Pirates Holding 11 Ships, 264 Sailors Off Somalia (Update1)
By Sarah McGregor

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Pirates operating off Somalia’s coast are holding 11 ships and 264 sailors, said Rear Admiral Peter Hudson of the U.K.’s Royal Navy, commander of the European Union’s anti-piracy mission.

The latest seizure, that of Greek-owned supertanker Maran Centaurus “is illustrative of the problems of protecting and policing an area of the world’s ocean that amounts to one million square miles (1.6 million square kilometers),” Hudson told reporters today in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. “The forces at my disposal do not allow us to close down every single pirate group that operates over such an expanse,” Hudson said.

The 300,000 metric-ton Centaurus was taken by pirates off Somalia on Nov. 29 while heading to the U.S. from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, EU Navfor, as the naval mission is known, said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday. The tanker is believed to be heading toward the Somali coast, Hudson said.

The vessel and its 28-man crew from Greece, the Philippines, Ukraine and Romania, were captured in the Somali Basin about 600 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles, EU Navfor said.

Maran Centaurus is owned by Anangel Shipping Enterprises SA, according to Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay data on Bloomberg.

“What we have seen are vessels going ever further off the coast as we see a reduction off the Gulf of Aden, a reduction close to Somalia. The forces that we have at our disposal see the pirates getting more adventurous and having to go further,” Hudson said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at Smcgregor5@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 1, 2009 08:52 EST