The race is on to save a German ship and its crew who have locked themselves in a citadel in an attempt to thwart hijacking off Somalia.
Pirates are understood to have boarded the 5,200-dwt Ems River at the eastern end of the Gulf of Aden early on Monday morning.
A hijacked Greek tanker is also believed to have been used as a mothership in the assault as it sits alongside the 2010-built general cargoship.
Informed sources have told TradeWinds that the unspecific number of crew have managed to lock themselves in a secure onboard compartment preventing, at least temporarily, the pirates from gaining control of the ship.
There are no reports of injuries to the crew or damage to the Antigua & Barbuda-flagged vessel which was heading towards the Suez Canal when it was attacked.
The ship is owned and operated by Grona Shipping which has recently moved from Leer to Papenburg.
The use of citadels by ship crews has in the past few months been a very effective tool in the fight against pirates with a large number of ships avoiding hijacking once they have been boarded. Also working in the Ems River’s favour is the large number of naval vessels patrolling the general area at the approach to the eastern end of the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC).
The 13,000-dwt Greek chemical tanker Motivator (built 2007) which was seized in the southern Red Sea on 4 July, was apparently used by the pirates to catch the Ems River as it has been spotted alongside the German ship.
Another hijacked tanker is also said to have been used to seize a fishing vessel off Madagascar on Christmas Day. The 72,800-dwt Polar (built 2005), which is also Greek owned, is thought to have acted as a mothership to snare the unidentified vessel.
