33 replies to this topic

[Barry McCrindle]

From the BBC news site

Quote

A cargo ship with a Russian crew has disappeared off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean, the Russian maritime journal Sovfracht reports.
It says contact with the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea vessel, with a crew of 13, was lost on 28 July.
Russia's navy and and security services are trying to locate the ship.
The same vessel was boarded by armed men in the Baltic Sea on 24 July. The attackers later left without taking any money or valuables, Sovfracht says.
It adds that the vessel - which was reportedly carrying timber - was due to arrive at an Algerian port on 4 August.
Arctic Sea was built in 1991 and is operated by a firm based in Russia's northern city of Arkhangelsk, Sovfracht says.

[Barry McCrindle]

Seems very strange Steve, as she will have been fitted with EPIRB and everything else, maybe something missing from the story, no doubt something will develop

[Barry McCrindle]

[Barry McCrindle]

From BBC news Site

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A search is under way for a cargo ship which may have travelled through the English Channel after apparently being hijacked by pirates.
Coastguards fear the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, carrying 15 Russian crew, was hijacked in the Baltic sea.
UK authorities made contact before it entered the Strait of Dover but the Russian navy told the Itar-Tass agency it was now looking for the ship.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the situation was "bizarre".
Spokesman Mark Clark said: "Who would think that a hijacked ship could pass through one of the most policed and concentrated waters in the world?
"It seems strange to think that a ship which had been hijacked was passing along the channel along with ships carrying day-trippers going over to Calais for the day."
'Extremely curious'
Hijackers may have been coercing the ship's crew when they made radio contact with coastguards at Dover on 28 July, the MCA fears.
Reports say Swedish authorities were told by the Finnish shipping line operating the 3,988-tonne cargo ship that it was boarded by up to 10 armed men claiming to be anti-drugs police as it sailed through the Baltic sea on July 24.

It could well be that a crew member had a gun put to his head 
Mark Clark
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
The intruders apparently left the vessel - which was carrying about £1m worth of sawn timber from Finland to Algeria - 12 hours later on an inflatable boat after damaging the Arctic Sea's communications equipment.
But on 3 August, Interpol told Dover Coastguard that the crew had been hijacked in the Baltic Sea and asked UK authorities to be alert as the vessel passed through the channel.
By then the ship had already left the Strait of Dover and was last recorded off the coast of Brest, northern France, just before 0130 BST on 30 July.
The MCA said it was told the vessel had seemingly been spotted subsequently by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft but its current location was unknown.
Mr Clark said the person on board whom coastguards had spoken to had told them the ship was due to arrive in Bejaia, northern Algeria, on 4 August at 2300 BST.
He added: "There is no coastguard I know who can remember anything like this happening.
"There didn't seem anything suspicious when contact was made. It could well be that a crew member had a gun put to his head by a hijacker when contact was made, but who knows?
"We are extremely curious to find out what could have happened to this vessel."
'No different'
World leaders have become increasingly concerned about pirates operating off the coast of Somalia.
But Nick Davis, who runs the private security firm Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions, told the BBC's Today programme that the relatively low value of the cargo suggested this was a different kind of piracy to that seen off the coast of East Africa.
Instead, he suggested, it was more likely that the apparent seizure was the result of a "commercial dispute" in which one party had decided to "take matters into their own hands".
He added: "Piracy is piracy - if someone's wanting to take that vessel, and they're not authorised, and they use a speedboat to go and get it, then it's no different to what the Somalis do.
"However, I don't believe they would have boarded that vessel firing weapons in the air, and threatening to kill the crew.
"Whilst it is piracy, it's not like what we know in Somalia."
Russian authorities have said they have been assessing the situation and Navy vessels have been notified, according to Itar-Tass.
Vladimir Kochurov, deputy head of the Arkhangelsk regional administration's transport department, told the agency that there was "scarce information" about the Arctic Sea.
He added: "Security services are holding the investigation.
"Meanwhile, the regional administration is ready for rapid reaction in case the situation clarifies. We will give assistance to the crew."

