Pirates attack two Indian vessels

The Directorate General of Shipping received information that two Indian vessels have been hijacked by pirates in December. The pirates had taken control of “Lakshmi Sager” on December 11, 2009 for use as a mother ship. “Lakshmi Sagar” was located in position Latitude 06 degrees 51 mins. North Longitude 051 degrees 05 mins. East (450 nautical miles north east of Mogadishu and 90 nautical miles from the Somali coast). There were several armed Somalian observed on board with the standard assortment of weapons including rocket propelled grenades. It was reported that the dhow was heading for Socotra in order to act as a mother ship for a pirate action group.

The Directorate General of Shipping immediately contacted all international and national agencies dealing with hijacking of ships and the All India Sailing Vessels Association for confirmation of the information. The shipping fraternity employing Indian seafarers was also alerted accordingly.

Contact was established with the owner on December 14, 2009 who confirmed telephonically that the vessel was released two days ago. He reported that the crew members were all safe.

On December 21, 2009 the Directorate received a ship security alert from the Indian flagged crude oil tanker M.T. “Maharaja Agrasen” at 2246 hrs. The owners contacted the Directorate and informed that the vessel was under attack by eight unlit pirate boats in position Latitude 17 degrees 11 mins. North Longitude 66 degrees 05 mins. East in the Arabian sea about 366 nautical miles west of Ratnagiri. The vessel, with 41 Indian crewmembers was on a loaded passage with 134715 metric tonnes crude oil from Min Al Ahmadi (Kuwait) bound for Visakhapatnam.

The Directorate initiated immediate action and passed on the information to the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy. The vessel was contacted on the phone and it was ascertained that the pirates had not been able to board the vessel due to the evasive manoeuvres by the vessel. The Directorate was in regular contact with the vessel and the owner’s representative by telephone. The owners ordered the vessel to head direct for the Indian Coast.

On December 22, 2009 at 0025 hrs, information was received that the nearest boat was about 4 nautical miles from the vessel. At 0247 hrs. the Directorate received an update from the vessel that no boat was following the vessel and anti piracy measures were being taken. No injury or damage has been reported. The vessel was now proceeding to Visakhapatnam.

Greek-owned Cargo Ship To Be Freed In Somalia

A Greek shipowning company said it had paid a ransom to Somali pirates holding one of its freighters for the past seven months, and the ship's release was expected later December 10, 2009.Athens-based Alloceans Shipping declined to specify the sum paid, but a man claiming to be speaking for the pirates said it was $2.8 million.The Maltese-flagged Ariana was seized May 1 southwest of the Seychelles islands, carrying a cargo of soya from Brazil to Iran.Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said the Ariana's Ukrainian crew of 24 was released Thursday. "A Ukrainian plane will take them to Ukraine very soon," Yushchenko said in a statement.Alloceans Shipping general manager Spyros Minas said the seamen were in good health."We are waiting for the pirates to leave the ship," Minas told The Associated Press. "We hope it will set sail December 11, 2009."In the Somali coastal town of Hobyo, a self-proclaimed pirate who gave his name as Ahmed Gedi said his group had been paid $2.8 million to free the Ariana. It was not possible to independently verify the amount of ransom paid."After we check and count it, we will leave the ship and free it," Gedi told the AP on the phone.Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday that pirates have released the 24 Ukrainian sailors from the ship Ariana help captive since May 2, 2009. "A Ukrainian plane will take them to Ukraine very soon," Yushchenko said in a statement.

IME – MERI technical paper competition

Institute of Marine Engineers India (IMEI) and Marine Engineering & Research Institute (MERI), has been jointly conducting Technical Paper Competition for cadets from Marine Engineering institutes under Maharashtra region since 2005 to encourage them to showcase their talent. The 5th edition of the competition was held this year on December 01, 2009. Cadets from MERI, Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune and Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, Lonawala participated in the event. Around six papers were received and upon evaluation of the manuscripts by three judges namely Mr. Suboth Kumar, Mr. T. S. Girish & Mr. Shirish Kumar, Four papers were selected for final presentation at a ceremony held at MERI. Shri R. C. Mahajan - Vice Chairman of I.M.E., Shri Rajeev Nayyer - Honorable Secretary of I.M.E. and Shri Manoj Ballabh were the Judges for the final presentation.

Mr. Rajeeva Prakash - Deputy Director, MERI while welcoming the guests expressed his gratitude and appreciation to all those involved in starting Technical Paper Competition for the cadets.

Mr. M.V. Ramamurthy - President of IMEI graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and gave away the prizes. Shri Kamal Kumar - Chairman of IMEI, Shri R.C. Mahajan and Shri Rajeev Nayyer graced the occasion and encouraged the cadets.

The paper presented by the Cadet Ajey S. Tanwar (B.Sc.-108), Cadet Ankit K. Singh (B.Sc.-118), Cadet Vibhav P. Sharma (B.Sc.-119), Cadet Varun Paliwal (B.Sc.-120) and Cadet Brijendra Singh (B.Sc.-122) from MERI was awarded 1st prize for their topic Ballast water management to prevent pollution. Cadet Akshay Sehgal (G-1945) and Cadet Yash Jain (G-1995) from MERI was awarded 2nd prize for their topic Reduction of SOx and NOx with development of new Marine Diesel Engine (2 stroke). Cadet Ibrahim Nibil C. and Cadet Deepali Kulkarni from Tolani Maritime were awarded 3rd Prize for their topic Hull Protection - A Challenge to coat ship’s hull with non pollutant paints and a group comprising of Cadet Somnath Chatterjee, Cadet Manmath Subudhi, Cadet Savtanter Saini and Cadet Santosh G. from Samundra was awarded the 4th Prize and their topic was Control of NOx & Sox new developments in diesel engines ( 2-Stroke).

Shri Rajeev Nayer summarized the presentations. Shri Kamal Kumar while addressing the cadets appreciated the efforts made by the cadets and promised support to the institute in future also. Shri Ramamurthy, Chief Guest of the occasion praised the cadets for their knowledge and participation spirit. He also the appreciated the services rendered by MERI cadets during WMTC seminar held at Mumbai. The Chief Guest and dignitaries on the dias distributed the certificates to the prize winning cadets and also participation certificates to the other cadets who participated in the seminar. Mr. Ramamurthy personally distributed certificates to cadets who participated WMTC seminar.