MV Hansa Stavanger

MV Hansa Stavanger was a German container ship. Owner of the Ship was Schiffartges Gesellschaft MS "HANSA STAVANGER" Co. KG. The Hansa Stavanger was built In 1997 at Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. Her loading capacity is 20,526 GT & she could transport 1,550 containers on board. She was captured by Somali pirates on April 4, 2009.[4] Around May 1, 2009, USS Boxer and a screen of German Navy warships assisted approximately 200 members of the German special police unit GSG-9 in approaching the hijacked ship. During the last phase of the operation, James L. Jones, the U.S. President's National Security Advisor, withheld final approval for the operation out of concern for the safety of the 25 sailors aboard the vessel. This led the German Federal Ministry of Defence to abort the planned attack on the freighter and the GSG-9 unit returned to their base of operations at the airport of Mombasa, Kenya.[5]

History
Name:	Hansa Stavanger
Operator:	Leonhardt & Blumberg Reederei
Port of registry:	Monrovia,  Liberia
Builder:	Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China[1]
Yard number:	271[1]
Laid down:	July 18, 1996[1]
Launched:	March 9, 1997[1]
Completed:	September 29, 1997[1]
In service:	1997–2013
Renamed:	Maersk Izmir (1998-1999) Maersk Gauteng (1999-1999) Direct Condor (1999-2000) Hansa Stavanger (2000-2003) Cap Pasado (2003-2004) Lykes Trader (2004-2005) Hansa Stavanger (2005-2012) Pearl (2012-2013) VSM (2013)
Identification:	IMO number: 9128465 Call sign: A8UZ8[1] MMSI number: 636091967[2]
Fate:	Scrapped in February 13, 2013 at Alang, India.[3]
General characteristics [1]
Type:	Container ship
Tonnage:	15,988 GT 8,222 NT 20,526 DWT
Length:	170.17 m (558 ft 4 in)
Beam:	24.80 m (81 ft 4 in)
Draft:	10.85 m (35 ft 7 in)
Depth:	14.20 m (46 ft 7 in)
Ice class:	GL ice class E Finnish-Swedish ice class II
Installed power:	MAN-B&W 6S60MC (12,240 kW)
Propulsion:	Single shaft; fixed pitch propeller
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity:	1,550 TEU

Among the captured sailors held hostage were eleven Tuvaluans and one Fijian. A ransom of $US 15 million had been demanded. The government of Tuvalu indicated it was incapable of paying, and expressed great concern for its citizens.[6][7] On August 3, 2009 the ship was released after a ransom of two million dollars was paid, and was escorted into port in Mombasa, Kenya by the German frigates Brandenburg and Rheinland-Pfalz.[8]

Whereabouts of the ship

After Hijacking, The vessel was later renamed into Pearl reflagged from Liberia to Comoros & in January 2013 renamed again into VSM & beached at Alang, India on February 13, 2013.

Literature

Kotiuk, Krzysztof (2010), Frohe Ostern Hansa Stavanger: 121 Tage in der Hand von Piraten (in German), Bielefeld: Delius Klasing, p. 219, ISBN 978-3-7688-3129-1

References

1. "Hansa Stavanger (90906)". DNV GL Vessel Register. Germanischer Lloyd. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
2. "Hansa Stavanger (9128465)". Equasis. French Ministry for Transport. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
3. "Hansa Stavanger (9128465)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
4. "Somali pirates seize more vessels". BBC News online. April 6, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
5. spiegel.de
6. "Tuvalu left helpless by pirate kidnappings", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, June 2, 2009
7. "Tuvalu Government requests for assistance", Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, May 27, 2009
8. "EU NAVFOR ship BRANDENBURG leads HANSA STAVANGER safely into Mombasa". EU NAVFOR Public Affairs Office. August 18, 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2011.