MV ALPHA KIRAWIRA escorted by FS SURCOUF

On the 20th of January, EUNAVFOR Warship FS SURCOUF  successfully completed the escort of AMISOM chartered cargo vessel ALPHA KIRAWIRA, Sierra Leone flagged, from MOGADISHU to MOMBASA.

FS SURCOUF met MV ALPHA KIRAWIRA at sea on the 17th of January, off the coast of Mogadishu. The MV on leaving the port sailed south along the coast under the close protection of the EUNAVFOR ship. The three day journey passed without incident but SURCOUF crewmembers remained vigilant and ready to face any possible threat during the transit.

EUNAVFOR SOMALIA Operation ATALANTA main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

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Navarra escorting Alpha Kirawira

EU NAVFOR successfully escorted MV ALPHA KIRAWIRA from Mombasa (Kenya) to Mogadishu (Somalia). MV ALPHA KIRAWIRA, Sierra Leone flagged RoRo vessel, chartered by UNSOA (United Nations Support Office for AMISOM), left Mombasa on December 31st where she met EU NAVFOR warship ESPS NAVARRA and made her way to Mogadishu.

Another EU NAVFOR warship, FS CDT L’HERMINIER, took over the escort during the transit and handed her over to AMISOM just prior to the entrance to the port of Mogadishu. The cargo vessel is capable of delivering up to 1,800 deadweight tonnage in cargo and has a capacity of 1,500 cubic meters  of liquid cargo.

With this successful escort EU NAVFOR accomplished one of it’s  main tasks: to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid to Somalia. EU NAVFOR SOMALIA Operation ATALANTA’s other main tasks are to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

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Though the first priority for the European Union Naval Force ships in Operation Atalanta is the protection of World Food Programme (WFP) vessels delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia, they also support infrastructural measures to increase the capability and capacity of Mogadishu Port.

In the morning hours of August 10th a fleet of six small vessels started its journey of roughly 500 nautical miles (approx. 930 kilometers) from Mombasa in Kenya to one of the main destinations for WFP shipments: Mogadishu Port. The EU NAVFOR ship BRANDENBURG accompanied them to ensure their safe arrival.

What made this escort special was the extremely slow speed, of about four knots (approx. seven km per hour), that the two tugs SOLSTAR and SOLAND were able to tow the massive freight in the environment of southwest monsoon, with strong winds and high waves. Without the presence of a warship ready to counter any pirate attack these vessels would have been like sitting ducks under these circumstances. After a transit lasting one week the small fleet was handed over safely to Mogadishu Port Security and was assigned another tug to cope with the strong current off Mogadishu.

Piers in Mogadishu Port urgently need repairs to be used again as berthing space for WFP shipments. So a Japanese sponsor contracted the ALPHA Group in Mombasa to send a large excavator and barges with tons of building material to Mogadishu Port to facilitate the repairs.

JAIPUR in front of Moqdisho - EU-Bags with Grain in JAIPUR´s hold

14.000 tons of food have been delivered successfully to the starving people of Somalia from Mombasa, Kenya to Moqdisho in order to prevent the predicted famine in Somalia.

The humanitarian aid shipping, conducted by the merchant ship JAIPUR, was arranged by order and for account of the World Food Programme of the United Nations.

During the several day lasting journey the vessel was escorted by the European Union Naval Force warship FGS RHEINLAND-PFALZ, a German Navy frigate. This frigate is operating off the coasts of Somalia since February this year and is part of the EU led Operation Atalanta.

MARQUES DE LA ENSENADA in company with MSC MELODY

An attempt to pirate a 36,000 tonnes Italian cruise liner was successfully repelled last night after the vessel took evasive action to avoid the hijacking. Approximately 1500 passengers and crew are on board, none of whom were injured in the attack. The incident took place in the Indian Ocean some 500 miles east of Mogadishu and 200 miles north of the Seychelles and vessels are warned to stay away from this area for fear of further attacks.

The Op Atalanta Spanish warship SPS MARQUES DE LA ENSENADA will rendezvous with the liner later this morning to accompany her as she transits north to the Gulf of Aden.

FGS SPESSART refuelling at Sea

Two German ships from NATO have joined Op Atalanta in the Gulf of Aden this week; the frigate FGS EMDEN and the tanker FGS SPESSART. The vessels have been detached from NATO’s Standing Naval Maritime Group One (SNMG1) which is on deployment to the Far East and are expected to remain under EU NAVFOR’s command until the end of April.

This weekend another German warship, the FGS RHEINLAND-PFALZ will escort EU NAVFOR’s 19^th World Food Program shipment into Mogadishu. This will bring the total tonnage delivered to Somalia to over 120,000 – enough to feed over 2 million displaced people every day since Op Atalanta was established last December.