[Barry McCrindle]

[quote]Russia's navy has been deployed to find a ship reportedly hijacked three weeks ago in the Baltic Sea.
Up to five vessels - reported to include nuclear submarines - will be involved in the search for the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, the navy confirmed.
It has a 15-strong Russian crew and was reportedly taking timber worth $1.5m (£900,000) from Finland to Algeria when it was boarded by gunmen on 24 July.
The Arctic Sea was last sighted off the north coast of France on 30 July.
British authorities say the 4,000-tonne vessel may have been spotted subsequently by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft, but its current location remains unknown.
Maltese authorities have said it is unlikely to be in the Mediterranean.
Click here for a map charting sightings of the Arctic Sea
"It would appear that the ship has not approached the Straits of Gibraltar, which indicates that the ship is headed out into the Atlantic Ocean," the Malta Maritime Authority said in a statement.
The Portuguese Navy too has said that the missing cargo ship has not passed through Portuguese waters.
Massive search
Russian naval commander Adm Vladimir Vysotsky told Itar-Tass news agency that all Russian navy ships in the Atlantic had joined the search for the vessel.

There didn't seem anything suspicious when contact was made. It could well be that a crew member had a gun put to his head 
Mark Clark
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Operations will be centred on the patrol ship Ladny, which is part of Russia's Black Sea fleet.
UK authorities, which made contact with the Arctic Sea before it entered the busy shipping waters of the English channel, described the situation as "bizarre".
"Who would think that a hijacked ship could pass through one of the most policed and concentrated waters in the world?" said Mark Clark of the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
"There didn't seem anything suspicious when contact was made," he added. "It could well be that a crew member had a gun put to his head by a hijacker when contact was made."
The Finnish shipping line operating the ship reportedly said it was boarded by up to 10 armed men claiming to be anti-drugs police as it sailed through the Baltic Sea on 24 July.
But the intruders are reported to have left the vessel 12 hours later on an inflatable boat, and it is unclear who is in current command of the ship.
Commercial dispute?
The Arctic Sea had been scheduled to dock in the Algerian port of Bejaia on 4 August.
While world leaders have become increasingly concerned about pirates operating off the coast of Somalia, maritime experts suggest the case of the Arctic Sea reflects a different kind of piracy.
Nick Davis, who runs the private security firm Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions, told the BBC that the relatively low value of the cargo suggested the ship's seizure may be the result of a "commercial dispute" in which one party had decided to "take matters into their own hands".
But he added: "Piracy is piracy - if someone's wanting to take that vessel, and they're not authorised, and they use a speedboat to go and get it, then it's no different to what the Somalis do."
Relatives of the Arctic Sea's 15 crew members - all of whom are said to come from the northern Russian port city of Arkhangelsk - have so far been unwilling to speak to the media./quote]

[Barry McCrindle]

From the BBC news site

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Russian navy ships are hunting in the Atlantic for a 4,000-tonne cargo ship that vanished more than two weeks ago, triggering an international mystery.
Observers have suggested the ship was hijacked, possibly because of a Russian commercial dispute.
The Maltese-flagged ship, the Arctic Sea, has a 15-strong Russian crew.
Carrying timber reportedly worth $1.8m (£1.1m), it sailed from Finland and had been scheduled to dock in the Algerian port of Bejaia on 4 August.
The ship was last sighted in the Bay of Biscay on 30 July, according to the Russian media.
Click here for a map charting sightings of the Arctic Sea
There were reports that the ship may have been spotted subsequently by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft, but a navy spokesman in Portugal said it had not passed through Portuguese waters.
Earlier in its voyage, the ship reported being boarded by up to 10 armed men as it sailed through the Baltic Sea on 24 July, but said the intruders left the vessel on an inflatable boat after 12 hours.
Malta's maritime authority said it had "not approached the Straits of Gibraltar, which indicates that the ship headed out in the Atlantic Ocean".
Unknown cargo?
Russian navy chief Adm Vladimir Vysotsky said there were five Russian warships and other vessels searching in the Atlantic.
"We have no concrete data on the location of the vessel as of the moment," he told Russian news agency Itar-Tass.
"All the information-intelligence systems of our armed forces, including the space-borne systems, the system of identification of sea vessels and others, have been calibrated to look for the missing ship," he added.

