M/T ''Irene SL'' is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

-owned and -operated

VLCC An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

(Very Large Crude Carrier) or

supertanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

. It was pirated presumably by

Somali pirates Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somal ...

on February 9, 2011 approximately 350 miles Southeast of

Muscat, Oman Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the Capital (political), capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Muscat (governorate), Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the t ...

in the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. Built in 2004, the ''Irene SL'' has a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

of 161,175 GT with a displacement of 319,247 DWT. It is long, has a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

of . The vessel has a single deck and is double-hulled. Her sister ship is the 2005-built . When captured the ship was en route from

Fujairah Fujairah City ( ar, الفجيرة) is the capital of the emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It is the seventh-largest city in UAE, located on the Gulf of Oman (part of the Indian Ocean). It is the only Emirati capital city on the ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

loaded with 2 million barrels of

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

with an estimated value of $200 million. The ship was captured one day after the pirates took control of another tanker, the . With the use of larger mother ships since the end of 2010, pirates have extended their operational capabilities. Three other VLCCs that have been ransomed by pirates are the '' Sirius Star'', the ''

Maran Centaurus Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the beginning of the Somali Civil War in the early 1990s. Since 2005, many international organizations have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy. Pirac ...

'', and the ''

Samho Dream ''Samho Dream'' is a South Korean, Marshall-Island flagged supertanker that was carrying oil from Iraq to the United States when it was hijacked by Somali pirates on April 4, 2010. At the time, the vessel was crewed by 24 sailors: five South Korea ...

''.

References

External links

MV''Irene SL''
at MarineTraffic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Irene SL Maritime incidents in 2011 Merchant ships of Greece Piracy in Somalia 2004 ships

See also

References

External links