MV Longchamp
P1
Leo Gas (1990-2000) Longchamp (2000-2014)
Germanischer Lloyd Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (until 2008)
IMO number:. 9005106
The Eleanor is a liquefied gas tanker, who was kidnapped in January 2009 under the name Longchamp in the Gulf of Aden by pirates.
History
Construction and deployment before the attack
The tanker was built in 1990 on behalf of the Panamanian shipping company Viking Asia Incorporated & Rustle in the Shinhama Dockyard Company in Anan, Japan. The keel-laying ceremony took place on June 24, instead of launching on 27 July 1990. Was delivered to the ship on 17 December 1990. During 2000, the ship was renamed Longchamp. 2006 acquired the holding company LPG tanker fleet, the ship and the Hamburg-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement Company took over the ship management.
Abduction
On 29 January 2009 the tanker at 3:40 UTC clock was carrying a cargo of 2730 t vinyl chloride monomer (VCM ) and 13 crew on board off the southern coast of Yemen, about 95 km from Al - Mukalla, capital of the region Hadramaut removed, captured seven Somali pirates. The captain was Indonesian, twelve crew members were from the Philippines. The ship was en route from Norway to Vietnam and had a fleet of ships connected, according to MPC, which was accompanied by Indian naval units.
After heavy gunfire during the raid the pirates boarded the only about 1.50 meter high board wall. An offer of the Indian frigate Beas to forcibly liberate the LNG carrier, refused the captain of the Longchamp off because of the dangerous cargo of his ship.
A spokesman for the EU mission Atalanta (EU NAVFOR Somalia) in the headquarters of the operation in the British Northwood contradicted the representation of MPC, the Longchamp was at the coordination office of the British Navy for the allied forces of the UK Royal Navy 's Maritime Trade Organisation ( UKMTO ) region in Dubai has been made prior to the trip and waited about 16 hours to then join a protected convoy. The Longchamp was on the edge of the transit corridor have been traveling as a " single driver " and did not wait for the convoy. Captain and ship managers had mistakenly assumed that e- mails were sufficient as registration with position reports to the UKMTO in Dubai. The freighter was not performed in the ship's list for the Gulf of Aden. For this purpose, an entry into the EU Naval Force Somalia Maritime database would have been required using the contact form. The Longchamp was hijacked since the evening of January 29, 2009 in the Somali coastal waters on the east coast of the country. The Hamburg prosecutor's office determined for attacking the maritime and extortion. The authority confirmed the existence of a ransom demand.
Since 31 January 2009, there were several discussions between the kidnappers and Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement the shipping company. According to circumstances, it stresses that good crew, said the shipping company spokesman Cor Rading.
The Operational Command of the German Navy in Potsdam stressed the law was sailing under the flag of the Bahamas Longchamp no German ship, so the German Navy was not responsible for the hijacked tanker.
On 28 March 2009, the company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement stated that the kidnappers have released the gas tanker and its 13 crew members. The ship continued its journey continued to the origin destination Vietnam. According to media reports, said to have come to a ransom payment.
Further use
2010, nearly a year after the release, the ship was transferred without renaming the registered company in Singapore Longchamp Shipping and in 2014 took over the Indonesian shipping company Bahari Nusantara the ship and renamed it Eleanor.
Specifications
The tanker is powered by a Mitsubishi - two-stroke diesel engine of the type 6UEC37LA with a power of 2425 kW, acting on a fixed pitch propeller. When loaded, the ship has a freeboard of about 1.6 meters.