Pirates Free German Boxship

Somali pirates freed a German-flag containership and its crew today, four months after they captured the vessel in the Indian Ocean.

The Hansa Stavanger is sailing to the Kenyan port of Mombasa under escort of two vessels of the European Union’s anti-piracy force, Daniel Auwermann, a spokesman for the unit’s operational headquarters in Northwood, England, said Wednesday. He declined to say whether a ransom was paid.

The Hansa Stavanger was carrying approximately 1,070 containers on a voyage from the United Arab Emirates to Kenya when it was seized on April 4 about 400 miles off the southern Somali port of Kissmaayo and held off the coast near Haradhere.

Unconfirmed reports say a ransom of $2.7 million was paid for the release of ship and crew. Its owners, the Hamburg-based Leonhardt & Blumberg, declined comment on whether a ransom has been paid, but one of the pirates was reported as saying they had freed the ship after receiving $2.7 million from the owners.

Negotiations with the pirates to free the 24-man crew were conducted by the ship’s owner with the help of the German Foreign Ministry, Auwermann said. A military doctor is attending to the crew comprising 12 nationals of Tuvalu, five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and two Filipinos, he said.

The negotiations broke down several times over the amount of the ransom to be paid. The pirates took three Germans and one Russian to the shore, where the pirates imitated reprisals, humiliated and starved them, according to one report. Nearly all crewmen were ill and are on the verge of nervous breakdown, the report said.

The owners of the cargo being carried by the ship had expressed fears that they would not be able to recover their cargo until they pay a 25 percent share of the value for a general average damage contribution that Leonhardt & Blumberg had earlier demanded, according to an Australian media report that said none of the cargo owners had followed that request.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.