A Hoegh-owned car carrier managed to avoid hijacking by pirates off Somalia but there are fears a Vietnamese bulker may not have been so lucky.
A US-flagged vessel owned by Sealift and a Vinashin bulker have also beaten off seizure attempts in the past 24 hours, TradeWinds has learned.
Hoegh Autoliners’ 5,200-car-capacity Hoegh Oslo was fired upon by pirates with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, an informed source said.
The incident involving the Norway-flagged vessel occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the northern Arabian Sea. It is not known precisely how the ship escaped but pirates may have been deterred by a freeboard of some 25 metres.
One ship which is feared not to have escaped pirate clutches is the 22,800-dwt bulker Hoang Son Sun (built 1984). It has yet to be confirmed by Vietnamese owner Hoang Son Co that the Mongolia-flagged handysize has been seized. Other sources have said their understanding is that the ship was hijacked on Monday about 370 miles east of Oman.
Elsewhere, pirates in one skiff are said to have opened fire on Sealift’s 22,200-dwt Advantage just before midnight on Tuesday in the northern part of the Somali Basin.
There are no reports of injuries to the unspecified number of crew while it is unclear if the 1977-built multi-purpose vessel has been damaged. It is not believed that rocket-propelled grenades were fired in the assault.
The ship had a vessel protection detatchment, though not a private security team, onboard as it was headed to Mombasa with a food aid cargo. New York-based Sealift is frequently employed by the US government to carry food aid cargoes around the world.
It is not the first time that Sealift has had a brush with pirates off Somalia. In November 2009 its 25,951-dwt Harriette (built 1978) came under fire about 350 miles from the war-torn country’s coast but again evaded capture.
Vinashin’s 61,800-dwt elderly bulker Lucky Viship (built 1981) came under fire from pirates in three skiffs in the north-east of the Indian Ocean earlier on Tuesday. The Mongolia-flagged panamax also managed to avoid hijacking.
It is suspected that the skiffs may have been launched from the 19,900-dwt chemical carrier Samho Jewelry (built 2001) which was only hijacked in the Indian Ocean on Saturday.
