Great Film but genuine concern?

Last night I noticed one of my favourite films ‘Captain Phillips’ was on and I can never resist watching it!  Anything involving sailing interests me. The film is based on the true story of the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, an incident during which merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage by pirates in the Indian Ocean. The route was to sail through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, round the Horn of Africa, but this means you have sail along the coast of Somalia, a known haven for pirates.  In 2009, British holidaymakers on a round-the-world cruise came under attack from pirates on Fred Olsen’s Balmoral.  The cruise ship was forced to zigzag to evade the pirates as they gave chase in two small craft in the notoriously dangerous waters off Somalia.The attack was only averted by the intervention of a U.S. Navy ship which escorted the cruise vessel through the perilous Gulf of Aden.   In 2008 the Oceania Nautica was fired at during its 32-day voyage from Rome to Singapore.  The ship was approached by two small skiffs which fired several shots, no one was harmed and no damage was sustained…..but very worrying if you were onboard!

On top of this most recently tensions are rising between the UK and Iran after The Stena Impero oil tanker was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Friday in a key shipping route in the Gulf.  It shows masked forces dropping down ropes onto the ship from a helicopter after it was surrounded by high-speed vessels.

A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Montrose, was alerted and raced to intervene, as it did – successfully – with another British-flagged tanker just over a week ago.

But this time it was too far away to stop the Stena Impero being seized – the tanker was already in Iranian waters.  In the winter there are many cruise lines in that area offering customers a bit of winter sunshine but I wonder what plans are in place to protect these ships.  WIll the UK and US base more ships in that area for protection?  Will the tensions escalate and force changes to itineraries…..who knows.  P&O, Royal Caribbean, Marella, MSC, Costa, all have ships based out of Dubai during the winter.  Should the UK position more Navy ships in that are to protect our interests??

I’m just intrigued by the topic,  I’m not in anyway trying to scare anyone, just interested in your thoughts.  Are there certain itineraries you want to do whatever the risk. Does the risk of pirates etc put you off?  In reality the interception of a cruise ship is quite rare. The Gulf of Aden is patrolled by anti-piracy forces, also the size of cruise ships means that it can be difficult to board them from smaller vessels. When threatened, some liners possess long-range acoustic devices, which emit high frequency noise, to deter potential attackers. I must underline that cruising is one of the safer ways to travel. Of course most cruise lines have switched routes to avoid pirates, with so many cruise itineraries to choose from, avoiding pirate-infested waters is easy.  There are some stunning itineraries out there and the cruise lines first priority is of course your safety.

Great film, interesting topic – let me know your thoughts or have you been on a ship in this area?

Take care everyone!

Haydn