Group advises caution about Somali pirate activity

   A U.K.-based provider of maritime research, Dryad Maritime Intelligence, is renewing calls for heightened vigilance by ships traveling near Somalia following the recent attack on two ships, including the British-managed Island Splendor, stating that “just one successful hijack and holding to ransom of a large merchant vessel could revive Somalia’s maritime criminal infrastructure.”
   Island Splendor was attacked by two skiffs approximately 230 nautical miles west of Hobyo on Friday. A security team shot initial warning flares, but these initially failed to deter the pirates. The private security company managed to eventually repel the attack, but the pirates returned fire before backing down.
   Dryad said Friday’s attack is the first report of an motor vessel coming under small arms fire since the end of the Southwest Monsoon season — a feature that results in a cessation of pirate activity in open ocean areas. It is also the first large merchant vessel to be fired upon since April 2013.
   On Monday, 270 nautical miles east of Friday’s attack, a second event occurred; Dryad believes it came from the same group of pirates.
   Dryad’s Ian Millen said, “Despite the pressure applied by coalition forces and the assessed depletion of pirate resources, there was a likelihood that we would see a break out of a pirate action group into the sea lanes, and that the hijack and ransom of a single large merchant vessel would be all it would take to feed the infrastructure of the Somali pirate criminal enterprise. Following Monday’s report, it would appear that the attack on two vessels in the space of four days confirms that the Somali pirate business model is not yet broken. Continued vigilance and strict adherence to BMP measures in all areas are the keys to success in keeping vessels safe.”