The six persons on board the Dhow said they were on the way back to Somalia from Yemen when their inboard engine broke down and they had been adrift now for 8 days. Evertsen supplied them with food, and a technician of Evertsen repaired the engine of the Dhow. After two hours they were en route to Somalia once more. The rescued crew was extremely grateful for the aid provided by the EU NAVFOR warship.

HNLMS Evertsen takes part in the EUNAVFOR mission Operation ATALANTA. The main tasks of Operation ATALANTA are to escort merchant vessels carrying food of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), the protection of vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

43 Rescued Somalis are leaving EVERTSEN towards Djibouti

In the afternoon of November 5th EU NAVFOR Netherlands warship HNLMS Evertsen handed over 43 Somali castaways to the UNHCR in the Republic of Djibouti.

The Somalis were rescued by Evertsen in the Gulf of Aden over a week ago having been abandoned by the driver of their boat who, with two accomplices, returned to Somalia in an accompanying boat.

See press release dated 24 Oct.

The 43 persons, including nine women and seven children (two of whom were infants) were abandoned by human smugglers in a skiff in the Gulf of Aden after an engine failure. When detected by EU NAVFOR warship Evertsen, during her counter piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, they had been adrift for two days. Because the engine was beyond repair and the weather deteriorating, they were taken on board Evertsen to ensure their safety.

43 rescued Somalis on their way in the Republic of Djibouti

In seeking a humanitarian solution to this particularly compelling situation, and in the spirit of regional burden sharing, UNHCR has welcomed the generous offer of the Republic of Djibouti to allow for the disembarkation of the group on its territory to determine their international protection needs by UNHCR.

HNLMS Evertsen takes part in the EUNAVFOR mission Operation ATALANTA. Whilst the rescued Somalis were on board she continued her task in Operation ATALANTA, protecting vulnerable shipping and deterring and disrupting piracy.

On 13 and 14 September the EU NAVFOR Belgian warship LOUISE-MARIE escorted the Mighty Servant 1, a 29,000-ton semi-submersible heavy-lift ship.

The LOUISE-MARIE, participating in the European Union Naval Force – Operation Atalanta, was tasked to escort the Mighty Servant 1, a 29,000-ton semi-submersible heavy-lift ship. The Mighty Servant 1, transiting from the Maldives to Norway, is transporting a huge part of an oil production platform. The Mighty Servant 1 can submerse herself in order to receive a heavy load and this type of ship has a typically low well deck and sails with at relatively low speed. The extreme load also means that there are several blind sectors of visibility around the ship and these factors, as well as her low speed make the Mighty Servant 1 vulnerable to pirate attack . EU NAVFOR Belgian warship Louise-Marie started her escort of the Might Servant 1 on 13 Sep and after 2 days handed over to EU NAVFOR Swedish warship HSwMS MALMOE to continue the escort.

EU NAVFOR, the NATO Task Force and TF 151 of the Combined Maritime Forces headquartered in Bahrein coordinate their efforts for the protection of all shipping in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden. Ships that register with MSCHOA and have received a high vulnerability rating will be particularly monitored during their transit through the protected IRTC.

All shipping is strongly advised to adopt the Best Management Practices as advertised on the MSCHOA website. On top of that, the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean maritime forces that conduct in principle National convoys regularly allow other flagged ships to attach. Information and coordination between all the Task Forces mentioned above is exchanged via the EU initiated common communications system.

Additional Pictures

EU NAVFOR ships BNS LOUISE-MARIE and HSwMS MALMOE escorts vulnerable giant MIGHTY SERVANT 1

EU NAVFOR BELGIAN WARSHIP LOUISE-MARIE escorts 'Mighty Servant I'

EU NAVFOR warship HNLMS EVERTSEN

EU NAVFOR Netherlands warship HNLMS EVERTSEN assisted the hijacked M/V IRENE E.M. after she had been released by pirates. EVERTSEN ensured that no pirates were left on board and provided security, food and water.

In the evening of 14 September, the hijacked M/V IRENE E.M was released by pirates after spending 5 months in pirate captivity. At 1829 local time M/V IRENE E.M. got  underway from the Somali coast to open sea and called the EU NAVFOR Netherlands warship HNLMS EVERTSEN who was patrolling the area. IRENE E.M stated in her call that all pirates had disembarked the ship and that she had fuel left for only a few hours sailing. The captain also reported that the 22 crew were in good health albeit hungry and thirsty as no food and water was left on board.

At 2000 local time a boarding party from EU NAVFOR ship EVERTSEN went on board the IRENE E.M. to check the safety of the ship and to provide humanitarian assistance to the crew. EVERTSEN is presently remaining close to IRENE E.M. to provide further assistance.

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.