 The hijacked Sirius Star as photographed by the U.S. Navy.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Manifa |
| Owner | Vela International Marine |
| Operator | Vela International Marine |
| Port of registry |  Saudi Arabia |
| Builder | Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering |
| Yard number | 5302 |
| Laid down | 29 October 2007 |
| Launched | 28 March 2008 |
| Identification |
|
| Status | In service |
| Notes | [1][2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Oil tanker |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 332 m (1,089 ft) |
| Beam | 60 m (200 ft) |
| Draught | 22.5 m (74 ft) |
| Crew | 26 |
| Notes | [1] |
MV Manifa (formerly MV Sirius Star) is an oil tanker formally owned and operated by Vela International Marine.[3] With a length overall of 330 m (1,080 ft) and a capacity of 2.2 million barrels (350,000 m3) of crude oil, she is classified as a very large crude carrier or VLCC.[3] Vela is based in the United Arab Emirates and is a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian state oil company Saudi Aramco. Sirius Star is one of Vela's 24 tankers, of which 19 are VLCCs. Since her launch, the ship has been registered in Monrovia under the Liberian flag of convenience. She has since been reflagged to Saudi Arabia[1]
Sirius Star was built by the South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. Her construction began in October 2007 and she was launched by Huda Al-Ghoson in late March 2008.[1][2]
She received international attention when she was hijacked by Somali pirates (allegedly under the orders of piracy kingpin Mohamed Abdi Hassan) on 15 November 2008, becoming the largest ship ever captured by pirates.[4][5][6] She was en route from Saudi Arabia to the United States by way of the Cape of Good Hope. At the time of the attack, she was about 450 nautical miles (830 km) southeast of the coast of Kenya, carrying 25 crewmen and her tanks fully loaded with oil. She was estimated to be worth approximately US$150 million, with her cargo worth at least US$100 million.
Sirius Star was released on 9 January 2009 after payment of a US $3 million ransom. Three other VLCCs that have been ransomed by pirates are Samho Dream, Maran Centaurus and Irene SL.
- ^ a b c d "Sirius Star (29210)". Vessel Register for DNV. DNV.
- ^ a b "Sirius Star Launching Ceremony". Vela International. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
- ^ a b McCann, Sarah More (17 November 2008). "Somali pirates attack tanker loaded with oil". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
- ^ Walker, Robert (18 November 2008). "Pirates pass open water test". BBC News. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
largestwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ James Bridger (4 Nov 2013). "The Rise of Fall of Somalia's Pirate King". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 Nov 2013.