UK-flagged tanker repulses pirate attack in Gulf of Aden - ship manager (updated)

Stolt-Nielsen

17/05/2020 16:54

(Recasts with comment from ship's manager, details)
    By Lisa Barrington and Jonathan Saul
    DUBAI/LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Armed pirates attacked a
British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday
but were repulsed, the ship's manager Stolt Tankers said.
    The pirates approached the Stolt Apal in two speedboats some
75 nautical miles off Yemen, it said, in one of the most
important trade routes for oil heading from the Middle East to
Europe. 
    "After multiple warning shots were fired by the armed guard
team aboard Stolt Apal, the skiffs opened fire on the ship. The
armed guard team returned fire, disabling one skiff and ending
the pursuit," a company spokesman told Reuters in emailed
comments. 
    "A coalition warship (also) responded and Stolt Apal has
resumed her voyage," the spokesman said.
    He did not specify which coalition was meant, but maritime
security sources said the vessel had been sailing through a
transit corridor patrolled by international naval forces due to
the high risk of attack.
    The spokesman said the ship's bridge had sustained minor
damage from bullets but that there were no injuries. None of the
ship's cargo was damaged.
    British officials were not immediately available for
comment.
    Stolt Tankers is a subsidiary of Norwegian listed
Stolt-Nielsen  SNI.OL . 
    Merchant ships have been attacked in recent years in the
Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab waterway by armed gangs as
well as militant groups such as Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula.
    A Saudi-led Sunni Muslim military coalition has in the past
accused Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which it has been
battling for five years, of trying to attack vessels off the
coast of Yemen with unmanned boats laden with explosives.    
    Maritime security firm Dryad Global said it was the ninth
reported incident in the Gulf of Aden this year.
    The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) naval
authority says in a warning notice on its website that it
advises vessels in the area "to exercise extreme caution".

 (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Jonathan Saul 
Editing by Gareth Jones)
 ((lisa.barrington@thomsonreuters.com;))