The MT ''Stolt Valor'' was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

-flagged ship that was hijacked while in the Designated Safety Corridor within the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

, approximately away from the coast of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, while heading from the United States south through the Gulf towards Asia. After the ship passed through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, it encountered hijackers and alerted the

International Maritime Bureau The International Maritime Bureau is a specialized department of the International Chamber of Commerce. The IMB's responsibilities lie in fighting crimes related to maritime trade and transportation, particularly piracy and commercial fraud, and ...

. Area coalition forces arrived too late to avert the hijacking which occurred at 10:16 UTC on September 15, 2008 by Somali

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

. The Japanese-owned

chemical tanker A chemical tanker is a type of tanker (ship), tanker ship designed to transport chemicals in bulk. As defined in MARPOL Annex II, chemical tanker means a ship constructed or adapted for carrying in bulk any liquid product listed in chapter 17 o ...

, managed by

Fleet Management Ltd. Fleet Management Limited, established in 1994, provides ship management services like technical management, ship building, marine insurance, maritime training and crew management to ship owners worldwide. They have their headquarters in Hong Kong, ...

of Hong Kong, and on time charter to Stolt Tankers, carried a crew of 22 members, including eighteen from India, two from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, one from

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, and one from Russia according to Fleet's spokesman, Ferdi Stolzenberg. The ship's captain was Prabhat Kumar Goyal of Teg Bahadur Road, Dehradun. The ship was carrying 19,800 metric tons of phosphoric acid, loaded in

Morehead City Morehead City is a port city in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast. Hi ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States, at time of capture. Following capture, the ''Stolt Valor'' made way to the pirate haven of

Eyl Eyl is an ancient port town in the northeastern Nugal region of Somalia in the autonomous Puntland region, also serving as the capital of the Eyl District. Eyl, also called Illig, was the capital of the Dervish from 1905 onwards, until superse ...

on the eastern coast of Somalia. The pirates made contact with the ship's owners the following day, September 16. The ship's Master, through email and phone, stated that his crew was unharmed and confined to the ship’s wheelhouse.

Ransom

An initial demand of ransom for US$6 million was later decreased to US$2.5 million. The ransom negotiations were conducted by National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) General Secretary Abdul Gani in Hong Kong, saying "Definitely ransom has been paid but we will not be able to go into details."

Release

The ''Stolt Valor'' was released the morning of November 16, 2008.

2012 fire

On March 15, 2012, an explosion and subsequent fire occurred on board ''Stolt Valor'' while she was off

Jubail Jubail (, ''Al Jubayl'') is a city in the Eastern province on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, with a total population of 474,679 as of 2022. It is home to one of the largest industrial cities in the world. It is also home to the Middle ...

, Saudi Arabia. The ship was carrying a cargo of

methyl tertiary butyl ether Methyl ''tert''-butyl ether (MTBE), also known as ''tert''-butyl methyl ether, is an organic compound with a structural formula (CH3)3COCH3. MTBE is a volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that is sparingly soluble in water. Primarily used as ...

and

isobutanol Isobutanol (IUPAC nomenclature: 2-methylpropan-1-ol) is an organic compound with the formula (CH3)2CHCH2OH (sometimes represented as ''i''-BuOH). This colorless, flammable liquid with a characteristic smell is mainly used as a solvent either dir ...

. One crew member was killed. Twenty-four survivors were rescued by and later transferred to .

Scrap

The fire was eventually extinguished and all pollutants - both chemical cargo and fuel - later removed, but the ship was forced to drift in the Gulf for several months before authorities in Bahrain offered it a port of refuge. ''Stolt Valor'' was deemed too badly damaged for repairs to be economically viable and the ship owners and managers STOLT, decided to scrap it. She was scrapped in mid-October 2012 in Bahrain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolt Valor Piracy in Somalia Chemical tankers Merchant ships of Hong Kong 2003 ships Maritime incidents in 2008 Maritime incidents in 2012

Ransom

Release

2012 fire

Scrap

See also

References