Savina al-Salaam circa 1976, formerly Iran Salam

By JD, Somalia Report

Somali pirates released the Indian-flagged Savina al-Salaam and its 16 all-Indian crew without ransom on Thursday, as owners and pirates confirmed to Somalia Report.

A representative of the owners who lives in Puntland, Liibaan Dheere, spoke with Somalia Report.

“The pirates released the boat late on Thursday at 4:30pm. The captain of the boat contacted me and told me that the pirates had left the boat,” he told Somalia Report by phone. “There was no ransom paid. We didn’t even hear from the pirates when they hijacked the boat, we were looking for the boat and apparently the pirates abandoned it, thank Allah,” Liibaan added.

It’s unclear why the pirates abandoned the boat, but it seems that they were not expecting a ship carrying livestock.

“The boat was carrying 3,620 heads of livestock, but it appears the pirates thought that it was carrying only goods – so they thought to use it to mount attacks from – but they didn’t want to deal with the livestock, which I think is why the pirates released this boat,” Liibaan said.

The Savina al-Salaam is now on course for Oman.

A pirate explained that the hijackers found the Savina too heavy to use as a mothership for launching attacks.

“This group is from the Bari region and they are still looking for a boat to use as a mothership,” Faysal, a pirate in the Bari region, told Somalia Report. Pirates also told Somalia Report that the Savina al-Salam had been anchored in the Qandalla area of Bari region late on Tuesday, and released late on Thursday.

The Savina al-Salaam was the first commercial boat to be hijacked by pirates in 2012, and it was held for two days. In addition to the crew, there boat was also carrying four Somali passengers (three women and one man) who held Oman visas.

Somali pirates regularly hijack commercial and fishing boats to use as mothership, particularly those pirates based in Bari region. The clans represented in the Bargaal, Qandalla areas along the coast are mostly from the Ali Saleeban, Siwaaqroon, Cisman Mohamoud, Ali Jibraahiil (all sub-clans of Majeerteen), as well as the Warsangali and Dishiishe (both of the Darood clan).

The pirates are currently holding at least five fishing and commercial boats from Iran, Pakistan, India, Yemen and Somalia which they use as motherships to launch attacks on bigger freighters.

Republished with permission, (c) 2012 Somalia Report

A stock photo of a livestock ship

Initial reports indicate that Somali pirates may have hijacked, or attempted to hijack, one of the dirtiest and most foul-smelling vessels on the planet… a livestock ship.  Why in God’s name they chose to hijack a ship with a cargo of live animals is yet unclear.

Further details on this alleged attack can be found HERE.

The Al Messilah, an aging Kuwaiti-flagged live animal export vessel, was forced back to the port on August 12 after experiencing a mechanical failure less than a day after it departed for the Middle East.

“The mechanical failure has not affected the ventilation, feed and water systems for the 67,000 sheep onboard”, said Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in a statement.  “The vessel is being assessed to determine if immediate repairs can be conducted, or whether the ship will need to be dry-docked.  If the ship cannot be repaired within a reasonable period, the sheep can be unloaded and moved directly to a nearby feedlot that is an AQIS-approved registered facility.”

Animal cruelty watchdog RSPCA Australia, however, is up in arms over the incident, saying it “highlights the inherent risks in transporting animals over such vast distances by sea, risks that the industry has never been able to address.”

“The journey to the Middle East was already going to take up to 20 days and that these sheep have already been in limbo for seven days is completely unacceptable” the agency said in a statement posted to their website.  “The live export ship in question is understood to be one of the oldest vessels in the live export fleet -  the Al Messilah, a converted car carrier that has a history of mechanical problems.”

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is working with the vessel’s master and the exporter to maintain the welfare of the animals.

Nearly 300 cows were stuck on board the Mathew Flinders when it ran aground on Kings Island just off of Tasmania, Australia late Monday night.  Initial attempts to refloat the cattle vessel were unsuccesful.  After about 24 hrs, the cows were offloaded via the ships rear loading ramp where they were herded together onshore.  One cow was reported to have perished in the offloading when it tried to swim out to sea.

According to The Mercury.com.au “the difficulties highlighted the frustrations associated with shipping 1000 animals a week,”  but I’m sure the crew of some of those cattle vessles will tell you of different frustrations.

Image via TheMercury.com.au

We are all aware of the petty thefts and ransom demands of Malacca and Somali pirates but a recent rash of attacks in the Phillipines is quite different. Instead of targeting your average container ship, tanker or cruise ship these Philipino pirates are targeting unusual ships like the USNS Mercy and the livestock carrier Hereford Express (pictured above).

Australia’s ABC news reports:

The Philippines Coast Guard says the MV Hereford Express was attacked by armed men on speed boats shortly after it left for Broome on Friday night.

Nobody was injured, but the boat was seriously damage and was forced to return to the Philippines for repairs.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Broome Port Authority, Vic Justice, says the Hereford has been a regular visitor to Broome over a number of years.

“The crew are mainly Filipino people and they are very nice people to meet and talk with and it must have been extremely stressful for the poor people,” he said.

“I’d expect that it would take a couple of weeks for them to repair all the damage.

“It may well be that essential navigational equipment will have to be replaced.”

Mr Justice says such attacks are not uncommon in the waters off South-East Asia.

Continue reading…

For more information on livestock ships read Maritime Monday 60 or visit these related links:

• Female to Master Largest Livestock Carrier

• Live Export Shame (Controversal but contains great photo collection)

• Sibya Ships