Pirates Seize Oil Tanker with 200 Million of Crude

Armed pirates have hijacked¹ a U.S.-bound oil tanker² carrying about $200 million worth of crude off the coast of Oman. Authorities say the Greek-flagged vessel³ has a crew of 25, including 17 Filipinos, seven Greeks and one Georgian.
This is the second pirate seizure⁴ of an oil tanker in as many days. Experts say that while the price tag of the vessel's cargo⁵ is shocking, it is the location of the incident that is far more alarming.
Suspected Somali pirates captured the supertankerIrene SL early Wednesday off the coast of Oman as it was transporting some 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude oil destined⁶ for the United States.
Bill Box is the communications manager for INTERTANKO, an association whose members own about three-quarters of the world's tanker fleet. The Irene SL falls under this group.
Box said that with one hijacking⁷, the pirates were able to seize one-fifth of the United States' total daily imports of crude oil, worth an estimated $200 million. He emphasized, though, the real cause for concern is the location of Wednesday's incident.
"The pirates are spreading their net much wider right out over the Indian Ocean, all the way over toward the coast of India," said Box. "I mean, this hijacking of this Irene SL happened 1,000 miles from the coast of Somalia."
Box said this area is right in the middle of the main shipping⁸ lanes that connect the Persian Gulf⁹ and the rest of the world.
Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy is the spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy¹⁰ force. He said pirates have a longer reach now because more are operating from so-called "motherships," larger vessels¹¹ that serve as launching pads for smaller ships to carry out attacks. He said this has allowed pirates to launch more attacks year-round.
"At the moment, the northeast monsoon¹² is blowing," said O'Kennedy. "In the past, they hadn't been able to get off the beach because of the size of the waves. Now the weather is really not having much of an effect because they're using these motherships."
O'Kennedy said his organization is teaching shipping companies how vessels can better defend themselves against armed assaults. He said training and sea patrols, however, are not going to make Somali piracy go away.
"In terms of how we can solve this problem, we're not going to solve it at sea; we know that," said O'Kennedy. "We're not deterring¹³ piracy because the business model is just too rewarding for Somalis."
O'Kennedy notes that Somali pirates have made hundreds of millions of dollars by hijacking ships for ransom¹⁴ in recent years. He said only by helping¹⁵ Somalis create an effective government can the problem be solved.
According to the EU's anti-piracy task force, pirates currently are holding at least 30 ships and more than 700 hostages.

1 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

2 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

3 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

4 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

5 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

6 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

7 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

10 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

11 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

13 deterring   

v.阻止，制止( deter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• However, investors say are a number of issues deterring business. 然而，投资者表示，有很多问题让他们却步。 来自互联网
• It's an effective way of deterring potential does online, the logic goes. 逻辑上这是抑制潜在线上威胁的有效方法。 来自互联网

14 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。