NAIROBI, Kenya — Crews on oil tankers aren’t allowed to smoke above deck, much less carry guns, for fear of igniting the ship’s payload. That’s one of the main reasons Somali pirates met little resistance Sunday when they hijacked a U.S.- bound supertanker carrying $20 million in crude.
The Greek-flagged tanker — traveling from Saudi Arabia to New Orleans — had no escort when it was hijacked because naval warships are stretched too thin. The problem has been further exacerbated because pirates have expanded operations to hundreds of miles out at sea.
The hijacking, one year after seizure of a Saudi supertanker led to heightened efforts to fight piracy off the Horn of Africa, has highlighted the difficulty of keeping ships safe in the region — particularly oil tankers.
The Maran Centaurus was about 800 miles off the coast of Somalia when it was hijacked with 28 crew members, said Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force. On Monday, it was headed toward Somalia’s lawless coast, where pirates most likely will hold the vessel as they try to negotiate a ransom.
While some ships traveling in the region have been outfitted with high-pressure water guns and piercing noisemakers to repel pirates, even this is shunned on oil tankers for fear of triggering a response from pirates armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
There is also the threat that an accident or gunfight could lead to a leak that would devastate thousands of miles of ocean or coastline.
The seizure will have a minimal effect on global oil markets, said Ben Cahill, the petroleum risk manager at global oil consultancy PFC Energy.
Hijacked vessel
Ship: Maran Centaurus
Route: Saudi Arabia to New Orleans
Cargo: 275,000 metric tons of crude, worth just over $20 million
Crew: 9 Greeks, 16 Filipinos, 2 Ukrainians, 1 Romanian
Where it was hijacked: 800 miles off Somali coast
