Merchant Mariners

www.abcactionnews.com -- (NAPLES, FL.) It had to be a very scary situation for the 4 man crew of a tugboat just off the coast by Naples as their tug started to sink. The crew from Jacksonville was towing a barge down the west coast of Florida when they started taking on water. READ MORE

www.reuters.com -- UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) - The head of the International Maritime Organization warned on Thursday of "a series of negative repercussions" if ships have to reroute round southern Africa to avoid piracy in the Gulf of Aden.One of the world's biggest shippers, Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Thursday it was sending some tankers around the Cape of Good Hope. A major tanker association, Intertanko, said many others were following suit. READ MORE

www.bloomberg.com -- Somali pirates are demanding $25 million in ransom to release an oil-laden Saudi supertanker seized off the East African coast , and called on the ship's owners to pay up ``soon.'' ``What we want from this ship is only 25 million dollars because we always charge according to the quality of the ship and the value of the product,'' a pirate who identified himself as Abdi Salan, one of the hijacking gang, said in a phone interview from Harardhare. READ MORE

The Wall Street Journal -- On Saturday off the coast of East Africa, pirates seized its largest catch ever: a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker called the Sirius Star. The brazen attack came on the heels of the capture of a Ukrainian vessel (loaded with armaments destined for Kenya) by Somali pirates in September. Humanitarian food shipments into Somalia have had naval escort for nearly a year -- evidence of how much the security of sea lanes has eroded. Media reports suggest that Somali pirates have already attacked more than 80 ships in 2008. READ MORE

www.dailyrecord.co.uk -- A NORWEGIAN shipping group have ordered their 90 tankers to sail all the way around Africa to avoid the risk of attack by Somali pirates. They will no longer take the Suez Canal shortcut through the Gulf of Aden, adding thousands of miles and many days to each voyage. Odfjell SE said they made the decision after pirates seized the Saudi Arabian supertanker MV Sirius Star - which holds £66million worth of crude oil - off Kenya. READ MORE

www.sootoday.com -- (CLEVELAND, OH) The Ninth Coast Guard District will commence Operation Big Tow within the Great Lakes area of responsibility to ensure commercial tugs are compliant with rules, regulations and licensing procedures. The Coast Guard is conducting Operation Big Tow as a continuous safety message to the maritime industry community. READ MORE

BBC News -- A Saudi oil tanker hijacked in the Indian Ocean is believed to have anchored off the coast of Somalia, its operators have said. Vela International said that all 25 crew were believed to be safe. The Sirius Star is the biggest tanker ever hijacked, with a cargo of 2m barrels - a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output - worth more than $100m. READ MORE

 

(CNN) -- Pirates in the Arabian Sea have hijacked a Saudi-owned oil tanker with 25 crew aboard, the U.S. Navy and the British Foreign Office confirmed on Monday. The Sirius Star -- a crude "super tanker" flagged in Liberia and owned by the Saudi Arabian-based Saudi Aramco company -- was attacked on Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, the statement said. The crew include British, Croatian, Polish, Filippino and Saudi nationals. READ MORE

www.seattletimes.com -- (OLYMPIA) It has been a World War II Navy tug, a U.S. Coast Guard rescue ship and an oceangoing commercial tug in its 64-year history at sea. Now it's a veritable floating maritime museum, owned by a nonprofit group, anchored in lower Budd Inlet and looking for a permanent home. READ MORE