The German Federal Police's Piracy Prevention Centre based in Neustadt in Holstein is urging long-distance sailors to continue to avoid the route past the Horn of Africa. More yachts have been sighted there recently, although the danger of pirate attacks has by no means been averted.
On the contrary, only recently Somali pirates have again tried to take control of ships. Specifically, the federal police reported attacks on a fishing vessel and a merchant ship, which were shot at with a bazooka, among other things. However, both ships had armed security personnel on board, who engaged the attackers in firefights and were ultimately able to fend them off.
"Piracy has merely been suppressed as a result of the anti-piracy measures in the Horn of Africa, but not eradicated," the Federal Police make unequivocally clear. It continues: "The pirates still have the potential and the will to carry out hijackings."
There is concern that one or two long-distance crews a month are currently encountered off the Somali coast, mostly in the Horn of Africa, by the forces involved in the Atalanta mission. Last year, a yacht even sailed there during the monsoon and promptly got into trouble - although fortunately only due to heavy weather. And in the first quarter of last year, twelve yachts are said to have moored in Djibouti alone.
Among the blue water sailors who accept the risk of a pirate attack are apparently also Germans. Trans-Ocean, the association of German long-distance sailors, reported that TO members also sailed through the Gulf of Aden to Djibouti and on through the Bab el Mandab strait into the Red Sea in 2017. This was explained by a spokesperson for the Federal Police when asked.
At the same time, he warns against travelling to the Yemeni coast. Crews had tried to do this at the beginning of the pirate attacks in order to avoid the Somalis. However, the current war-like conditions in Yemen alone mean that this is also strongly discouraged.
In response to the increase in piracy incidents, the Federal Police set up the Federal Police Piracy Prevention Centre (PPZ) in Neustadt in Holstein in February 2010. The PPZ holds a free workshop especially for long-distance sailors on the first weekend in March. The workshop focuses on possible preventative measures and generally on sensitising circumnavigators to possible dangers and the psychological stress that may be associated with them. Registration for the workshop is possible at any time by e-mail possible.
In emergencies, the PPZ can be contacted at any time by phone +49 4561 4071 555, fax: +49 4561 4071 118 and e-mail: BPOL.SEE.PPZ@polizei.bund.de
