YEMEN’S navy is charging commercial vessels up to $US55,000 ($60,800) each to guarantee transit through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden under a deal that has reaped about $US30 million over 18 months.

The hiring of Yemeni military came as al-Qa’ida flourishes in the
Arabian Peninsula nation, and was agreed without the apparent knowledge
of Yemeni government officials or international anti-piracy military
forces.

European governments and the US have vowed to boost counter-terrorism
funding, intelligence-sharing and training for Yemen’s coastguard and
defence forces to fight extremists.

But at least one merchant ship a day, including some of the largest
ship owners, are discreetly paying Yemen for military protection, said
Nick Davis, chief executive of British-based Gulf of Aden Group
Transits, which has an exclusive contract with the country’s navy.

Under the payment-for-protection deal, up to 10 warships are placed at
the company’s disposal, with armed soldiers deployed to board private
ships as escorts, with land-based military “right behind us if we need
them”, Mr Davis said.

“It’s the only dedicated, military-supported full escort protection
available in the Gulf of Aden at the moment. There’s nothing better.
We’d all like it to be free but that’s not possible,” he said.

Somali pirates have attacked more than 200 commercial ships and
hijacked nearly 50 over the past 12 months, mostly in the Gulf of Aden,
through which about 25,000 vessels transit annually.

About $US40m has been paid in ransoms.

For the $US55,000 fee, the Yemen navy provides a dedicated warship travelling alongside a vessel, 40km off its coastline.

Not one paying ship has been hijacked, and four attacks successfully repelled, Mr Davis said.

A spokesman for the US military’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said he had no knowledge of the deal.

But Lieutenant-Commander Corey Barker referred inquiries to Commander
Chris Sims, a public affairs officer for the US 5th Fleet and the
Combined Maritime Force, a piracy coalition taskforce of which
Australia is a member. Commander Sims did not respond to questions
about whether the practice was appropriate, saying only that embarked
security teams on vessels “ensured the highest level of protection”.

Source: The Australian

Search to find what you want

• Iran 5 Fleet to head for the Gulf of Aden

    The Iranian military has announced plans to dispatch a fifth fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. “”The fourth fleet, which included the destroyer Alborz and the Bushehr logistic support vessel, will soon reach the end of its mission in the

• Iranian Navy foils attempt pirates hijack oil tanker

    Iran’s navy has thwarted attempts by Somali pirates to hijack an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden. The tanker, named Iran-Faraz, was heading toward Turkey when it was attacked by four speedboats belonged to the Somali pirates. However, the speedboats fled the area after an Iranian navy fleet

• Marine Too Stretched on piracy in the Indian Ocean: UK

    Ships using the Indian Ocean will not receive the same level of naval protection from pirates as those in the Gulf of Aden because military resources are tight, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said. Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by hijacking ships in the

• Hull gja safely through Gulf of Aden

     The hull of the North Sea Gjøa platform is on its way to Norway from the Samsung shipyard in South Korea. At the weekend an EU naval force provided a military escort as the hull passed through the notorious Gulf of Aden. The result of 1.7 million hours worked in

• Russian warships in the Gulf of Aden piracy at sea brought Alert

    Russian warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden have been put on the alert, a Navy representative told Itar-Tass on Friday. “The warships were put on the alert due to the intensified activity of sea pirates off the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden,” he said.

• Navy foils pirate attack on tankers in the Gulf of Aden

    The Indian Navy on Monday prevented a pirate attack on a US-owned tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s coast. A Navy spokesperson here confirmed the attack on a private tanker that was flying a Norway flag

• Ignore too many ships on anti-piracy precautions, EU Commission says

    Too many ships passing through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden ignore basic safety precautions, the European Union’s executive said Thursday as it urged member states to warn shipping companies of the dangers. Piracy off the Somali coast has soared in the last two years, despite the efforts

• More Russian ships toward the Gulf of Aden to combat piracy

    The Russian Pacific Fleet has sent more ships to the Indian Ocean to protect civilian vessels from pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden. The large anti-submarine ship the Marshal Shaposhnikov, a tugboat and the Pechenga tanker have set out for Somali coasts, carrying marines and deck helicopters, the Pacific

• India deploys warship in the Indian Ocean to the fight against piracy

    Augmenting its anti-piracy efforts off the coast of Seychelles and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, India on Monday deployed an additional naval ship in the sea brigand-infested waters to carry out patrol and surveillance. “The Indian Navy has deployed INS Savitri, an Offshore Patrol Vessel with a Chetak helicopter and

• Iranian warships in the Gulf of Aden Escort 6 Foreign Cargo

    The Iranian fleet of warships deployed in the Gulf of Aden escorted seven vessels, including one Iranian and six foreign cargo ships, and protected them against Somali pirates. “We escorted a ship in the Gulf of Aden about two weeks ago and simultaneously six foreign ships joined us urging that