U.S.-flagged Maersk vessel hijacked

U.S.-flagged Maersk vessel hijacked       Somali pirates have hijacked a U.S. flagged, Maersk-operated containership with 20 U.S. crewmembers aboard near the coast of Somalia.
      According to Maersk Line, the ship attacked is the 1,100-TEU Maersk Alabama, and it was en route to Mombasa, Kenya. The attack took place about 310 miles off the coast of Somalia.
   The 1998-built ship is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd., the U.S.-flag arm of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group based in Norfolk, Va.
   The Alabama, is deployed in Maersk Line's East Africa 4 (EAF4) service, which has a port rotation of Salalah, Djibouti and Mombasa. It is one of four Maersk services to and from East Africa, connecting to Maersk Line's global network via Salalah, Oman.
      The ship is part of the U.S. Maritime Administration's Maritime Security Program fleet. MarAd manages MSP, which provides the government with militarily useful, U.S.-flag cargo ships during times of war and national emergency.
      In the East Africa trades, Maersk Line transports aid cargo such as vegetable oil, bulgur and general cargo such as electronics, textiles and cars. At the time of the hijacking, the Alabama's cargo included 400 TEUs of food aid for the World Food Program, said Maersk. The ship has a service speed of 18 knots.
      It marks the fifth attack since the weekend off the Horn of Africa, despite international attempts to patrol the waters and make them safer for commercial vessels. Reuters reported that only eight attacks had occurred in the first three months of 2009. As security has been stepped up in the Gulf of Aden, pirates have been attacking ships further offshore.

This undated image shows the 17,000-ton container ship Maersk Alabama, when it was operating under the name Maersk Alva.

      “Our initial concern is to ensure proper support of the crew and assistance to their families,” the carrier said in a statement.
      “We have very strict policies on the vessel,” Maersk spokesman Michael Storgaard told CNN. “Crews are trained to handle these types of situations.”
      This week the Combined Maritime Forces patrolling the area highlighted the fact that several recent attacks occurred hundreds of miles off the Somali Coast and states that merchant mariners should be increasingly vigilant when operating in those waters.
      While the majority of attacks during 2008 and early 2009 took place in the Gulf of Aden, the U.S. Navy said recent attacks off the eastern coast of Somalia are not unprecedented. An attack on the large crude tanker Sirius Star in November 2008 occurred more than 450 nautical miles off the Southeast Coast of Somalia.
      The Navy said despite an increased naval presence in the region, ships and aircraft are unlikely to be close enough to provide support to vessels under attack.
      “The scope and magnitude of problem can not be understated,” the Navy said in a press release, noting that “the area involved off the coast of Somalia and Kenya as well as the Gulf of Aden equals more than 1.1 million square miles, roughly four times the size of Texas or the size of the Mediterranean and Red Seas combined.” It noted the length of the Somali coastline is roughly the same length as the entire U.S. Eastern Seaboard.