Dear Seafaring Brethren,

It is with immense pleasure and relief that we are sending the first official communication to our seafaring brethren about the hijack and release of MT Stolt Valor, the vessel under our management.  The past two months has been a testing time for the crew on-board Stolt Valor, their families, the vessel –owner (Central Marine Company, C/O Yamamaru Kissen), the technical manager (Fleet Management Limited), the crew manager (Ebony Ship Management Ltd.), the shipping authorities and associations, and the shipping fraternity at large.

This is to express our sincere thanks to the Shipping authorities and associations, and the Shipping fraternity, who have stood by us and the families during the unfortunate incident of the hijack of MT Stolt Valor. We would also take this opportunity to thank the vessel-owner (Central Marine Company, C/O Yamamaru Kissen) for being proactive and having a one-point focus on ensuring safety of the on-board crew, which they have achieved through their professional negotiators. Contrary to the misleading reports at one or two places, the owner has been the sole party to negotiations and release of the crew. So, let’s not be unjust in crediting the successful negotiation and related details to any other third party.
Also, the exact details of the negotiation are unknown to any other party except owners; so let us not give credit to the speculations doing the round.

The Technical Manager (Fleet Management Ltd.) along with the vessel’s owner (Central Marine Company, C/O Yamamaru Kissen) and Crew Manager (Ebony Ship Management ) had left no stone unturned in supporting the families and ensuring safe release of the crew through negotiations. A 24*7 helpdesk to assist the families and provide them with the latest updates, engaging professional counselors to help the families deal with the trauma, Fleet Management’s MD making regular visits to the owner’s office at Japan for follow-up and offer all possible help for safe and early release of the crew are just some of the noble initiatives taken for their seafaring brethren.

However, there have been numerous instances of false media reports, which has caused immense trauma to the families of the crew. These reports were given from sources (other than the owner and managers) and published, without being verified from the company. The vessel-owner was the sole point of contact with the hijackers.

As for the latest updates, we are pleased to inform that MT Stolt Valor is scheduled to arrive (ETA - Estimated time of arrival) at Muscat on 22nd Nov for refueling.
On arrival at Muscat, the crew members will be attended by a medical team (consisting of Doctors and Psychologists) arranged by the vessel’s owner and managers. The crew will then be repatriated from Muscat to their respective homeland to re-unite with their awaiting families.

Letter of Thanks from the Families of the hijacked crew:

1. Father of Cadet Naveed Burondkar
2. Father of Second Officer Ullas Krishna

Factual Details

1. M.T. Stolt Valor was hijacked on 15th of September while transiting the Gulf of Aden, bound for Mumbai.
2. The vessel was in the Designated Safety Corridor in accordance with the recommendations that were issued by the International Coalition of warships entrusted with the task of safe guarding vessels in the Gulf of Aden against Pirate attacks.
3. At the time of hijack, the vessel was 38 NM off Yemen Coast and had made the requisite reports to the UKMTO. The vessel under the direct control of hijacker was taken to the port of EYL and now remains safely anchored in the port of EYL, on the East Coast of Somalia.
4. Of the 22 crew members on-board; there are 18 Indians, 1 Russian, 2 Filipinos, and 1 Bangladeshi.
5. The vessel is owned by Central Marine Co Ltd (based in Japan) with a Japanese owner. The technical management is done by a Hong Kong company – Fleet Management. The vessel is on charter to Stolt Tankers BV.
6. Ebony Ship Management, India is the third-party recruitment agency, who engages ship-staff on behalf of the ship-owners. They had engaged the staff for M.T. Stolt Valor.
7. Central Marine, Japan (ship-owner) had hired professional negotiators to deal with the crisis.

Ship-owner/Manager Initiatives

1. Real time information of the hijack was communicated to the family members of the hijacked crew, govt. authorities (DG Shipping, MRCC, Indian Coastguards), Seafarer’s unions, MASSA, FOSMA and the shipping fraternity at large within few hours of the hijack.
2. An emergency cell cum helpdesk was immediately created with a dedicated team on duty 24*7.
3. Function of Emergency Cell: Fleet Management had been in constant touch with the vessel’s owner for latest developments. This was duly passed (real-time) on to the hijacked seafarer’s family. The same information was also passed to the various shipping authorities and associations.
4. Appealed to the Government of India through DG Shipping and all possible channels. Active participation in the various peace/torch marches at Delhi/Mumbai along with families and unions to raise awareness about the unfortunate incident in the eyes of Indian Govt., media and people.
5. The company sought the services of professional counselors who were involved in counseling the families, so as to address their fears and reduce their stress level and enable them to cope up with the incident. Few of the families went on-record to say that the counseling helped them in dealing with the trauma.
6. The Managing Director (Fleet Management) had visited Japan thrice to meet the Japanese owner (Central Marine Company) for follow-up and offered help in all possible ways for safe and early release of the crew.
7. The MD of Fleet Management along with the Govt. delegation (Capt. LK Panda, Principal Officer, MMD, Kolkata and Capt. PVK Mohan, Chairman, National Maritime Board) had a meeting with the Ship-owner and his representatives on 30th October at Indian Embassy in Tokyo. They were assured by the owner that the crew members will be released soon, as the negotiation is progressing on a positive note.
8. Ebony supported the hijacked seafarer’s family in all possible ways. The company’s senior representative from Mumbai (head office) had made visits to Dehradun to meet the family of the Master (Capt Prabhat Goyal) of hijacked vessel. Ebony supported the hijacked Master’s wife visit to Delhi in all possible ways including providing logistics; where along with Master Goyal’s wife, the senior company representative visited Indian Govt. Ministers and senior govt. officials.