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Hong Kong grain ship hijacked by Somali pirates
BEIJING - A Hong Kong ship loaded with wheat bound for Iran was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, maritime officials said, the latest raid in the Horn of Africa's perilous waters. The Delight, with 25 crew members on board, was captured off the Yemen coast at around 0600 GMT and is currently sailing towards Somalia, an official at Hong Kong's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre told Reuters by telephone.

"We know the ship is going to somewhere in Somalia," said the official. "We are in contact with the company security officer who is in contact with the ship," he added, but said he did not know of any ransom or other demands.

Using larger "mother ships" to increase their reach, the heavily armed pirates usually pull up on either side of a target in speedboats and board, firing guns or even rocket-propelled grenades just over the bridge if the captain tries to escape.

Ship owners are negotiating ransoms in most cases, with crew released unharmed. But the heightened risk means insurance premiums are rocketing.
And the bad guys use the loot to buy better guns, boats and tracking equipment, so that they can hijack more ships.
And some carriers are now taking the long route around the southern tip of Africa, rather than the Suez Canal, pushing up the cost of commodities at a time of global uncertainty.

The Delight was the third ship sailing under a Hong Kong flag alone to be seized in the area this autumn. "We have now a total of two Hong Kong vessels held by Somali pirates, and one has been released," the official at the Maritime Rescue Centre said. The crew members on the Delight are from Iran, Pakistan, Indian, the Philippines and Guyana, the official said. They were carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat to Iran's Bandar Abbas port.
Posted by: Steve White 2008-11-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=255492