the Gulf on Dec.
27, company spokeswoman Birgit Kelern said.
Directors of a third
German cruise company, the Bremen-based Plantours & Partner, were
meeting with ship captains in Venice, Italy to decide whether to go
ahead with a trip through the gulf. Passengers will learn Wednesday
whether the M/S Vistamar will set sail Dec. 16 as planned, spokeswoman
Sandra Marnen said.
A U.S. Navy official said while the danger of
a pirate attack was significant, it was not advising ships to avoid
transiting the gulf.
"We are advising all ships to transit
through the international traffic corridor within the Gulf of Aden,"
said Lt. Nathan Christensen, a Bahrain-based spokesman for the U.S.
Navy's 5th Fleet, referring to a security corridor patrolled by the
international coalition since August.
Some 21,000 ships a year —
or more than 50 a day — cross the Gulf of Aden, which links the
Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
The
growing chaos in impoverished Somalia, which has had no effective
government for nearly two decades, has allowed an Islamic insurgency to
flourish in the country at the same time as speedboat bandits attack
ships offshore.
The EU, meanwhile, launched its anti-piracy
mission five days early on Tuesday, before it takes over for the NATO
ships next Monday. The EU mission will include six ships and up to
three aircraft patrolling at any one time, and will station armed
guards aboard some cargo vessels, such as ships transporting food aid
to Somalia, according to the British naval commander in charge of the
mission.
"We would seek to place vessel protect detachments on
board World Food Program ships transiting to Somalia," British Rear
Admiral Philip Jones told a news conference in Brussels. "They are the
most vulnerable ships of all, and the best deterrence is achieved by
having such a detachment on board."
The NATO anti-piracy mission has helped 30,000 tons of humanitarian aid reach Somalia since Oct. 24.
In
addition, about a dozen other warships from the U.S. 5th Fleet based in
Bahrain, as well as from India, Russia and Malaysia and other nations
are patrolling in the area.
The Russian navy said Tuesday it will soon replace its warship in the region with another.
The
missile frigate Neustrashimy — deployed from Russia's Northern Fleet
after pirates seized the Ukrainian arms ship in September — has helped
thwart at least two pirate attacks. It will remain in the region
through December and be replaced by a ship from Russia's Pacific Fleet.
Jones
welcomed an offer from Japan to contribute a vessel to the one-year EU
mission, which is the European Union's first naval endeavor, though the
bloc has conducted 20 peacekeeping operations.
Britain, France,
Greece, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands will contribute at
least 10 warships and three aircraft to the mission, with contingents
rotated every three months.
SOURCE: AP, Tuesday, December 09, 2008