PIRATES have boarded a product tanker off the Somali coast only days after a near miss in the same region.

Malta-flagged, 49,992 dwt Hellas Aphrodite (IMO: 9722766), owned by Latsco Shipping, was travelling south, bound for Durban carrying gasoline, when at 0712 hrs the master reported seeing a small craft on the vessel’s starboard side.

There were multiple people on board the small craft, the master reported, and a mothership was following behind at a distance of 7 nm.

Hellas Aphrodite performed evasive manoeuvres and increased speed to 14 knots.

EOS Risk Group head of advisory Martin Kelly told Lloyd’s List the small craft fired on the tanker and even launched RPGs towards the vessel. 

There was no armed security team on board.

Earlier reports suggested that the crew had surrendered to the pirates, but that is not understood to be the case. 

Latsco said all crew remain in the citadel and are accounted for. 

The nearest naval asset, an EU Navfor Operation Atalanta frigate, is expected to arrive in the vicinity sometime tomorrow morning up until midday.

This latest incident follows two attempted attacks on November 2 and November 3 (including one on a Stolt-Nielsen chemical tanker), which Kelly said were conducted by the same pirate group.

Somali piracy has been on the wane since March 2024, when the Indian navy successfully rescued all 17 crew from Malta-flagged bulk carrier, Ruen (IMO: 9754903).

But since that show of force, concerns have mounted about links between piracy groups in the area and al-Shabaab and the Houthis, which have provided both weapons, expertise and funding.

There are concerns that piracy groups in the region might be changing to a kidnap-and-ransom strategy, rather than hijacking and hanging on to a vessel, which is costly and leaves them vulnerable to confrontations like those had with Indian forces in 2024.

A move to kidnap and ransom would be more in line with the modus operandi in the Gulf of Guinea, which has taken over from Somalia as the world’s piracy hotspot in recent years.

The risk to the crews on board vessels is of course broadly similar, whether the pirates intend to hold on to the vessel or not. 

BIMCO chief safety and security officer Jakob Larsen said his organisation was “uneasy about a potential return of Somali piracy on a larger scale”.

“We are comforted by the fact that merchant ships are aware of the piracy threat and generally plan accordingly, and that EU’s Operation Atalanta and the Indian Navy remains on their toes in the area. We cross fingers that the combination of industry best practices for maritime security and naval support will be enough to suppress the piracy threat.”

The Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean has warned vessels to avoid the area, maintain full vigilance, implement best management practices and report any suspicious activity immediately to MSCIO or UKMTO.