Monday, June 25, 2007

The Danica White Runs Out of Food and Water

The latest word on the Danica White, via al-Reuters:

The Danica WhiteA Danish cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates earlier this month has run out of food and fresh water at sea, a Kenyan maritime official said on Monday.

The MV Danica White and its five Danish crew members were carrying building materials from Dubai to Kenya when it was seized off Somalia in the world’s most dangerous waterway.

“The news we are getting is that food has run out in that ship and there is no water,” said Andrew Mwangura, director of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.

The vessel’s generator had apparently broken down, Mwangura told Reuters, so its water purification equipment also failed.

Now Reuters puts forth what has become the standard MSM refrain about Somalia since Ethiopia and the United States collaborated to push out the Islamists last winter:
- - - - - - - - - -
Such attacks have increased since a Somali Islamist movement that brought a semblance of order for six months was ousted in January.

“A semblance of order”, eh?

Just a reminder: the “semblance of order” involved the amputation of limbs, the banning of music, the mandatory wearing of the hijab for women, and the use of twelve-year-old boys as executioners to slit the throats of blasphemers and apostates.

That’s what Reuters considers “order”.

Mussolini may have been a bit of a bully, but, hey — he made the trains run on time.

5 comments:

shoprat said...

"some semblance of order"

Maybe they would like that order in their hometown. Or maybe the pirates are the ones who brought that order.

A_Nonny_Mouse said...

I can't believe there aren't any mercenary types willing to make their fortunes by escorting merchant ships thru these pirate-infested waters. And just think how soul-satisfying it would be to send a boatload or two of these scum straight to Davy Jones.

Kirk Parker said...

Patrick,

I'm sure there are plenty of folks who would jump at the opportunity, but where would you home port such a vessel in this century of ninnies and nannies?

Yorkshireminer said...

The point is that loses like this are bearable because piracy wont be included in the Lloyd's insurance policy. The policy will have some act of God type cop out clause. The other point to make is that if there isn't a cop out clause losses to pirates will be minimal when they show up on the books at the end of the year in the losses account. 750,000 pounds Euros dollars call it what you is nothing compared with what Lloyd's would have to pay out if say a maesk moller supper container ship was sunk or taken by pirates. That is certainly not going to happen, no rubber boat if crewed by baboons could scale 10 meters of the slab sides of an 80,000 ton super container ship travelling at 20 knots. The captain is not going to stop even if he wanted too, he needs 20 miles of sea in front of him just to stop. A fire hose, and a hour of full steam ahead will get him out of danger.

These attacks are opportunistic on small tramp steamers with a free board of perhaps 2 meters when fully loaded and with a small crew to keep down costs, steaming at perhaps between 12 and 14 knots to save fuel because profit margin's are low. Fast cheap inflatables with a crew of perhaps twenty armed with Kalashnikov's have a decided advantage. The captains will have been told to offer no resistance, to do so could mean that his crew would be killed. The Danes will most likely pay up and go the long way round the next time, a couple of hundred miles farther out from the coast out of the range of these inflatable would keep his ship free from such piracy.

The bit about running short of water is mostly likely a ploy to put pressure on the ship owners. The ship owners are most likely trying to drag the whole affair out, trying to get the Danish Government to put pressure on the so called Somali Government. They are thinking in European terms. I see no real danger to the crew as this is an economic crime and not a political crime. They are in it for the money, they have every incentive to make sure that they are safe a well cared for. This will run for a few more weeks, in the end the crew will be released along with the ship after the agreed ransom has been paid.

What to do afterwards, I suspect that nothing will be done. The Danish Ship owners will put it down to experience take the necessary precautions, and write it down to experience

The international community will do nothing, the cost of doing something will out way the cost of doing nothing. It will be impossible to bring the perpetrators to book, and the cost of a trial would be exorbitant, let sleeping dogs lie will be the order of the day.

What should be done, personally I would like to see the harbor and all the installations destroyed. The port is most likely the main base for this warlord, who most certainly take a cut from the harbor dues. Hitting a man in the pocket and not in his testicle gets his attention. A deniable attack during the night with cruise missiles or seals that makes the harbor useless for months on end would put a stop to this nonsense.

I personally would like to see us pay the Israeli's to do it, they need some firing practice with the new dolphin class submarines they now have in commission. They have bought three from Germany with enlarged torpedo tubes for firing cruise missiles. What better way of giving them some firing practice so they can iron the bugs out of the system. They will certainly know that they work when they fit them with some of those miniaturized atomic bombs they have stored in the Negev. It might be a bit more expensive but it would kill two birds with one stone.

Mikael said...

Yorkshireminer,

Exactly. These pirates are common criminals, there's nothing jihadism in all of this.

Negotiations are underway, the ship and its crew will be released when the pirates gets their Greens. End of a sad story.