The longer it goes on, the more it looks like some sort of dispute between Russian interests 
David Osler
Lloyds List
A Russian diplomat said that Russia was "actively working through diplomatic channels with all interested sides".
Analysts have said that the ship is likely to have been seized, but have stressed that it is a highly unusual case that appears to have occurred in an area where there are not normally pirate attacks.
David Osler, who writes on maritime safety for the newspaper Lloyds List, said Swedish police had been investigating whether the disappearance of the ship was the result of a dispute between the ship's owner and another party.
"The longer it goes on, the more it looks like some sort of dispute between Russian interests," he told the BBC.
Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin, said the ship may have been boarded because it was carrying an valuable, unknown cargo.
"We have to remember that before loading in Finland the vessel stayed for two weeks in a shipyard in Kaliningrad," he told the Russia Today TV channel.
"It seems some third party didn't want this transit to be fulfilled so they made this situation highly sophisticated and very complicated."
But the head of the ship's operator, Nikolai Karpenkov, dismissed speculation that there might be a mystery cargo on board.
He told Itar-Tass that the ship had been checked when leaving Kaliningrad after repairs, and in Finland, where he said nothing illegal or suspicious had been found.

[Barry McCrindle]

Quote

It is a mystery that could grace the pages of a thriller novel.

A cargo ship carrying timber worth $1.8m (£1m) from Finland to Algeria is apparently briefly hijacked off the coast of Sweden before continuing its journey through the English Channel - and then disappears.

Nothing has been heard from the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea since its last recorded sighting on 30 July, and officials appear to have no idea where it could be.

If this event had occurred in the seas off east Africa, the finger would immediately have been pointed at Somalia's notorious pirates.

But the Arctic Sea disappeared while rounding the west coast of France, in what are considered to be the pirate-free shipping lanes of Europe.

And as a maritime hunt gets under way to find the 3,988-tonne vessel, speculation is rife over what might have led to the Arctic Sea's disappearance.

Was the ship carrying something other than timber, "something much more expensive and dangerous", as one expert put it?

Or is its disappearance down to some commercial dispute or even a quarrel between rival Russian mafia gangs, as other observers have suggested?

Pre-trip repairs

However, all the experts appear to agree that the ship could not have sunk, as floating wood or oil would have been seen by now. They also say this was no typical hijacking.

The Arctic Sea, carrying 15 Russian crew, left Finland on 23 July bound for the Algerian port of Bejaia.

“ It seems some third party didn't want this transit to be fulfilled so they made this situation highly sophisticated and very complicated ”
Mikhail Voitenko Editor of Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin
A day later, in the Baltic Sea, the ship was boarded by masked men who claimed to be Swedish anti-drugs police. They tied up the crew and searched the vessel, reportedly leaving about 12 hours later.

These events were reported to the Swedish police in a round-about way.

A police spokeswoman told the BBC that the ship's crew first alerted their shipping company to what had happened. The firm then informed Russian embassy officials in Finland, who contacted their counterparts in Sweden who informed the Swedish authorities.

The police spokeswoman would not comment on any alleged drug link to the ship, saying only that no line of inquiry could be ruled out.

But, while the true facts about what happened remain for now unknown, speculation about a Russian dispute that got out of hand is plausible, says David Osler who writes on maritime safety for Lloyds List.

"It doesn't look like it's a Somali-style hijack for ransom because there hasn't been a ransom demand," he told the BBC's Today programme.

