Danube River Pirates Arrested in Serbia

The issue of piracy has made global headlines in recent years with events off the Somali coast, but
instances of piracy are also occurring along the waterways of mainland Europe, according to a
report in Croatian daily, Jutarnji List, on October 12, 2011.
According to the paper, transportation company Dunavski Lloyd has suffered three attacks this year
alone on the internationally vital transport route of the Danube River, which runs from Rotterdam to
the Black Sea, and is an important trade route for many European businesses.
Shipping Equipment Stolen
In the last attack, on the company' ship Sloga, approximately 60,000 euros worth of equipment was
stolen from the vessel in the Serbian port of Smederevo, a theft which delayed Sloga's onward
journey to the Black Sea, due to lack of equipment. The theft left the ship without key navigation
equipment and the ability to raise the anchor, among other things . The paper notes that the pirates
are not targeting crews, merely equipment.
Intervention of Croatian Embassy
In order to combat the piracy, the owner of Dunavski Lloyd, Davor Ivancan, appealed to the Croatian
embassy in Belgrade for assistance. As a result of the embassy's efforts, Serbian police looked into
the three cases, and have made four arrests, according to a report in the Croatian Times on October

15, 2011.
Far from being an isolated incident, or a problem particular to Serbia, there have been numerous
instances of piracy on the Danube in recent years in neighbouring countries. Apart from Serbia, the
Danube also flows through Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Ukraine and
Bulgaria.
Numerous Incidents of Danube Piracy
A Bulgarian ship was boarded in July in the Romanian stretch of the river and a ton of cargo stolen
overnight, while another report highlights the most dangerous sections of the river, the Cernavoda
Canal in Romania, where ships are often tricked by a friendly fisherman offering his catch, while he
is actually working in tandem with the pirates.
There are several other documented cases of piracy in recent years, including an incident in 1994
when a Bulgarian tanker with 6,000 tons of diesel oil onboard was hijacked in the port of Somovit
and moored up at the Serbian port of Prahovo; this despite Bulgarian authorities and international
organisations being in place to enforce sanctions against Serbia.
While the piracy business along the Danube does not have the lucrative potential of its Somali
cousin, due to its proximity to land, its very existence is a concern to transport companies, who will
be hoping that the prompt Serbian action is the start of a campaign to tackle the issue.