EU Naval Force - Somalia
Operation ATALANTA

The Norwegian Government announced this week that they will contribute one of their brand new NANSEN-Class Frigates to the EU NAVFOR anti-piracy operation. The 5000 tonne warship will bring a significant capability to the Op Atalanta force when it deploys in August.

Some 1.000 Norwegian owned or operated vessels transit through Somali waters every year, a number of which have been unsuccessfully attacked.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry also announced on Wednesday that it would contribute military forces to Op Atalanta over the next few months. The 30 troops pledged will be used to assist with the protection of World Food Program shipments and Swiss owned or operated merchant vessels.

In other news, a British cruise liner BALMORAL took evasive action earlier this week on suspecting it was about to come under attack from 2 skiffs that closed the ship at speed. However, the Captain’s prompt action prevented the incident building into a full blown attack and as a result the helicopter from the nearby Atalanta Spanish frigate VICTORIA, that was standing by to launch, was not required.

Finally, the Egyptian cargo ship MV BLUE STAR and its crew of 28, which was hijacked on new years day was released from pirate control on Wednesday.