"It doesn't look like it's the sort of theft of a high-value ship or high-value cargo… so the longer it goes on, the more it looks like some sort of dispute between Russian interests."

Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin, goes one further to suggest "the vessel was loaded secretly with something we don't know anything about".

He ruled out drugs or "illegal criminal cargo", adding: "I think it is something much more expensive and dangerous.

"It seems some third party didn't want this transit to be fulfilled so they made this situation highly sophisticated and very complicated," he told the Russia Today news channel.

He pointed out that the unknown cargo could have been loaded in Russia's Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, between Poland and Lithuania, where the ship underwent repairs before picking up its cargo in Finland.

The ship is operated by Helsinki-based Solchart Management, which is believed to be linked to the Russian firm Solchart Arkhangelsk. It is registered in Malta, under the name of a Russian company.

Calls to the head of Solchart in Finland, Viktor Matveyev, went unanswered, but there is no suggestion that either the firm or the crew knew or were involved in any illegal activity.

'Pretty much anywhere'

For now, there remain a lot of questions and few real answers.

Malta's maritime authority is leading the hunt for the ship. It said on Wednesday the ship had not tried to enter Gibraltar waters and so could be heading out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Russia has drafted in all its vessels in the Atlantic to help with the search.

Arctic Sea is equipped with an automatic tracking system, but this appears to have been either switched off or stopped working since its last signal on 30 July.

And where might the ship be now?

"It could be pretty much anywhere," says David Osler. "It's not a very fast ship so it can't have quite got as far as the Far East. But it could be near West Africa or South America."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.u...ope/8199766.stm

[mc stout]

I was thinking that too, steve. I'm sure the operating company would know that, They don't make any money carrying around fuel, usually enough to get from port to port and a bit of a reserve, strange story.

[Baskets16]

just heard it was found 500 miles of some islands

[Barry McCrindle]

From the BBC news site

Quote

Finnish police say a ransom demand has been made for a missing Russian-manned cargo vessel, the Arctic Sea.
The demand - which has not been confirmed as genuine - was put to the ship's Finnish owners, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation said.
A Finnish radio station said it had been told the 15 crew members' lives would be at risk if it was not paid.
Mystery surrounds the location of the Arctic Sea, last sighted in the Bay of Biscay on 30 July.
The 4,000-tonne Maltese-flagged vessel, which had been carrying timber, went off radar after passing through the English Channel.
A recent sighting off Africa's Cape Verde islands is still to be confirmed.
Click here for a map charting reported sightings of the Arctic Sea
There has been huge speculation over the reason for the ship's disappearance, ranging from pirates to a mafia dispute to a commercial quarrel.
The matter is being jointly investigated by Finnish, Maltese and Swedish police.

Radar contact with the Arctic Sea was lost after it left the English Channel
A Finnish police spokesman, Mikko Paatero, said he was unable at this stage to say whether the ransom demand made to the ship's owners, Solchart Management, was legitimate.
"The police cannot really speculate," he said. "We need to base our investigation on existing criminal reports, and in this case there are reports of hijacking and aggravated blackmail."
Markku Ranta-Aho, of the National Bureau of Investigation, told Finland's YLE national radio that the demand was for "a largish amount of money".
He said he would not give further details or say where the ship might be located for fear of endangering the crew.
Cape Verde officials say they think the ship is 400 nautical miles (740km) off one of the islands.
But the Russian ambassador to Cape Verde, Alexander Karpushin, said he had not been officially informed of any sighting and told Russia's RAI news agency the information was "not true".
A source linked to the Cape Verde coastguard told AFP news agency the Arctic Sea was outside its territorial waters.
The coastguard was informing maritime officials about the ship's movements, the source said, adding: "When the ship enters our jurisdiction, we will decide in consultation with our partners what actions to take."
Some reports have put the ship 400 nautical miles north of the Cape Verdean island of Sao Vicente.
French intelligence said it had found a ship matching the Arctic Sea's description in the area. The Portuguese military would not confirm one of its planes had flown over the vessel.
Last known contact
Carrying timber reportedly worth $1.8m (£1.1m), the Arctic Sea sailed from Finland and had been scheduled to dock in the Algerian port of Bejaia on 4 August.

