Pohjanmaa sets sail for Somalia

Pirate activity reported to be increasing off Somali coast

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The officers’ mess of the minelayer Pohjanmaa, the flagship of the Finnish Navy, was crowded on Wednesday an hour before the vessel was setting sail for a voyage of 6,000 nautical miles to Djibouti and Somalia.
      The ship is taking part in the European Union’s Operation Atalanta, aimed at securing deliveries of international food aid in the area, and battling against pirates operating off the Somali coast.
      “The success of the operation will not be measured on the basis of the number of criminals apprehended. It is not an operation for capturing pirates or other criminals”, said the ship’s captain, Mika Raunu to journalists on board.
      “The success will be measured in the success of protecting aid transports”, Raunu pointed out.
     
The voyage of the Pohjanmaa to the Gulf of Aden will take three and a half weeks.
      The distance is the longest that any of the EU vessels taking part in the operation will travel. The ship will make stops in Spain and Cyprus for refuelling and fresh supplies.
      The three-month mission to escort aid vessels will begin in early February, when the Pohjanmaa will be part of the EU’s battle group 465.
     
The outdoor temperature was slightly below freezing at the Finnish Navy’s base at Upinniemi on Wednesday.
      Relatives of the soldiers who were setting sail crowded on the pier. The mood was somewhat sombre and the cheeks of some of the children were wet.
      The head ship left the pier at about 11:00 in the morning.
     
Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have been stepping up their activities in recent days.
      On New Year’s Day, pirates captured a 20,000-tonne freight vessel Blida, en route from Oman to Tanzania, sailing under the Algerian flag. The prize is expected to bring the pirates about EUR 3 million in ransom.
      Despite efforts to fight the phenomenon, piracy in the area is said to be reaching industrial proportions. Turnover in the business was about EUR 75 million last year, and the trend is growing.
     
The situation is best under control in the original home waters of the pirates – the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia. This is where the Pohjanmaa will be operating for three months, freeing larger military vessels to operate further from the coast.
      The UN food transport ships that are being protected by the EU operation have been secured fairly well. However, this is of little help in a situation in which the area of operations of the pirates has reached parts of the Indian Ocean as far south as Madagascar, and in the east to near the coast of India.
     
On Wednesday, NATO urged vessels in the area to exercise “extreme caution”. At least three captured vessels are being used by the pirates as mother-ships for new attacks.
      Monitoring a sea area covering millions of square kilometres with 29 ships from the navies of various countries is a very difficult task.
      Commander Juha-Antero Puistola, the head teacher at the Department of Strategic and Defence Studies at the Finnish National Defence University, says that according to American estimates, the operation would require 1,000 ships and a fleet of surveillance helicopters.
     
In addition to the vast size of the area, the number of ships sailing through the seas is a problem.
      About 20,000 merchant vessels sail in the waters each year.
      Guidelines given to ships’ captains have improved security somewhat.
      In the early part of the week a tanker vessel sailing under the British flag averted capture when its crew managed to shut down the engines and lock themselves into a fortified “safety room” to wait for help to arrive.
      However, the situation appears to be getting worse before it gets better, as increasing numbers of businessmen in the area are investing in piracy.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minelayer Pohjanmaa nearly ready for Somalia mission (17.12.2010)
  Finland to deploy mine layer Pohjanmaa on anti-piracy mission off Somalia (15.9.2010)
  Flagship of Finnish Navy to help escort food aid ships to Somalia (6.9.2010)

Links:
  Operation Atalanta (Wikipedia)

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