Pirates are still in control of a chemical tanker chartered by Indonesia’s biggest shipping company, PT Berlian Laju Tanker, which they seized Jan. 1 in the Gulf of Aden, an Indonesian government spokesman said today.

 

“They’ve taken the boat to Somalia, where the situation is dysfunctional with tribal lords in power who may not have access to the specific pirates,” said Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.

 

The vessel is a Singaporean-flagged chemical tanker owned by a Norwegian company, he said. “What we can do now is collect information. The negotiation now is between the pirates and the ship owner without government involvement,” Faizasyah said.

 

MT Pramoni, a vessel of 19,900 dead-weight tons, was on its way to Kandla, India when it lost contact, Berlian director Kevin Wong said in a statement yesterday. Calls to Wong today weren’t immediately answered. The European Union Naval Force Somalia, known as EU Navfor, said Jan. 1 the ship’s master had reported 24 crew members, comprising 17 Indonesians, five Chinese, a Vietnamese and a Nigerian, were well.

 

Some 20 warships from the EU, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other countries patrol off Somalia, concentrating on the Gulf of Aden, a chokepoint leading to the Suez Canal that’s used by 30,000 ships a year carrying about a 10th of world trade. Somali pirates now hold at least 12 ships, according to EU Navfor information and Bloomberg calculations.

 

The last known hijacked ship in the Somalia area was British-flagged Asian Glory carrying 25 crew members. Pirates Jan. 1 seized the ship 600 miles from the coast of Somalia, EU Navfor said on its Web site.