It would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea 
Martin Selmayr
EU Commission

Speculation rife over missing ship
The crew reported being boarded by up to 10 armed men as the ship sailed through the Baltic Sea on 24 July, but the intruders were reported to have left the vessel on an inflatable boat after 12 hours.
There are also reports of the ship being attacked a second time off the Portuguese coast. However the ship's operators said they had no knowledge of the incident and Portugal said the ship was never in its territorial waters.
The last known contact with the crew was when the Arctic Sea reported to British maritime authorities as it passed through the Dover Strait.
On Friday, European Union Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr said: "From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea."

[Barry McCrindle]

From the BBC news site

Quote

Russia says it has found a missing cargo vessel near the Cape Verde islands and retrieved its Russian crew.
Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that the 15-strong crew had been taken on board a Russian vessel. They were in good condition, he said.
The last previous sighting of the Finnish-owned Arctic Sea was in the Bay of Biscay on 30 July.
On Saturday police in Finland said a ransom demand - which had not been confirmed as genuine - had been made.
There has been huge speculation over the reason for the ship's disappearance, ranging from pirates to a mafia dispute to a commercial quarrel.
The 4,000-tonne Maltese-flagged vessel went off radar after passing through the English Channel with its cargo of timber.
It was found early on Monday 300 miles (480 km) off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean, Tass news agency quoted Mr Serdyukov as telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"The crew have been transferred to another ship. They are being interrogated now in order to find out what happened," Mr Serdyukov said, according to the agency.

[restlesswave]

ha the russian navy dont fanny about-good stuff-i`d say them boys got a fair hammering when boris landed!

[Barry McCrindle]

From the BBC news site

Quote

A group that hijacked the Arctic Sea threatened to blow up the cargo ship if its demand for a ransom was not met, Russian defence ministry officials say.
The vessel's eight alleged hijackers and its 15-man crew were questioned aboard a Russian naval ship off the coast of West Africa.
The Arctic Sea was said to have gone missing on 30 July as it rounded the north-western corner of France.
But Maltese maritime authorities have said it "never disappeared".
Speculation about what happened to the ship has included suggestions of piracy, a mafia dispute, a commercial row, smuggling or trafficking.
Click here for a map charting reported sightings of the Arctic Sea
Correspondents say that despite the details given by Russian officials, the case is still laden with mysteries.
Carrying timber reportedly worth $1.8m (£1.1m), the 4,000-tonne Arctic Sea sailed from Finland and had been scheduled to dock in the Algerian port of Bejaia on 4 August.
'Continuously tracked'
Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov says the hijackers attacked on 24 July.
Once on board, they threatened the crew with guns and forced them to turn off navigational and tracking equipment and sail south, the defence minister said.



What happened to the Arctic Sea?
"Crewmembers confirm that the hijackers demanded a ransom and threatened to blow the ship up if their orders were not obeyed," an unnamed Russian defence ministry official was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Earlier reports said assailants had left the ship after 12 hours.
Four of the suspects are Estonian, two are Latvians and two Russians.
Moscow deployed vessels from its Atlantic fleet to find the Arctic Sea last week.
Russia said it reached the Maltese-flagged ship on Monday, 300 miles (480 km) off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.
The hijackers were armed but abandoned their weapons when stopped, Russian officials say.
But the Malta Maritime Authority said the Arctic Sea had been "continuously tracked" from the moment it was reported to have been hijacked until the Russian navy said it had taken the ship on Monday.
Maritime officials in Malta, Finland and Sweden had not wanted "to jeopardise the life and safety of the persons on board and the integrity of the ship", it said.
Last weekend, a multinational investigation was launched after police in Finland said a ransom demand had been made, while emphasising that they could not confirm its authenticity.