The MT ''Stolt Valor'' was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

-flagged ship that was hijacked while in the Designated Safety Corridor within the Gulf of Aden, approximately away from the coast of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, while heading from the United States south through the Gulf towards Asia. After the ship passed through the Suez Canal, it encountered hijackers and alerted the International Maritime Bureau. Area coalition forces arrived too late to avert the hijacking which occurred at 10:16 UTC on September 15, 2008 by Somali pirates. The Japanese-owned chemical tanker, managed by Fleet Management Ltd. 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 (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, one from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, 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 town 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. Hist ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

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

Eyl Eyl ( it, Eil) 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 Dervishes from 1905 onwards, unt ...

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 ( ar, الجبيل, ''Al Jubayl'') is a city in the Eastern province on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, with a total population of 684,531 as of 2021. It is home to the largest industrial city in the world. It is also home to th ...

, Saudi Arabia. The ship was carrying a cargo of methyl tertiary butyl ether 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 dire ...

. 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