At three times the size of an aircraft carrier, the $150m Sirius Star is one of the world’s most impressive tankers. “So how can a vessel whose cargo is so substantial that its loss can cause the world oil price to jump by more than a dollar fall prey to a band of Somali pirates?” asks John Henley in The Guardian. Easily. A large crude carrier such as the Sirius Star is a “sitting duck”. Such vessels are slow, with small, unarmed crews and low freeboards, which make them easy to board. And with a flammable cargo, the threat of a missile would have been enough to persuade the captain to throw down a ladder. Nor do crews usually put up a fight. They know that ship-owners will probably pay the ransom – expected to be $10m in the case of the Sirius Star.
The ship joins at least 14 others currently being held ransom by Somali pirates, a “by-product of the murderous anarchy” that has enveloped Somalia for decades, says Michael Burleigh in the Daily Mail. There have been 92 attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden, netting the pirates more than £20m. The cash has allowed them to “stock up on more impressive hardware and maritime equipment”, helping them raise their game, says Simon Edge in the Daily Express. Pirates used to lure ships into shore using fake distress signals: now they can seize ships far out to sea. The Sirius Star was 450 miles off the coast of Kenya.
Insurance premiums for ships passing through the Gulf of Aden have risen tenfold in recent months, says Henley. This will be passed onto the consumer, as will the increased cost of diverting vessels around Africa’s west coast, if it comes to that. Egypt’s economy will also be hit if ships start avoiding the Suez Canal. Then there are the reported links between pirates and Islamic terrorists, and fears a ship could be used as a “giant floating bomb”, says Burleigh. Yet no solution is forthcoming. Policing two and a half million square miles of ocean is nigh-on impossible; arming crews is controversial. The author of a book on modern-day piracy, John Burnett, believes the only long-term solution will be a “stable and bona fide” government in Somalia.