Somali Pirates: Negotiations begin with Dutch ship owners

Reported here:

A Dutch shipping company has been in contact with Somali pirates who hijacked a ship with nine crew members as it traveled through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, a spokesman said Tuesday.
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Lars Walder, of Reider Shipping BV, which owns the MV Amiya Scan, revealed the company has been in contact with the hijackers and that none of the crew had been harmed.

"Everybody was fine under the circumstances," he said, speaking from Winschoten, Netherlands. "They were all fine ... [and] were treated quite well."

The ship was anchored off the coast of Somalia, within Somalia's 20-kilometer (12-mile) territorial limit, Walder said.

He would not comment on the pirates' demands out of concern for the crew of four Russians and five Filipinos, and would not say whether the shipping company was negotiating with them.

Paying ransom just encourages more piracy, as is noted "Somali officials" here:

Somali officials say foreign countries encourage piracy by paying ransoms for hijacked ships that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"As always, we are calling on the owners of the ship not to pay any ransom to the pirates, as that would only encourage criminals," Aware said in a special Cabinet meeting to discuss the hijacking.

Aren't there any Dutch war ships in the area? They used to have a great navy.