Last weekend the EU NAVFOR French ship FS FLOREAL was involved in recovering a large skiff that was stranded in the Gulf of Aden carrying approximately 100 refugees. The warship assisted those onboard with humanitarian aid and towed the vessel to the Port of Aden to be handed over to the Yemeni coastguard and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

In a separate operation the French Warship FS GEORGES LEYGUES, which is temporarily attached to EU NAVFOR, rescued the crew from the 4,000 tonne MV Sibley 1 which caught fire and sank 350 miles off the coast of Tanzania on Saturday. The 31 man crew were then transferred to the FS JEANNE D’ ARC, which is also attached to EU NAVFOR and currently en route to Djibouti.

HMS NORTHUMBERLAND

The Op Atalanta warship NORTHUMBERLAND (UK) is this week escorting four different World Food Program (WFP) ships into three different Somali ports. Thus far two ships have arrived safely in Mogadishu and Bosaso with a further two expected in Berbera over this weekend.

Escorting WFP ships is a principle task for Op Atalanta and so far almost 40,000 tonnes of aid have been delivered into Somalia – enough to feed over 1.2 million people.

Soon to join Op Atalanta is the Spanish frigate SPS VICTORIA, arriving in the Gulf of Aden early next week. She is a Spanish warship of the USN OLIVER HAZARD PERRY (FFG-7) design and carries two Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters onboard.

The German frigate KARLSRUHE is being relieved by its sister ship RHEINLAND-PFALZ this weekend and a handover ceremony will take place in Djibouti to mark the occasion.

Commander (GE) Hans-Joachim Kuhfahl, commanding officer of the KARLSRUHE had this to say as their deployment draws to a close.

“It has been a great privilege to be part of Operation Atalanta. All the ship’s company have found the deployment very rewarding as they have clearly seen the value of what they are doing. Protecting the merchant fleet has had a real benefit to global trade and we have had a very positive response from all the merchant vessels we have worked with over the past few months”,

Finally, 7 vessels now remain held under pirate control along with approximately 120 crew members.

Spanish Warship SPS VICTORIA

Spanish Warship SPS VICTORIA

The Spanish Parliament is expected to announce the contribution of a warship to the Op ATALANTA taskforce after voting in the motion yesterday.

Defence Minister Carme Chacon said “a frigate and a supply ship with 200 Spanish troops aboard would leave for the Gulf of Aden, after the Cabinet gives final approval on Friday”.

The vessel chosen is the SANTA MARIA-Class frigate SPS VICTORIA (F82), commanded by Commander Fernando Poole SN, which will sail from the Spanish Naval Headquarters in Rota, near Cadiz, this weekend.

The 4,000 tonne warship’s armaments include a 76mm gun, anti-ship missiles and two Lamps helicopters.

In other news the UK frigate NORTHUMBERLAND successfully escorted the 8,000 tonne World Food Program Vessel the MV JAIKUR II into Mogadishu early this morning.

HMS NORTHUMBERLAND, who joined the EU Anti Piracy Operation Atalanta last weekend, left Mombasa in company with MV SEMLOW last Sunday morning to escort her the 500 nautical miles, along the Somali coastline where piracy attacks are a regular occurrence.

On arrival the ship’s Commanding Officer, Commander Martin Simpson, stated “It has been a huge privilege to carry out a mission that brings so much tangible relief and benefit to the people of Somalia. The food that the MV SEMLOW carries is vital and we are pleased it has arrived safely at its destination. Asked whether he was concerned about being confronted by heavily armed pirates. Dealing with piracy is something that NORTHUMBERLAND has been actively involved in for some months, and the ship’s company are ready for any eventuality. There can be no better or more worthwhile task than supporting the safe and timely delivery of food aid to this war-torn and neglected country”.

Notes to Editors

1. HMS NORTHUMBERLAND is a T23 Frigate built at Swan Hunter’s on the Tyne in North East England and launched in 1992.  Although primarily an anti-submarine warship, the ship has a wide range of capabilities.  Propelled by 2 Spey Gas turbines for sprinting, and 4 diesel engines for cruising speeds, displacing 4800 tonnes, she is 133 metres long with a top speed of approximately 28 knots and is armed with a variety of missile, torpedo and gun systems.

2.  HMS NORTHUMBERLAND has been away from the UK for almost 3 months now and will not return for at least a further 3 months.  The ship has previously been operating in the area as part of Combined Task Force 150, a group of coalition warships whose aim is to ensure lawful maritime order in and around this region.  Whilst the issue of piracy in the waters around Somalia is a major focus, the ship has also had an important role in deterring the smuggling of drugs, illegal weapons, and the brutal trade of human trafficking.